Kevin Carr explains why he left corporate worship:

Corporate worship, about two years ago I walked away from it. Praise music on Sundays, youth on Wednesdays—after years and years, I said goodbye to it all. I didn’t loose faith, nor did I sin my way into shame, I just burned out. My feelings, my doubts, the weight of it all just bubbled up.

Like so many others before me, I was hurt by the church and left because of it. Hurt, though, is part of any relationship; it’s what we sign up for. As time went on, I realized my hiatus was less about mending hurt feelings and more about uncovering hidden ones.

This blog offers some food for thought about worship. Issues that bug me, stuff I’ve come to terms with. While I don’t wish to offend anybody, I do wish to start a conversation. So, here it goes.

This Isn’t a Concert?

Worship leaders deal with a lot of weird stuff. There’s this pressure, this weight. We’re told that God is the priority, that Jesus is the reason. “It’s not a performance,” we’re told. “It’s a Godcert.”

Then, we’re given a microphone and put under lights. We’re in a room, with a stage, built like a performance center. Songwriters exist in just about every church, yet only Top 40s worship is allowed. Keep the drums low, pick familiar songs, fill your time slot.

Isn’t worship so freeing! No, no, not really.

Since Christian musicians can’t call what they do a concert, or performance, or take any credit, they look for confirmation where they can get it. In my day, I’d count raised hands, or note those having an “experience.” Every worship leader does this. They’re lying if they say they don’t. The problem with this system is that we inevitably pander our services towards gaining such responses, both consciously and subconsciously.

Things get shallow, fast.

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Robert Gifford offers insights for knowing when it’s time to quit your church job:

There is never a good time to leave. If things are going good, you feel as if you will be missing out if you leave. If things are going badly, you feel like you are just giving up on something that is difficult. However, there are times where God leads us to leave. Sometimes it is when things are good, and sometimes it is when things are bad.

It is important to ask yourself, how is your relationship with God? Be honest! If your devotional life and your relationship with God are strong, then it makes it easier to hear the voice of God. Things will always be awkward. Everyone will either be sad or happy that you are on your way out. Are you leaving or hesitant to go based on Faith or Fear? Either way it is important that you trust God. Sometimes we are fearful of the successes of ministry. We feel as we are not good enough or we do not know if we can sustain things. Other times we are fearful of moving on to the unknown, we might not know how our family will like the new environment, or if we will even be able to support them. Just remember, that no matter what happened or will happen, God is bigger than the situation. Don’t wait for the perfect situation to move, because there are no perfect situations, perfect churches, or perfect people. Sometimes God can lead us to a place that is completely different than what we might have in mind for ourselves. However, the grass is not always greener on the other side. Often the best church is the one we just left.

So how do you know when it is time? Insight can be found in a number of ways.

• Alignment of circumstances
• Counsel of others.
• Analyzing the pros and cons of the options by using discernment and wisdom.
• Through insight from Scripture and the Holy Spirit

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Matt Hann asks: do you care more about the task or do you care more about the individuals in your team?

We’re called as pastors and leaders to care about our people, not just our outcomes. Here are a few thoughts I’ve found helpful in focusing on caring for people first:

1. Caring takes time.
Time is a valuable commodity. Taking the time get to know your team members shows that you value them, and not just their contribution to your team. We need to be looking for the long-term relationships, not just short-term fixes.

2. There’s a difference between managing people and developing people.
Developing and discipling people takes an investment of yourself and will show the greatest fruit. It means helping team members reach their goals and potential in all areas, not just in the specific tasks allocated to them; for their benefit and not just yours. See their true potential and work toward that, not just the task at hand.

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Dwayne Moore says worship teams need to minister:

Our goal for church musicians and worship teams should be that they become ministers through music. It isn’t enough to be good musicians or great performers. Worship teams need to minister.

