The word “rehearsal” indicates that we will focus on music or technology. This is the nature of the weekly rhythm of local church worship ministry teams.
But this group of volunteers you assemble each week are also part of the church, hungry for spiritual growth and discipleship. Of course, serving in the ministry regularly is a great part of the spiritual discipline of being a part of the body of Christ. But in addition to this act of service, let’s not forget that we can incorporate spiritual elements into the rehearsal and gathering time with the worship team.
At times, it can be difficult for the worship team to attend weekly rehearsals on the weekend and invest another evening in community or small groups. However, this is still a great approach, especially if your worship team rotates members. Many churches require small group involvement for their leaders.
Here are some creative ways to do this:
Talk about the message theme
One way to incorporate devotion time or scripture is to share briefly about the message for the week, the theme or topic. This moment can help focus the worship team rehearsal and help each volunteer get a reminder of the purpose for our ministry together.
Share why a song was chosen
Why was this song chosen? What is the story behind this song that you know of? Where does it come from in scripture? Sharing something along these lines helps attach the purpose behind a song and allows for some time to bring meaning beyond the music alone to the team leading the song.
Read scripture
For one season, we put up a chart and determined as a worship team to read a chapter of scripture each rehearsal, marking it off the chart. The goal was to center ourselves together, be immersed in God’s word, and stay connected to the vine even after a full day of work and now an evening of rehearsal.
Share something with someone
Break up into two or three groups before or after rehearsal and share something going on in life. This can be a lighthearted question or statement related to how you’re processing this message series of scripture from last week, etc. It doesn’t have to be long, but it does bring in an element of community.
Pair off before prayer
It’s an excellent habit to pray before and after rehearsals. You can create a ritual of taking a few moments for team members to share something for which they need prayer. You can either pray aloud, invite someone else to lead prayer, or invite the whole group to pray. Another way might be to number off and have people meet in pairs to share something for which they would like prayer, then come back to the circle and pray as a whole team.
Prayer walk
In a small way, you can finish a rehearsal now and then with a prayer walk around the building. We have done this numerous times. We print off some locations and send everyone individually around the building to pray for the pastor (at the office door), for the kids ministry (in the kids ministry area), the pulpit, student ministry room, hospitality or welcome desk, entrance, the sanctuary seats, etc. Taking part in this brief prayer in the specific space allows each worship team member to pray in their own way and style and be a part of the church’s overall ministry.
Invite someone else to lead a brief devotion, scripture or testimony
Invite someone from your team to share their favorite scripture or a portion of their testimony. When others share, it gives some variety to the devotion part of the rehearsal.
