I’ve played acoustic most of my guitar-playing career, so I would call myself an acoustic player – and I definitely prefer it (thus this site). However, for the last 6 months or so I’ve been playing electric guitar, because our worship team doesn’t have anyone who can consistently fill that spot. There are times in life when you must lay down your own desires and do what’s best for others — in this case, your worship team.
In this post, I’ll go through some components of serving on a worship team and being flexible in each of those areas.
Your Skills
There are things you’re good at. There are things God has gifted you in, and He has put you in a place where you can give those skills back to Him in obedient service. This is pretty much the foundation of a local church worship team (and every other serving team for that matter).
You’re on the worship team, because you have musical abilities, gifts, skills, whatever you want to call it… but there’s a bigger picture here. The overarching story is that you want your worship team to be as good as it can be. If that means you are a bigger help by playing a different role, then that’s what you must do. Serve your leader and serve your team by making ALL of your skills available. Even the non-musical stuff like: administration, welcoming people to rehearsal, bringing food on Sunday mornings, etc… Look for ways to use what God has put in you.
Your Preferences
We all have preferences, of course. Satisfying all the individual preferences, when mixed together in a group of people, can become complicated and messy for a leader. That’s why you should put your preferences last on your list. It’s not about your preferences.
You should be submitted to your leader’s vision, which should, in turn, be submitted to your pastor’s vision. (see this post about submitting to your leader) What you want has to align with the larger vision you’re under, or you have to let it go. A house divided against itself cannot stand, and two visions = di-vision (got that from my pastor).
Your Team
The good of the team should be first in your mind.
“Always seek to be the best FOR the team, not the best ON the team.” — someone
Flexibility is something you have to be good at if you are to serve in ministry. I think it has something to do with the verse about there being few laborers (Matthew 9:35-38), so everyone who is serving has to end up being cross-trained at some point just to get things done.
If you’re doing something that you aren’t particularly great at, one thing you can do is look for people who are great at it and get them to join the team. In the context of a worship team, this would be musicians and singers. If you’re playing electric guitar or bass a lot (I’ve been there too…), begin to pray and look for God to send you the right people. If you keep serving with a good attitude, you’ll attract the same type of people. Be warned: the same is true for the opposite of this, though.
Your Desires
God wants to give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). Not only does He want to fulfill those desires, but He also wants to put the RIGHT desires there in the first place.
So what desires do you have for your worship team? Are you linking your faith with your leaders and believing God for the same vision? If you will do your part to spend time with God regularly, He will put the right desires in your heart through His Word and the Holy Spirit. You will be blown away at what starts happening, not only in your own heart, but also in the ministry of your worship team!
Final Thoughts
Another term for ministry could be “free & flexible work”. Shout out to all of you who are knocking this out of the park right now. You’re on your team doing whatever is asked with a smile on your face. That’s awesome! If that’s not you, I hope this challenges you to see serving on your worship team in a new light. Look for ways to do whatever is needed, and do it with a great attitude.
What instruments do you play, and what other tasks do you do for your worship team? Is this a struggle for you sometimes? Leave a comment below and join the conversation!
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