Don’t stop developing your worship ministry. There should always be something taking shape and moving forward. The leader is responsible for building a culture of development.
Ministry development most often moves pretty slowly, with a few spurts. We’re in one of those spurts. We’ve had this unusual time to step back and re-tool some of our systems, planning and vision for what worship will look like as we move forward. As hard as this season has been, it has helped worship teams across the globe get out of their comfort zone.
As new ways to lead emerge, the motivation, involvement, and energy will increase. Over the next few weeks, we will be creating new expectations for ourselves, our team and our churches.
The definition of development is to grow or cause to grow and become more mature and advanced.
Here are some areas that might be developed in your ministry:
Recruiting
Your recruiting methods can be developed, and need to be if you are going to grow. In which areas do you need help? Often, just thinking through the needs will open the door to someone walking through it. As you discern the roles needed, you can take some time to write down what each role entails. From there, develop your skill and organization in asking and attracting people to join you.
Rehearsal Culture
Rehearsal times can be developed into stronger times of growth, community and creativity. Help raise expectations of instrumentalists and vocalists practicing on their own and rehearsing together. Develop your own time management and punctuality so you are on time, prepared and ready to maximize the time together. What new thing can you try this year to develop your rehearsal time into something that people want to be a part of?
Leadership
Develop your leadership. Everyone can learn to be a better leader. As the leader gets better, everyone wins! There are many ways to do this, so just pick one and begin. Read a book, attend a conference, digest a couple of blog posts or podcasts.
Preparation
Develop your preparation skills. What areas of worship planning and prep can you delegate? What new tools can you learn to use that will help in preparation? Develop a way to get new songs learned and introduced. Develop a new team to help with planning and prep for worship.
Media
The tech world is often the easiest place to spot the need for upgrades and development. Hopefully, we notice before the projector crashes on Sunday morning. But aside from the developing and upgrading the basics, what other ways can you develop your presentation? The goal is to add depth to the worship service through media. We strive to enhance the experience and remove distractions. What steps need to be taken to be sure media serves us and not the other way around?
Expectations & Goals
Develop expectations and goals for your ministry. Most often, we don’t consistently develop because we’re not sure where we’re aiming. Begin by developing a list of the expectations you have for your team members. Develop a list of what makes a Sunday worship experience really great. Write these things down, share with your team and post them. Creating some goals can also make a difference. A few years back we made a goal to use tablets for worship and not print songs out for the band or vocalists any longer. It took a bit, but we eventually turned the corner and every worship team member uses either an iPad or the projection screens for worship.
Prayer
Develop your prayer life. Pray together as a team. Pray for your team. Pray with the pastor and staff. Help each team member develop into people who pray in public. Prayer and faith in God’s work, through prayer, develop us as disciples.