Ministers through music have some excellent and unique characteristics. Imagine a worship team who’s passionate about what they’re doing, with a clear sense of their calling; they are faithful to practice, they’re full of integrity, and they clearly exhibit a servant heart toward God and others. What pastor or worship leader wouldn’t want a platform full of people like that! Sound too good to be true? It’s not! Conveniently, every one of these qualities comes along quite naturally as a result of one all-important process called spiritual growth.

The good news is it’s not up to us to change people. That’s God’s job. The powerful message of 2 Corinthians 3:18 is that we are being transformed: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes the Lord, who is the Spirit” (TNIV). According to Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is both the author and the finisher of our faith. Our responsibility then, first and foremost, is to intercede for those in our worship ministries, asking our great God to grow them and transform them in His time and in His way.

1. Exemplify

Along with praying for them, there are a few other responsibilities we have as church leaders to help our teams grow spiritually. First off, we have to model the qualities and characteristics we hope to see in those we lead. Are we enthusiastic as we lead from the stage? If not, then what right do we have to tell others to be? Do we show up with a smile and an upbeat attitude each week for rehearsals? Can others sense our passion for God and for those He loves? That kind of passion will contagiously “rub off” on your ministry team if they see it first in you.

If we want our worship and production teams to be faithful and committed to growing, then once again we must set the example before them. That may sound obvious, but apparently not all worship leaders realize it. For example, one worship leader told me he was “leading” his choir through my Pure Praise study, but he didn’t understand why some of his choir members weren’t participating. I wondered too—until he let something slip which cleared up the mystery for me. He admitted he wasn’t doing the study himself. He just didn’t “have time for it.” No wonder some of his people weren’t going through it. He wasn’t out front leading the way. His team didn’t see their leader placing a priority on personal growth, so why should they?

2. Examine

The second step to help move your team toward maturity is to pay attention to your team members. Take note of their individual progress as worshipers, leaders and musicians. Ask yourself, are they being effective? Are they being challenged under your leadership? Invest time with them and be friends with them outside of rehearsals and hectic church schedules. Perhaps go out to eat as casual groups. Invite key team members over to your home sometimes. Be sure to make use of those times to notice their attitudes toward the rest of the group and toward their own involvement in the worship ministry.

I remember talking with a bass guitarist who was dissatisfied with the church he’d been playing in for years. “We never practice before we play,” he told me. And as a result, he had finally decided to move to a different church where he’d be challenged and could play with more excellence. As we spoke, I couldn’t help but wonder if his worship director had any idea he was so discontent.

Not only should we as leaders examine our group, we should also lead our group to examine themselves from time to time. Lead times of discussion about how the group is doing in key areas of ministry. Ask questions like, “Are we disciplined?” and “Do we mind getting our hands dirty and serve others off-stage?”

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Building and managing a team is simultaneously the most rewarding and challenging endeavor that a worship leader can undertake. Many leaders who are entrusted with overseeing volunteers find themselves navigating unfamiliar territory, balancing their concerns for the team’s well-being with the practicalities of directing and developing the ministry itself. With such a broad task at hand, there are a few simple approaches that can help your team feel valued while at the same time ensuring that the needs of your ministry are being fulfilled.

1. Set Clear Expectations
When we first meet a potential volunteer, it’s natural to be excited. We’ve found someone we connect with, who has a similar heart for ministry and is gifted and skilled. Often though, the temptation can be to bring them on team immediately before we have communicated our expectations.

To avoid confusion or frustration, it can be helpful to have an initial meeting where you lay out a contract for all volunteers. Despite sounding overly formal, this contract is simply a written agreement that expresses the ministry’s core values, behavioral expectations, vision for the future, and weekly time commitment. Before inviting anyone to be part of the team, they should know exactly what they are getting into. This also protects volunteers from being over-used, because they can refer back to the clearly-defined parameters of the agreement if they feel that their boundaries have been overstepped. When we started implementing these agreements with our volunteers, we saw a significant increase in commitment from team members. They understood that they were stepping into something meaningful and being respected in the process.

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