Change is part of the game, isn’t it?
More modern music, more hymns, new stage design, adding a click track. Truth is, change needs to happen. Successful people change. They evaluate what isn’t working and try something new.
Successful organizations change. If you’re stuck in the past, you won’t continue to be effective.
In the same way, worship teams need to change. But there’s a way to change that will either empower your team or infuriate your team.
Even as a young worship leader, I’ve been involved with all types of change.
- Introducing more modern music
- Using a click track
- Using real drums
- Playing through electric guitar amps
- More declarative worship
- Assimilating younger musicians
I’m not going to lie. Change is hard.
The struggle lies in knowing your culture and adapting to what is current while still remaining faithful to what is tested and timeless.
How Do We Do It?
So how do we introduce change in the best way possible? Glad you asked.
1. Write down where you want to be – what does success look like? If everything went according to plan, where would you want to be? What would it take to get there? Get as detailed as you can. Many times we don’t think through what our end result looks like and if it’s worth going there. Sometimes it’s better to stick with what you have.
2. Talk with your pastor – before you make any drastic changes to your worship team, consult your lead pastor. They understand their congregation with special insight. They know way more than you do. This conversation will produce more tips than you may realize. Embrace his vision with all your might and adopt his values for your team.
3. Speak with compelling vision – when you drive change, always start from vision. If you simply tell people what they’re going to have to give up or change, it will push them away. But if they understand why you’re making the change, they may just become raving fans.
4. Introduce change slowly – nobody likes the carpet pulled from under them. Let’s say you have this wonderful time with God and you receive a vision that completely transforms everything you’re currently doing. Great. Take it slow. Introduce one thing at a time. Think through how it will impact certain people groups in your congregation. Put together a gradual plan of change.
5. Build relationships – change is always best driven from relationship. Any relational deposit you make in members of your worship team won’t go to waste. You’re building trust with them now, which enables you to lead them through hard things later.
6. Be a good communicator – I don’t care if you’re the most gifted person on earth, your ministry will rise and fall on how well you communicate. Communicate often. Lead your team. Then when it’s time to drive change, they’ll be with you.
7. Don’t forget the Gospel – The greatest message on earth hasn’t changed. It will never change. While our methods need to morph with our culture, don’t lose sight of the staying power of the Gospel. Let its truth empower you daily. May it be the epicenter of all your planning. May all your change and transition serve to carry the Gospel to a generation that doesn’t know it. Worship leader, never forget the Gospel.
Question: What are some changes that you want to make (or have made) in your worship team? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Its because of posts like this that I love this blog. And that I love you. Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned. It is always really encouraging and insightful.
Caleb, you’re too kind. How are things at the new church? Would love an update!
I think #1 is the most important one on this list. If you don’t have an end goal in mind, there’s no sense changing things for the sake of changing things. As much as change sounds great, if there’s no purpose behind it, there’s a good chance it’ll flop.
Another great post, David. Thanks!
So true, bro. Any changes going on recently?
There’s some great change going on, actually. We recast our vision for our entire Worship & Arts department. Under the influence of posts written about vision found on this very blog, we’re going through some very positive changes right now 🙂
Love hearing that!
This is great. I shared it with our worship team
Wow. Thanks so much, Ron. Means a lot coming from you!
This is really good. I play with the band a couple times a month at our church. There’s a handful of us who are itching to change some things. This is good advice for those of us who aren’t the leader, but sense that continuing to do what we are currently doing isn’t going to work.
Thanks for joining the discussion, Phil. What needs changed in your worship team? Is your leader resistant to change?
Great post. I have now served at my present position for 13 years and if I had tried to day one what we are doing now I probably would not have lasted 13 days. I am so glad you posted the last point. I think many work to make changes for change sake and to stay up with the trends without giving serious consideration to the ‘gospel’.
Haha! So true. I gotta say, 13 years as a worship pastor is so great. Thanks for being steady and committed to one local church. It’s rare these days. Thanks for the comment, Michael.
HELP!!! I am right now working with the Assistant Pastor and another member of the church trying to make some changes to our VERY traditional Independent Baptist Church. The Assistant Pastor and I see eye to eye on many of the changes that need to happen for us to be able to reach our community. Right now our congregation is minimal because we are sticking to doing things the same way they been doing it for the past 20 years. So, how do you go about change when many of the members have been at the church since the beginning and don’t like change? What types of changes do you think we should start with? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx
Hey Carnadi, can you give me some ideas of what you’d like to change?
We want to start with our worship services. Right now our services have been the same since the church started. We sing a song out of a very old hymnal, prayer, hymnal song, our monthly chorus, hymnal song, offering, message. This is the same format for Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and our Wed service. The problem is that we don’t have a lot of return visitors and we have been told that it’s our worship music and format. It allows our older more traditional members to feel comfortable, but our younger members (40 – below) are looking for more. We have started a strategy which we have adopted from Nelson Searcy, author of Fusion:Turning First-Time Guests into Full-Developing Members. We plan to start that at the end of the month to try to create relationships with our visitors early on. Basically, we are looking for ideas on how to liven up our services. To get people excited about church.
