We’re nearly at the end of our second week of 2023 and the chaos of Christmas services and New Year’s day is over. Now it’s time to focus on our goals and direction for the year. If your church is anything like the churches in my area, we’re still at lower capacity than pre-2020, and with that, our team sizes.
A goal for me this year is to build our team back up. But where do you start? While there’s plenty of information and dialogue from worship pastors (and pastors in general) surrounding the practical methods of finding and recruiting new members, there’s something that I don’t hear talked about as much. That is: your current team.
While growing a team is important, having a healthy team is more important since unhealthy growth is just swelling, which can’t last. It’s important that any new members are coming on to a healthy and functional team — not bogged down with ego, apathy, or unreachable goals. Focusing on the health of your current team actually works in your favor of growing your team. A healthy body naturally grows to its greatest potential. The way you care, lead and pastor your team correlates to how “attractive” your team is to new potential members. If your team is filled with high-caliber people who reflect Christ on and off stage, then people will see that want to be aligned with it; if your team consists of apathetic, low-skilled people who aren’t growing spiritually or in their craft, that is going to be a turn-off.
How do we lead our team well? This starts with vision, first for you, then for your team. Vision within a worship team isn’t “record an album this year” or “sign a publishing agreement” or “lead at SALT conference”. These aren’t visions, these are goals; goals should reflect the vision. The vision for your team shouldn’t be complex. The fact is, the role of a worship team is lead people in worship through communication and example. There’s flexibility in how this is fleshed out but ultimately, that’s the vision. Once you have the vision, it’s time to do what Habakuk 2:2-3 says and “make it plain and write it down”. Remember, this is still just for you. Unless you’re clear on the purpose of the ministry, you won’t develop systems that align with it and you won’t be able to communicate it to your team members. Once you’ve written it down, analyze your existing systems; what serves this vision? What should be cut away?
Next, share it with your team. Vision needs reminded; it’s not enough to say it once and move on. We must continuously refocus ourselves and our team on why we’re here. This may look like communicating at some point during rehearsals, or sending a group text every few weeks. When your team can see the vision, they’ll operate in the vision, and you’ll be effective in serving the community God has placed you in with the vision He has given you.