[This is part 2 of a two part series on Helping your Volunteers Feel Valuable & Significant. Check out Part 1 here.]
How many of you work with volunteers in your church? OK, ok, you can put your hands down.
How many of you wish volunteers would stay longer? Wow, OK.
Volunteer transition is part of the flow of the local church. Adjust your expectations to embrace that. However, creating systems and values that help your volunteers feel valued will go a long way to creating an unforgettable experience for them.
You see, money isn’t the only thing that motivates people. Dan Pink’s fascinating research in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
1. Autonomy – the ability to self-direct one’s life
2. Mastery – being challenged
3. Purpose – a vision beyond themselves
Qualities like these can go a long way in creating a sustained worship team. While it’s healthy for us (as leaders) to create environments where our volunteers can flourish, it’s about something deeper.
In essence, the worship team is not about THEIR autonomy, mastery, & purpose – it’s about the church.
In part 1 of these posts, commenter Rich Kirkpatrick brought up an interesting point. I thought it was so applicable to our discussion that I included it here:
“The goal is to serve the congregation first, not the comfort of the leader or the team member – the source of most conflict. It is not about a musical outlet. It is ministry. This is the hardest and best thing to teach a team.”
We need to create a culture where our musicians know this is ministry, not a place for them to flaunt their skills and live out their rockstar fantasies. We are first and foremost servants of the church, facilitating an experience of undistracted worship.
We as worship leaders need to submit our own preferences to what best serves the congregation and fulfills the vision of our lead pastors.
So do the work of creating a fun, challenging, vision oriented ministry, but remind your team (and yourself) what it’s truly all about.
Question: what are some ways we can create a humble, servant-oriented worship team? Let us know your thoughts. You can leave a comment by clicking here.
“We need to create a culture where our musicians know this is ministry, not a place for them to flaunt their skills and live out their rockstar fantasies. We are first and foremost servants of the church, facilitating an experience of undistracted worship.”
well Said David..
When I lead worship a few years back at our young adults bible study….i stressed to the guys of the song choices we were using to minister…
To me the song should be all about God and how great HE is! And has to be biblicly sound as well.
For example: if “This is the air I breathe” and “Hungery” (or i’m falling on my knees) was set in front of me by the band…i would pick “Hungery” hands down…the songs are similar but Hungery is more biblicly sound in my view and is not as repetitive, which some say is a good thing….i don’t like it but that’s just me..lol.
In other words I believe we should be singing scripture the majority of the time…If i right a song…I always put the biblical reference next to it as a reminder, I didn’t write this alone…God’s word was there the whole time…i just want to remind you of this i time of corporate worship…(psalms obviously is great for this)
I noticed you had an interview with Shane Barnard…wow…i’ve been a fan for so many years. I can honesly say…i pick up the guitar because of how i heard shane play….that was really cool.
good one david…
Biblically sound worship is so important. Glad you liked the Shane interview 🙂
I know a lot of your posts are geared toward Worship Leaders, but I gotta tell you, they are very helpful, encouraging, and challenging for someone who is a volunteer on a worship team. Thanks for this post, it is so important to know who we are serving, and what our focus is on.
Thanks Jimmy! Have any desire to be a worship leader yourself?
I do have the desire, I always have, unfortunately, my vocal abilities are less than stellar… actually, they are just bad.
God is extravegant and passionate, it only makes sense to be passionate and extravagant in your worship to Him. David danced and worshiped with such passion that his clothes fell off. Worshipers need that kind of passion, and it comes naturally as intimacy grows between Father and bride (church). As for humble worship, God gifted and led leaders to empower members to use those talents (anointing). It is a disservice in my opinion to say that you are only allowed to use half the talent/anointing you’ve been given to worship. The motivation behind the veil of music may start off in the wrong place, but God uses it. If you want to create a worship team that enters into high praise, create a program/environment that challenges them to pursue God every second of the day. As musicians fall more and more in love w/ God, the transition to worshipper and lover of God is natural and honest. You can’t make people be humble, but you can direct them to an encounter with the living God who will so captivate them with HIS love that musicians can’t help but give all their talents and passions as an extravagant expression of love back to HIM.
Good word Matt!
