There’s a lot that comes with serving on a worship team and no two teams are the same. Whether you’re new to the team or a seasoned veteran, we all need reminders here and there. In no particular order, here are some tips on how to serve your church and your team well.
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Be on time
Musicians can be notoriously late. There are only a few things worse than everyone being ready to get started with a soundcheck and you’re still waiting on the last person to show up. Show up prepared and be on time.
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Practice beforehand
While some teams may use a different model, most teams have made the switch from “practices” to “rehearsals”. The difference here is that a practice is where members learn the songs, whereas a rehearsal is where everyone comes together after practicing on their own and runs through the songs together as a team. This means that rehearsals aren’t the place to learn your parts, only to perfect them. For this reason, listening to the setlist, learning your part, and practicing it before is essential for the team workflow.
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Enjoy what you’re doing (and look like it)
As worship leaders, we lead not only musically but through body language. If you would rather not be serving that day, others will be able to tell from your face and body language. And if you don’t want to be there, why should the congregation want to be there. It’s important that we show up ready to worship, not just go through the motions, and that we let our faces know that we’re excited to be there. This doesn’t mean having the widest smile possible through the entire set, but it does mean flashing a smile when appropriate and engaging with your face and body, not just your voice or instrument.
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Continue challenging your skills to higher levels
It can be easy after being on the team for a while to start to get lax in your personal skill development. It’s important that we continue not just using our gifts but also investing in it so that we can continue to lead in excellence.
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Listen to worship music
By joining a worship team, you’re joining a world-wide ecosystem filled with countless songs and styles that portray the person of God. While learning the songs that you’re about to lead is important, it’s also important to be aware of the songs that the global body of Christ is connecting with. There’s so many different things to learn from different worship expressions found around the world and one of the best ways to do that is to listen in to what they’re singing.
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Listen to non-worship music
Sometimes, we can get caught up and lost in the worship ecosystem. At that point, we also lose ears of the different things happening musically. While maintaining awareness of what’s happening in the music industry isn’t critical to leading worship, it can be helpful to see what sounds people are connecting with and implementing them in your team’s style.
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Worship off stage
The reason we lead worship is to facilitate an encounter between God and those we’re leading. Leading others in worship begins with leading ourselves in worship. It’s critical that we develop a well-worn path to the throne so that we can easily lead others there. This looks like worshipping whole-heartedly in the congregation even when we’re not on schedule, setting aside time to worship alone throughout the week, and praying for those attending. Keep the main thing the main thing.
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Interact with non-worship team members before service
The second piece to leading others in worship is knowing who you’re leading. If we don’t know who we’re leading, we won’t be leading anyone. Conversations before and after services can help give insight to who we are leading and where they’re coming from spiritually and emotionally.
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Stay aware
It can be easy to get “lost in worship” or focused on your part. But there’s a group of people who have come to be led in worship and as leaders, we have to be aware of them and ensure that they’re following (connecting). If the room hasn’t connected with a song, but you’re deep in it and unaware, you will no longer be leading, only worshipping alone, which isn’t the goal.