Let’s face it.
None of us sets out to screw up. Mistakes are inevitable.
And the longer you lead, the more your church grows, the more you’ll need to pivot and change. What worked 10 years ago may not work today. Matter of fact, what worked last year may not be the best idea today.
That’s actually the sign of great leadership. You don’t need to have all the answers, all the time. But you do need to keep a pulse on what is working and what is not…and have the courage to change when necessary.
So consider this post less of a brash, unfriendly rebuke and more of a reminder – a reminder to be proactive about avoiding ruts.
5 Mistakes Your Worship Team May Be Making
So here we go:
- Overemphasizing Excellence – It’s interesting how excellence has become the hallmark of the modern church. Our bands are tighter than ever and production is brighter than ever. More churches are doing albums of original music than ever before. But I have to ask – are we becoming more Christlike? Is your team growing in their closeness with Christ? While excellence doesn’t negate holiness, it is possible to overemphasize it to the point of excluding more important matters.
2. One on Ones – While your team may be massive, a massive team is made of individuals. And individuals need care. The tendency the bigger your team gets is to treat everyone like an army of drones. Mass emails. Group texts. Big announcements. But what tends to happen is people don’t feel valued. They feel part of a system rather than close friendship. Here’s the challenge: figure out a way to make your team close. Allow the individuals to feel their value.
3. Going Deep – You lead worship on Sunday, but do you worship as a team? How can you expect to lead people deep into the presence of God if you aren’t going deep as a team? A constant challenge I set before myself is for our public ministry to be an outflow of private devotion. Not only do we personally want to know God, we want to be familiar with pursuing Him as a team.
4. Being Shallow – Well, total shallowness isn’t anything to party about. But when you come together as a worship team, what do you do? Are you always sharing devotions? Singing songs together? Having deep discussions? Nothing wrong with that…but sometimes the greatest team building is ridiculousness and randomness. The randomness may be what you need to create the sort of team that is ready to go to war together. Why? Because you enjoy being around each other. You prefer each other’s company. That kind of camaraderie is essential for unified ministry.
5. Connecting to Your Local Church – Sure, you’re serving the local church. Every Sunday you provide a great service to your people. But is your entire team connected to what God is doing outside of the worship ministry? How is your worship team giving? How is your worship team church attendance/presence off the stage? Does your team come to church when they’re not scheduled? Are they giving to missions? Are they in a small group? Are they the lead pastor’s biggest fans? Are they massive fans of the church as a whole or just the worship ministry? These questions are a great sign as to your team’s health
These are all points we’re revisiting as a team. What about you?
I’d love to hear from you.
What are some current gaps in your ministry that you want to see filled? What are some new techniques you are implementing? Let us know in the comments!
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
“are we becoming more Christlike?”
I would hope we can use this as a gauge for the effectiveness of our activities, right?
Excellent list of things to keep in mind. I think it all comes back to the pastoral role of the worship leader that can easily be neglected when we don’t have the time to do it, or when it is not explicitly understood.
It’s easier to treat the worship ministry more like a “band” than it is to realize we need to treat the worship ministry like a flock or family that needs to be shepherded and loved.
Am Derrick a young Christian in Kenya. Am an instrumentalists in our church and i love serving. I have been trying to start a worship team in our church since 2013 which has failed in every way now we are 5 of us at last. 2 ladies who sing the pianist who sings too, me and a young man whom am mentoring in drums. I have been praying to God to raise a team of vessels for His use. I have found the article helpful and if there’s any other way you can help us please do. Thanks and God bless you.
Hi Derrick, that is a challenge that most of us have at our church we only 4, but the one thing that we know is that God sees our hearts and if only the 4 of us we are called to serve God that is what we are going to do , we are called individually and if its only the 4 of us that God will use to speak to his people so be it,and i will say also continue to pray, seek God’s face daily and from only the 5 of you God will do miraculous things…Stay content