Do you ever feel like you’re alone?
That your struggles are different than everyone else’s?
You hear worship leaders talk about their live recordings, large teams, and expansive click track setups while you struggle to get people to attend your church.
You’re wondering if you’ll have a drummer on Sunday, let alone how unified your team will be in worship.
Just because you lead worship at a small church doesn’t make you less anointed, less significant, less important to the body of Christ.
Matter of fact, we need you.
We Need You
I thank God for the big worship leaders who resource the church with their songs. I thank God for the mega churches who are doing incredible things.
But I also thank God for the small church worship leaders – the unknown.
You teach us about the value of one soul – it’s not just about drawing and entertaining mass crowds. It’s about seeing one life come to Christ.
You teach us about the purity and simplicity of worship – our hearts connecting to our Maker’s. It’s about purity of heart, not production.
You teach us that best is not always bigger. It’s better to be small and humble than large and conceited.
You teach us that ministry isn’t about becoming a celebrity. It’s about reaching unreached people in every corner of the world.
So don’t stop giving, pouring out, and investing in your local community.
We, the body of Christ, thank you.
Question: Are you a worship leader in a smaller church? What are the struggles you face? Let us know in the comments!
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As a small church (30-40), we have a reasonable size worship team (~5). However, we currently have 4 singers, and 2 guitarists. One guitarist (myself) is at uni, meaning the other guitarist rarely gets a break! The singers play instruments, but the church find it hard to engage with a keyboard as the only instrument, and none are competent enough to lead themselves on guitar.
If you are looking for churches and have been/want to be involved with worship teams, please don’t be put off by churches just because they have smaller bands – They need good people to make the band bigger and you can often get completely different experiences in smaller churches as you’ll probably get more opportunities to grow as you play and lead!
I was thrown in the deep end, leading worship when I was 14 as there was no one else to do it and it has grown me so much and given me a real understanding of what it really means to be a worshipper/worship leader now I’m at a much bigger church with a much bigger band in my University city.
PJ, that’s awesome that a smaller church taught you some foundational skills. Thanks for doing what you do!
Great post to encourage everyone, I have learned a LOT from smaller church worship leaders.
They come up with fresh stuff all the time.
M_
What a great encouragement David. Statistics tell us the average church size (not just in America, but Down Under too) is 80-120 people. That means MOST worship leaders serve in relatively small churches.
YES, we DO need them and we can learn from them.
So true, Bren. We usually only hear about all the mega churches springing up. But most chuches are indeed small.
Thank you. I live this. I used to be a music director for a church of 300 people. Nowadays, I pastor a 1 year old church plant. We get about 40 people (adults and kids) on Sundays. Our music team is me 2 others gt players and 1 other singer. I am the worship leader really. We have a duo setup mostly. Me on bass/vox and acoustic guitar. Our PA is tiny and when everyone in church sings loud, it almost overpowers us. That is when music is best. We’ve got enough musos to stock a full band and several singers, but we decided to keep it simple and organic. I’m looking forward to a drummer, a real PA and playing with more musos, but small has it’s blessing too. God gives us limits to help us to see how we can enjoy them and use them for his glory. Being small has made me a more thoughtful player. What I do now is fully focused on serving my Christian family, rather than my ego.
I have the privilege of leading worship in a small church. About 15 to 30 members on any given Sunday. There are currently three of us on the team but we rotate so it’s usually a solo acoustic worship set. We have crazy schedules so sometimes one of us might risk burning out when he covers for the other two.
It’s rare that the three of us get to play as a band on any given Sunday. Makes it a little hard to gel when those occasions do arise.
I feel your pain, Tom. Might be a good idea to do auditions. Might be some other musicians you don’t know about.
Love this, Pete. Serve your church, not your ego. Brilliant.
Well said, David. Every part of the Body of Christ is significant!
Thanks Austin!
I don’t sleep very well on Saturday nights.
True story…haha
Ha! Just call me if you need a drummer. I’ll hop on a plane 🙂
Thanks for the shout out to the smaller churches David! I think one struggle is the limited time the worship leader can take a break.
I think one of my biggest struggles is wrapped up in making sure everyone on the team knows how much they’re valued. Though many times I have told them, I don’t know if my team will ever know how much I treasure their hearts, and their willingness to use their gifts to build up the body =) I am so very grateful for each of them!
Charisa, keep encouraging them! You can’t do it too much!
Thank You so much!! you do not know how much I appreciated reading this blog riht about now. I am co-pastor of a small congregation of under 50 persons. I also am the main worship leader, with two others and one back up singer. We have no musicians and own one key board and one semi acoustic guitar. we have been operational for 8 years, and have never been able to attract a musician , so we sing without music or use CD”S which I really hate. I was trained to sing with a band or without music. Anyway I appreciated this particular blog. I was feeling a little low and it really lifted my spirits. I have only come across your site today. I intend using your insights and teachings to help me personally and to build a band. Just reading a few of your blogs today and a few phone calls later and I have 3 young people from within the church who have said they are willing to learn guitar, keyboard, and one has been learning drums already . Thanks again! I will let you know haw we are progressing.God Bless You!!
