The average church in North America has roughly 72 members, only a handful of which play an instrument or are comfortable singing on a mic. If you lead a team where this true, it can be difficult to navigate Sundays where you and your team aren’t able to lead. Here are a few ideas on how to navigate those times and have peace of mind while out.

 

1. Invite a guest worship leader

   While being in ministry can be isolating, we typically know one or two other worship leaders from within our denominations, cities, or online groups. If you have a friend that your leadership trusts, invite them to come pour into your church on the day you’ll be out.

   Knowing people isn’t the only option for inviting guest worship leaders. There are plenty of up and coming worship artists that would be willing to work with a small church’s available budget to come and lead. Additionally, hiring a service like the Service Roster could be an affordable option for your church.

 

2. Use worship videos

   Since 2020, many church-goers have become much more comfortable with the use of video playback in worship settings. Additionally, online worship sets and songs are much easier to come by. Whether you’re recording you/your team and playing it back in service, or using videos from teams like Bethel, River Valley Worship, or Delaware Worship Collective, it’s a pretty simple setup with most worship presentation software.

   PRO TIP: Make sure the video file is stored locally to the computer, that way if there’s an internet hiccup, your service doesn’t suffer.

 

3. Use worship audio recordings and lyric presentation software

   While video can be a more interesting experience, worship audio recordings paired with lyrics can be just as simple to setup. You may even be able to find official lyric videos that accomplish this same thing. As with using video, make sure the files are stored locally so you don’t get interrupted by an internet disconnect.

 

4. Use a hybrid-live video setup

   This option can be quite complicated to setup/troubleshoot but the results are something that our congregants were very happy with. A hybrid-live setup uses live and pre-recorded elements to complete the worship set. This is only a real option if your team is already used to working with in-ears and tracks. Essentially, the idea is to video record the members of your team who will not be there for that Sunday. Then, incorporate the video playback with the tracks while the remaining members of your team plays along.

   There are a few different setups with this. The way our team handles it is to multitrack record those missing elements — my vocal and acoustic, for instance. Then, those get brought in with the tracks and sent out on their own outputs from our track audio interface and on to the mixer. For the worship and audio teams, it’s as if those missing elements are still live since everything gets routed through the system as usual.

   Another option could be to record those elements and pre-mix them with any additional tracks but pan the click/guide to the left and pan the music to the right. Then, at the board, split the left and right channels so that the click and guide only go to the band’s in-ear monitors. This offers an easier method for playback — you can run it as a normal video instead of through a playback system like Ableton. However, the downside is that the elements are locked in with their volumes and can’t be adjusted for the main speakers or in IEMs.

   PRO TIP: If you use a hybrid-live method and you have the capabilities, run the video as a separate feed to a tv where the missing band members/leaders would be. It’s less distracting than having one person on the main lyric screen the whole time.

 

5. Do an a capella sing

   In the Southern US (and maybe elsewhere), hymn sings have been a long-standing tradition of small country churches. Essentially, there is a song leader who takes request from the congregation of their favorite hymns. Once the song has been started, the leader gets lost in the mix of vocals from around the church, meaning the leader doesn’t usually need to be very skilled. You could organize a version of this setup for a modern service by having people write in songs beforehand or having them text a number.

 

Many of these setups does put your worship set on rails — you won’t be able to free flow in any way. But if you’re using something you’ve recorded yourself and allow God to move in the planning and recording, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Did I miss any method’s that you’ve used before? Let me know in the comments!