First thing I would make sure if that you aren’t appearing to put the assistant pastor against the pastor. Even if the pastor is comfortable with the older generation, nothing good will come out of him feeling you are playing sides with his assistant.
We are being very careful about that Ryan. The Pastor is on board on us making some changes right now. He is just worried about upsetting the older members who like things the way they are.
Carnadi, I dealt with the same issues at the first church I started leading worship in. What I’ve found, is that introducing some new elements a little bit at a time seemed to ease the congregation into it. For example, we wanted to add drums and a bass to our worship set, so we started with just adding the bass player, and leaving a full drum set up on stage for a few weeks. We went with this format, until one of the elders asked ‘When are you gonna play those things?’ At that point, we knew that we could move on to using them in congregational worship.
Secondly, we had the same problem with sticking to the hymnal. So, we had one portion of the worship service that our pianist would play one of the traditional hymnal songs, with someone leading. Then, we would bring the band up (with a transitional prayer) to do a couple of songs. I would try to mix in some more contemporary versions of traditional hymns at first (the Solid Rock, Jesus Paid it All, Victory in Jesus), and when we felt comfortable enough that they would embrace something new, we would teach a new contemporary song.
We were finally able to transition into a ‘Best of both worlds’ type of worship service, that seemed to work well. We would never have gotten there without a lot of prayer to seek God’s guidance. If you have any questions, I’d be glad to help. I’ve been through it, so I understand the kind of struggle it can be. I’ll keep you in my prayers 🙂 Hope this helps.
Scott,
Thanx for all the advice. I’m going to talk with the assistant pastor about the things that you suggested. I might have some more questions for you as we start trying some of these things. We really appreciate your prayers. I really think that my church has a lot of potential and the preaching is amazing. I believe that we just have to package it better so that we can lead more people within our community to Christ. We really need to get our congregation excited to be effective in our community.
Carnadi, these are some great tips from Scott. I agree that things just need to be introduced slowly. I might also suggest involving some younger people on the worship team. That will help build excitement among them on the team as well as in the congregation. Plug the next generation into ministry, envision them, and teach them how to serve the older.
Carnadi – you are in a challenging spot. Lots of opportunity there, and good advice here, tho. The other thing I would suggest is trying to start connecting some of the younger ones with the older members. Take one of each to lunch and build that friendship.
In our situation, our leader (and our congregation) are open to changing some things. So it’s a different issue from Carnadi. Ours is a leadership issue. Our leader has a vision, although I don’t know if it’s been committed to paper. We (church staff, most band members, most of the congregation) agree with the vision.
It’s really more a matter of execution. One of the fears (i think) is that he may lose a few of the band members, especially if there are additional practice obligations (right now we only rehearse early on Sunday morning).
Thanx, Phil. That is some really good advice. I will work at trying to get the younger members to create relationships with the older members. I kind of already have that myself since I am the leader of our churches single parents class. All the people within the class are older than me and they have allowed me to make changes within the class. They trust and respect me and I have become friends with a few of them, but I’m only one person. I need to get others involved as well.
I just want to thank everyone for such good advice. I will prayerfully take them to the Lord and then to my assistant pastor.
These are great tips. I think building consensus with your team and key leaders is essential. Leave room in the vision aspect for your people to contribute, then solicit their buy-in to make the changes. Implement incrementally, “let’s try this”.
With generational issues, try to encourage the generations to join together and not insist on their preferences – for the sake of the gospel. Great article Dave.
This is a great blog. I think it is very helpful for those who are “new” at leading worship. For me, I am 21 years old and lead a team of people who are 10+ years older than I am. I always feel very out of place instructing them on what needs to happen. But this is a helpful blog to keep in mind a set goal on what God as called us to do, to keep in mind the vision of the church and what the Pastor wants to accomplish and of course, the gospel. Without the Gospel all is lost. We would worship without cause without Jesus. Thanks for your perspective!
-DiAnza
DiAnza, thanks for stopping by. I write with you in mind. Would love to have you join with this community in 2012. It’s very encouraging to connect with other worship leaders across the world. I think it will benefit you greatly! Where are you from?
I am so glad that I found your blog! Thank you so much for the insight. I am in a situation much like Carnadi. My husband and I are trying to help revive an inner city church that has dwindled down to about 40 members, all over the age of 50 (except for 3 young couples). We have made a lot of progress, but we have also faced a lot of resistance as well. Our main problem is a sheer lack of able bodied individuals! Do you have any advice for how to continue when you don’t really have enough people for a fully functional worship team? I am pretty much on my own, and there are several naysayers in the congregation that are making a fuss about it being the “Lauren Show.” I really don’t want people to think it is all about me!! That is not the point at all! What are my options here?
Great question, Lauren. Are there any other able musicians in your church? Start getting them connected slowly. If not (or if they’re simply not good enough), don’t be afraid of simplicity and small beginnings. I’d rather have a small team with unity than a large, distracting mess 🙂
If I were you, I’d 1) pray for new musicians to come, and 2) ask any musician friends I know to help. But don’t worry about the “naysayers”. They are everywhere 🙂