Debbie,
Wow, that’s incredible! Glad to have you on board. Keep sharing in the comments. This is a great community of worship leaders who can help you as you go along.
I am enjoying reading all the entries of your site. I am leading the worship ministry at our small church(approx 115). I am realizing we are blessed with 4 other band members with me plus 2 PW teams of 4 and a choir. My struggle is finding time to keep it all organized, casting vision, choosing new songs….the list goes on– Plus I am the pastor’s wife, 4 kids and teach full time. Do you have any suggestions for delegating tasks or building a team to help me? Thank you for any insight you can share!
Cassie, you basically outlined what needs to happen! You need help. Do you have someone on your team that you think would be able to handle some of these responsibilities? If you are the leader, vision needs to come from you. You can’t delegate that. But finding new songs, organization, and scheduling should come through others.
Hey, that,s us. My husband and I are in a tiny church that is growing – from 10 people sometimes, to 30 once in a while, to we don,t know how big, but there’s less than a thousand in our town.
And sometimes we just have keyboard and guitar, or bass (whichever my husband decides to play). Usually we have a drummer who is in grade 9 (we are about 60 yrs old), and mostly we get to practice with the drummer on Sunday morning just before church, while we are still deciding if we will do the chorus twice before the bridge.
Your site has already answered or confirmed some questions and thoughts we were having this week. Want that spontaneity and flow…And we want God’s power and grace to impact the community.
We are one of 3 groups who lead worship, and we all have good weeks and not as good sets. We are still on a learning curve and growing edge – for sure.
Actually, in a little church you can effect some very personal spontaneity that seems impossible (unless you,re Mack Powell) – you can invite kids up to do actions and hopefully some time involve someone on the tambourine or…
thanks for your encouragement
Anne
Wow, really needed to hear this. As a worship leader for my youth group, I have been discouraged lately by the dwindling amount of people that show up Sunday mornings and wednesday nights at my small church. I see these huge churches like Elevation and Bethel with the sparkling lights and the beautiful guitars and a massive sea of happy churchgoers. When I look back into our sanctuary, all I see is a buzzing amplifier, a busted sound system and a thousand year old out of tune piano, with 130 or so people scatterred throughout the chairs, staring at the pastor and waiting until 12:00 strikes so they can go home, eat lunch and watch football. It is sometimes hard to compare the two dynamics and still believe that our church is somewhat successful. This article has given me a much needed reminder that having the best sounding equipment or biggest congregation is not as important than sharing the love of God is. No matter what our church circumstance, I need to be still and KNOW that God is awesome and He will take care of us! We have an opportunity to make a huge impact on our congregation and our community no matter how big or small we are. Thanks David! 🙂
Emilie, thanks for being honest here. I know there are many worship leaders and church-goers who feel just like you do. I’m sure even if we asked the “large”, “successful” churches they would have similar experiences in the past. Keep serving, Emilie!
I am struggling with my pastor’s request that I become a worship leader instead of “just” the choir director. We have about 20 people most Sundays, mostly older folks, and the singers are in the choir, pretty much not the congregation. He believes that we need more “umph” in the hymns, and that putting me in front announcing the hymns and directing will make it happen. He’s interested in upping the tempos and getting more enthusiasm, and I’m very concerned about offending the folks that we have not to mention my own worship time is becoming a time of anxiety with the thought of these changes. One other blog I read mentioned that small churches are “relational,” and I’m afraid that our pastor’s ideas are going to break some of those relationships with our pianist and with our congregation. He’s hoping that it will draw folks in; I’m thinking it will make folks uncomfortable and push them out. It’s just me, the choir, and our pianist, and our pianist is wonderfully dedicated and a good player; I don’t want to upset her, and feel there’s no need to push. I do push the choir to do different things (dance, clapping, more upbeat music with acc. tracks, etc.), but I don’t think pushing the congregation to do the same or similar will be beneficial to anyone. I tried doing some praise songs before worship a few years ago on my own, and didn’t get much reception, so I do have some experience with the crowd on which to base my opinions. This is a traditional mainline church. Suggestions?
Hey Laura, I would give it a try. Oftentimes, your pastor sees a bigger picture than you do and has a vision for where he wants to take things. I would experiment with it. If something doesn’t work out you can always switch back. Make sense?
I realize this post is about 3 years old but I just had to comment because this struck home. I have been the worship leader for a small church (40-60 on a good Sunday) for the past 11 years. I have struggled with feeling inadequate because it is usually just me and my acoustic guitar up there leading… and I can only play simple rhythm guitar so it truly is simple worship. My 12 year old son has been learning to play the djembe recently and has started playing percussion on some Sundays and it makes a huge difference! Thank you for making me feel like I am actually making a difference in our church. The wonderful church members in our congregation are so appreciative of my willingness to lead, God bless them! But I still struggle…. especially after comparing myself to some of the huge productions such as Hillsong or Bethel. BUT my heart is always in what I am singing and there is a sort of quiet connection with God that can only come from simple worship, I believe. Although I certainly wouldn’t mind a drummer and a couple more guitar players 😉