Matt that was the most well worded thing I have read about worship in years!!!! You summed up what I jabs been trying to teach for so long. Incredibley well said and true!
Thanks Roni, I’m glad I could encourage you with some thoughts I’ve had. I am a worshiper and lover of God that seeks to see others fall into the loving arms of the father. If this helps you and your teams, glory to GOD!
I want to add a few things if I can that I brought up in a conversation with a friend earlier today. I’m going to branch away from “egos” some and focus more on talents, as the church often sees talent as ego. I want to address this error. Ego’s are motives of the heart which only God can judge. Here’s what I mean:
As a musician, I feel like i should be able to play with every bit of talent and anointing God has given me. He is an extravagant GOD, and I am so in love with him that I can’t help but want to give him EVERYTHING and my best. A lot of times in the church, from my experience, we parade around to be “humble” for the eyes of man, but in our hearts we have rock star egos. The church tries to control those egos by limiting the things many talented musicians can play to some chords and maybe a 2 bar solo…only if they behave. I personally believe that God has anointed musicians who are true worshipers to release the presence of God through prophetic decrees made on those instruments. There is a training process that happens when a musician is learning to do this kind of thing (especially if God is leading him as a forerunner on the team). To some it may look like an ego or a spotlight hog. That happens. Nobody just knows how to do ANYTHING, there’s a process of learning that takes place. It is the job of worship teams to create a safe environment for worshipers to learn to use their talents and abilities to proclaim the presence of the Father and lead the congregation to bless the Lord.
Now on humbleness:
If you are “humble” in church only, by this I mean limiting your talent and abilities unwarranted to avoid ego- but that talent goes right back on when the musician plays outside church I challenge what you call humble. True humbleness is cooperating with the talents and anointing to play that God has given you. To not do that is pride, because it is essentially saying that this idea of limiting talent is better than God’s idea of cooperating with it. This leads to serving man’s desires over God’s. Humbleness comes as you fall deeper into the arms of an extravagant lover and father. As you realize His passion for you, your passions naturally begin to shift back to him, and off your own abilities…it isn’t about ability (or lack there of), it’s about heart. But don’t fake the heart by limiting the ability.
Looks like you might need to start your own blog, Matt! 🙂
Great post David and I love how you applied Dan Pink’s principles to a worship context. Between Rich KirkPatrick’s quote and Matt C’s comment we see the TENSIONS that come with the territory of worship ministry.
On one hand, the worship ministry is not to be an “artist showcase” …. on the other hand – passionate, talented, worship volunteers want to bring their A game for the glory of God. Why should they water it down? Indeed, why should the devil have all the good music? As a musician who is a member of the team, we have to understand “it’s not about me.”
I suggest a guiding principle should be faithfulness to the place of intersection where the vision of the house intersects the gifts of those serving.
Agreed. I don’t think we need to intentionally have bad quality. Musicians need to play skillfully but for the purpose of serving the church, rather than rocking their “gig”. Thanks for the comments, Rob. Always insightful.
-NSIGHTFU! I recently joined a church and want to assist the wl but she thinks she knows music because of anointing BUT i am a trained singer that reads music. She rubs me the wrong way and I only am helping at the behest of the pastor. I wouldnt take pettiness to him although she doesnt know how to pick ensemble songs but picks elaborate ornate compositions that are suited for mass choirs. I tried gently to explain that to her but i just shut my mouth. We are usong tracks as we wait for a keyboardist.
I have been on the Praise Team at my church for about 5 years. Of course I was still at student at the local college and my life hadn’t really started yet. I didn’t realize how influenced I was by the people who were on the praise team. I don’t like being part of praise teams that are made up of mostly people who are in the same family. At first it felt like it was a family but then I began caring more about what they think and feel about me, what they are going to say if I can’t come to practice, or even my personal life. My life changed when I started a new job and graduated from college. My job is actually 64 miles away, but God hasn’t released me from this ministry and I don’t mind driving. However, it has gotten so bad that I’d started overdrawing my account just to make it so that I don’t get interrogated or so that no one thinks that I’m living in sin because I couldn’t make it that week.
