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| How To Lead A Worship Team |
Date Posted:
1/1/2000
Author:
Stuart Townend
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1. Respect for authority, and submission to the leader
Authority and submission are dirty words in some quarters! Of course, nobody likes a dictator; but you don't have to be heavy-handed to be a good leader, and it's important that all members of the team show respect for the leader's position. Essentially, this means that what you say, goes.
Debates and disputes can arise on any number of levels, from what style a particular song should be played in, to who should play in the all-important Easter service. As leader, allow people to air their views where you think it is helpful and appropriate. But the team must realize that the final responsibility and decision is the leader's, and they should accept your decision without dissent.
That doesn't mean, of course, that you're necessarily right! Subsequent events may in fact show this up. But that doesn't change the fact that you acted correctly according to what you felt was right at the time. Clearly, it's important for you to listen to others' opinions, and not to act out of selfishness or pride. But you carry the responsibility, and you are accountable both to God and to your church leaders for the decisions that are made.
Appointed and accountable
Sometimes we may wonder whether a team that is reasonably like-minded and mature needs a leader at all. Surely we can move ahead by consensus and, if necessary, by democratic voting.
Although this may sound fine in theory, the practice is often very different. Firstly, it can bring a group to a standstill. I once led a worship seminar where the delegates divided into their church groups to perform a task. As I went round the different teams, I asked one group who their leader was. They proudly told me they didn't have a leader, as they were 'democratic'. Needless to say, after 30 minutes the only group who failed to finish the task was that one!
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Are you leading a music team in your local church? Or are you thinking about setting one up, and don't know where to begin? Stuart Townend lays the foundations for establishing an effective Worship Team.
Worship teams and music groups play a pretty important part in our churches these days. They lead us in the kind of dynamic, expressive worship, which has been a major feature of God's work of renewal in western churches over the last twenty-five years. For these groups to function effectively, they require gifted leadership.
But consider this as a list of requirements for the job: musical ability, with the breadth to bring together classically-trained and pop/rock-inclined musicians; a pastor's heart, to encourage and care for insecure artists; leadership skills to envision, instruct and lead your group; the insight of a counselor; organizational skills, to prepare music and run rehearsals... the list is endless! It sounds like a pretty tall order.
It's quite surprising, therefore, that there is such a serious lack of training available to those who lead such groups. Pastors may still go off to college to learn how to preach, teach and lead (if not necessarily to pastor); yet worship leaders and team leaders are usually expected either to possess all they need naturally, or at least to be able to pick up what they need to know on the job. Admittedly, in recent years worship seminars and conferences have provided a measure of information and training on the subject. But there's very little to help you 'on the job', so to speak; and to be honest, in some church situations there is precious little support and encouragement from church leadership, who are either too busy with their own responsibilities, or keep a safe distance through ignorance or suspicion.
This series of articles will not solve your problems! However, my initial aim is to lay out some foundations and principles for an effective worship team, which may also protect leaders from the kind of burn-out which results from a lack of support and training, and which is all too common in churches today.
Foundations for an effective team
The following points may seem obvious to us on the theoretical level. And yet many of the problems we face spring from failing to establish one or more of these principles in our teams. That's not to say, of course, that once the principle has been established, it won't be flouted by team members! But if the rules of the team are clear, by implication it gives the leader authority to correct people who break them.
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