I was hoping for more input, but I'm in definite agreement with the posters. As a musician, thank you! I've been grilled a couple times for taking money from churches when I should've been, "contributing my talents to god". I thought I'd bring it up here to the community.

I don't think every situation is the same and if you happen to belong to the church you give your services to and you hold a vested interest in their welfare, it is more of a grey area. It is not unreasonable for a church to ask amatuer singers who have an interest to contribute their talent, free of charge.

If you are a musical director or a freelance musician going to a church to amplify a holiday service, however, you should be paid, and paid well if the gig demands much of your time outside the normal constraints of a mass or service.

I know a few music directors; like band director-teachers at public high schools, they are arguably the hardest working person at the church, responsible for multiple groups, administrative duties, recruiting, performance duties, and being the diplomatic face of the music arm of the church body. Every music director works multiple days at the church and has every note on exam for a quiet congregation to hear during a service. You must know your history and possibly even be able to compose or at least arrange music to fit the instrumentation of the choirs or bands. A multi-faceted tough job for sure.

Even if you are a free-lance sideman, playing for example, trumpet at an Easter mass, you probably don't have allegiance to the church. You might even be a completely different religion or agnostic. Any self-respecting musician would try their hardest to perform at a top level, and that is worth payment.

What should the payment be? Definitely negotiable according to size of the church and the money it takes in. I've found some church treasurers to be as slippery and cutthroat in money negotiations as night club owners.

I'm not sure if this is a rant or a declaration, but I still welcome input, especially support, since I feel I sometimes get the raw end of things, put upon me by judgmental church faithfuls.