Its even gotten to the point where my praise and worship leader told me that I need to forget what I left behind (my family)and focus on where the ministry is going. I really want to step down but I don’t want to do it just because of them what do I do?
Ronda, it seems like a pretty toxic situation you’re in. I think you should probably step down, but I don’t know the entire situation. If you feel you should step down, go for it. They probably won’t understand but it’s probably best for you.
Ronda, who do you serve, God or man? If your answer is God, then follow where he is leading you. Perhaps the door for that ministry is closing, or already has if He has taken you to a job that is far away. If your answer is to serve and impress man, then keep overdrawing your accounts and continue to perform for them rather than worship God. Worship isn’t about performing to the standards and expectations of man (i.e. hurting yourself/family for the purpose of ministry). If you find this tension, get a new job, or follow God’s leading and trust that as you worship Him by following His lead, although it may lead you away from a dissatisfactory ministry He has something better in mind. Pray about direction and follow your heart, saying goodbye can be tough, but don’t allow man to dictate your obedience to God’s appointment.
Thanks Matt,
I really needed to remember that. I think I’d forgotten that along the way. Goodbye’s are definitely hard but sometimes are necessary.
We’ve had a decent p and w church ministry for about 10 years now. It just became an awesome band with the replacement of some key players. Our leader is an ego crazed narccisis who micro manages every move, every note, and every voice. We can’t grow!He has to lead sing everything knowing that others in the group sing much better.
What do you do with a leader like this? He’s a moral killer!
Has the leadership talked to him about this? Usually a strong challenge from the senior pastor is a great way to change a bad pattern.
No, great advice though but, a fine line to walk in order to keep the peace. I can’t imagine there is a simple solution that wouldn’t involve some pain on someone’s part. I pray the Holy Spirit will shake him a bit
I also have debated on how to approach a worship team issue, and whether I should bring it up with the worship pastor.
I have been part of a worship team locally, where initally things seemed great. It seemed like a great new church home, where I could transition into some worship leading with a fuller band again. The band seemed good, the worship seemed good. And from a technical standpoint they are good. I think I was initially impressed by a full band, having come from a church where I led worship with just my guitar, voice, and a drummer.
Though the worship pastor is talented and trained in singing, he’s a micromanager, constantly worrying about phrasing, vocal blending, word accents, etc, ad naseum. He appears so concerned about the performance aspect, that there is very little spiritual worship going on. It’s a performance, with the congregation typically not participating very much. Sad to see.
He typically leads all the songs himself, and lets his wife occasionally lead a song, where he is always pounce on any mistakes she makes. There are (were) several young ladies who sing excellently, but never get any chance to lead a song. When asked about leading a song, they were told in no uncertain terms that “he and his wife are the leaders”. Very strange response, since no one asked to take his position, just merely lead a song occasionally. Even stranger, is that he allows the keyboardist and the acoustic guitar player to lead songs, or whole worship sets occasionally. So, there is preferential treatment also, and some people have left the team because of this.
I am stepping down from regular participation in part due to my job demands and house remod, but if I’m honest, more due to frustration with this worship pastor. If things were different, I’d be willing to work things into my schedule. But with things the way they are, I’m not very motivated to continue to be “used”. You would think a worship pastor would get great joy in mentoring and developing younger worship leaders, not just be band members who play an instrument. I just don’t see anything like that happening here.
>>Has the leadership talked to him about this? Usually a strong challenge from the senior pastor >>is a great way to change a bad pattern.
Quick Question:
I’ve always had this problem when leading my worship team. You have members who in my view have developed a rock-star mentality, want all their suggestions to be heard and put in place, and I think they on the other hand, view me as this dictator who doesn’t listen to the voice of God (as often is the norm when someone wants to do things that they want). How do I resolve this so that it is God who is centre of everything, and both I and the concerned members don’t feel like I’m side-lining them or hate them, but instead recognise that we are all in this to give glory to God.
Intense! Have you had personal, one-on-one conversations with these people? That always goes a long way. It also makes me wonder about your leadership style – are you making people feel comfortable? Do they feel a part of something more than music? Are they growing? Do they like to be around you? Sometimes a worship team member needs to step down due to a bad attitude but sometimes these issues can be fixed if we as leaders look at our own leadership.