It’s important for church staff teams and leaders to be aligned, however, it’s really important for the worship leader and the sr. pastor.
Because these two roles are so visible and work together so visibly, it’s a major part of helping to keep the church moving forward.
When you are in alignment with your pastor, you prevent these three things:
Prevents the Silo Problem
If you’re out there on your own, people will notice. If there isn’t a connection, there won’t be any way for your congregation to align in mission. Silo ministries become so ingrown all they see is themselves… vying for larger and larger slices of the budget, the resource,s and the volunteers to help their ministry grow. It’s easily possible to become a one-eared Mickey Mouse and to think you’re really doing something great! In reality, silo ministries eventually come crashing down – on the people, on the leader or both.
This is one of the reasons I want to do my best to incorporate the leaders and volunteers in our ministry around the church in general. To make sure we’re all on the same page with where the pastor is leading. This is why I’m always happy to accommodate song selections, even on short notice when needed. It’s also one of the reasons I want to talk through worship flow, content, and music – so that what we are doing overall is fruit from alignment, at least in these practical components.
Prevents Waste of Energy and Resources
Much like a car that’s out of alignment, you’re going to be wasting valuable energy and resources if you are trying to just keep things moving straight forward. You’ll be constantly fighting the wheel that wants to go left or right immediately.
Ministry is hard enough when you’re firing all on fronts, but when you start making decisions that override or negate the input of others in your leadership circle and or your senior pastor, you’re going to be in trouble. You don’t want to waste energy and resource just because you’re not staying connected and together.
Prevents Low Morale
If you’re going to have energy and momentum, you need to be happily and joyfully serving together with your team. You need cooperation – which is just good practice for any organization. You don’t have to be “buddy buddy” to align well… If you want your ministry to benefit the church as a whole, you must cooperate with the vision and direction of the pastor, in fact, you need to be part of the process.
How do you align?
Those are the three things and if you’re a worship leader wondering if you need to double-check on the alignment with your pastor, here are some thoughts:
Start with Values
Begin with what you value. Are the basics in place? Do you have systems and timelines for weekly planning, song lists, message notes, etc? Is there a common heart for God’s word and love for the church and this particular congregation? If you have the big systems set up and the main heart things are good, you can overcome lots of little things.
Be Open-Handed
The church has pulled you in and is paying you to help serve and lead – hold the responsibility with respect, but hold it loosely. If there’s something that can be changed, be willing to consider and move forward and make the change.
Use phrases like: “We” did this together by the grace of God! Always remember it’s not your church – It’s God’s church and ministry and as leaders we are stewards.
Become Comfortable with Critique and Criticism
If you want to become more successful as a ministry team and to grow deeper at the same time in trust and connection you have to become comfortable with critque. It needs to be done in a loving, frank, and honest way – at the right times. As you build this culture, you’re in effect saying, we all are working together to sharpen each other for the sake of the mission and ministry! We want to do our best at connecting!
Keep Leading Well
In ministry (and in life) you always have someone over you and someone under you. You need to be comfortable being led and leading. You have to be willing to be a follower in order to lead well. As you are leading, do it really well and it will speak volumes for your connection and alignment with the pastor overall.
If you and your pastor are always having to align on the basic things to keep them going – like when to be there, what do to, how to do it, you’ll never get the deeper more important issues of vision, growth, and effective ministry.
I’ve been grateful to have worked with two different pastors in my current church. One was my dad who served as a pastor for nearly 30 years and I worked with him about half that time. Of course, there are some extra layers with connection as a family in ministry together – but it was fun!
Thankfully, the transition to a new pastor a few years back also worked well and from my perspective, we’re aligned in ministry and leadership pretty well.
Podcast
Listen to Episode #52 to hear the podcast on this subject!