Spiritual Growth (10-30-15)

In the autumn of 1992, Michael Plant, a popular American sailor, set out on a solo crossing of the North Atlantic from the United States to France. He was an expert who had circumnavigated the globe alone more than once. His midsized sailboat, the Coyote, was state of the art from hull to mast to sails to navigational and electronic equipment. As far as colleagues and friends and family were concerned, Michael Plant had everything necessary to achieve success on his voyage.

Eleven days into the trip, all contact with him was lost. A massive search was launched. Days went by with no sightings, no radio contact, nothing, even from his top of the line emergency, position-indicating radio beacon. Then came the news that no one had ever expected. The Coyote was found, floating upside down, 450 miles northwest of the Azores Islands. There was no sign of Plant, relayed the crew of a freighter who had made the discovery.

The sailing community was surprised that the sailboat was discovered upside down in the water. Sailboats don’t normally capsize. They’re built to take the most vigorous pounding a sea can offer, and even when knocked on its side or even upside down, they naturally right themselves. Why this anomaly?

Sailboats are designed for maximum stability in strong winds by having more weight below the waterline than above. That’s one of the purposes of the keel. Alter that ratio and strong wind poses a serious threat. So when the Coyote was built, an eight thousand pound weight was bolted to the keel in order to provide far more weight than normal below the waterline. That amount of ballast should assure stability.

But when the Coyote was discovered on that fateful day, the four-ton weight on the keel was missing. Obviously the boat’s stability had been seriously compromised. So the first wave or wind of any magnitude became the probable deathblow. And a very capable, experienced and much admired yachtsman was lost at sea.

Not enough weight below the waterline. A storm blows. Life lost. In a culture that puts so much emphasis on what people can see rather than on what can’t been seen, is it any wonder that so much personal instability results? We worry more about what we wear, what we drive, what we live in, what we possess (money, wealth, power, position), than about what’s on the inside (character, spirit, heart issues), below the line of visibility. So when the storms of life blow—and they always do at some point—we don’t have the necessary ballast to ride it out safely. We become compromised. We fold. We capsize, and sometimes don’t recover. At best, we simply live life trying to survive and function at minimum capacity, as opposed to really living and flourishing and being fulfilled at every level.

Worship Evaluation (10-29-15)

Effective worship teams spend time evaluating every worship service. Provide an evaluation sheet that can be used by both the worship team and on occasion given to the congregation to gather feedback. Of course, you will need to adapt it to your particular situation and order of service. This kind of poll provides a way of saying to the congregation, “We really value your input in our worship services because we want to do what we can to bring greater excellence in all we do.”

When the congregation gathers to worship God, it is one of the most important things that the church does. It is easy to forget that worship is addressed to God and in the presence of God. “There is no room for pretense in our worship,” writes one experienced worship leader. “God sees us for who we are. He knows how we are feeling and what we are going through each time we approach the throne in worship. He knows our shortcomings and our sin. He offers us the opportunity to pour out our hearts to Him and ‘be in the moment.’ We don’t have to pretend that everything’s OK. We don’t have to pretend that we have it all together.

“Worship is our opportunity to draw strength from a place of brokenness. It is an opportunity to affirm to ourselves and those around us that God is sovereign and in control, and is able to meet us where we are. It is an opportunity for God to convict us of our sin and allow us to get right with Him. All of these facets of worship allow us to reach the place of wonder and awe and consider such a great and awesome God who loves us and desires relationship with us. Worship is where that happens.”

Worship Rehearsals (10-28-15)

Well-planned rehearsals bring excellence to the worship service. More and more congregations have adopted the plan of gathering the worship team and key participants on Friday evening for a worship rehearsal. If there is a choir and/or instrumental group, they will rehearse at the same time. The agenda usually includes the following elements:

1. A devotional time (7-10 minutes). Worshipping as a group keeps everyone on track. A worship team is not about seeking praise from others, but giving praise to God. Anyone in the congregation, new believer or unbeliever, can sense the heart focus of the worship team. It is important to spend time getting spiritual priorities straight.

2. Cast the vision (5-7 minutes). The team leader reminds the group again and again of their identity. A brief teaching, open discussion, reports of answered prayer all may fit within this time. As a leader, raise the vision, mentor others, and keep the focus on Jesus.

3. Evaluate the previous worship service (10-12 minutes). Think about what went well and what did not. The worship leader gives their own observations and everyone is invited to do the same. Someone takes notes. This can be a time of tension, so it is important to have a few ground rules about sharing. Members must evaluate themselves honestly before commenting on others. Do not allow any putting down another person, no matter how poorly they did. Comments should be helpful and encouraging. The group should be steered away from highly personal discussions that need to happen outside the group.  Wrap up with a short “to do” list.

4. Work on specifics (one hour). What does the group need to focus on? Most commonly it will be rehearsing the music, focusing on vocal technique. It may also be working on transitions, coordination, skits, etc., depending on the size and complexity of your team. Developing voice excellence takes time, practice, and good technique. It may be worth investing in resources or local personnel to give helpful hints and guidance. Focus on pitch. Try to do it well and right the first time.

What about a small church? There is a point at which a congregation is too small to need to go through regular worship rehearsals or even do elaborate planning. Clearly those congregations where the typical attendance is about 150 or more need to carefully consider having a worship team or teams, planning and rehearsals. Those with a typical attendance of 25 or less do not need to do so; they should function more informally. Those with more than 25 but less than 150 in attendance need to make a decision as to whether a worship team, planning and rehearsals will help their church grow or not. Small churches that want to be larger need to begin to operate as if they will be larger or growth is stunted.

Planning the Worship Service (10-27-15)

The process of planning a worship service is laid out here in a time line. It can be done at different time intervals, but it should not be so rushed as to result in a worship experience that does not honor God. The times suggested in this description are widely used in Adventist churches.

Months In Advance: The theme or topical focus for each service is developed by the pastor in consultation with the worship coordinator. Teams or team members are asked to pick a week with a theme that they are excited about. The key planner for each service should begin with the theme and pray about it, read about it, and talk to others about it, to get ideas.

One Month in Advance: The key planner talks to the drama leader about a skit or the media leader about a video clip, slides, or other creative ways to introduce the theme. This is also the time to select the special music. These ideas should then be shared with the worship team for input and confirmation. Also, contact the musicians, and make sure all the music is available or ordered.

Three Weeks in Advance: Present the preliminary plan sheet to the worship team and solicit their ideas. Remember, many heads are better than one.

Two Weeks in Advance: (1) Place copies of the sheet music and/or tape at the church office and notify group leader to notify others to pick up these items. (2) Line up a person to do the offering appeal. (3) Line up offertory music. (4) Line up prayer leader. (5) Add names and details to the plan sheet.

During the Week Before: (1) Get the plan sheet to the computer, light and sound people. (2) Select DVDs/CDs for the offertory and music before and after the service. (3) Get the final sound and staging details written out and present the final draft of the plan sheet to the worship team. (4) Contact the bulletin secretary with the information about the service.

Thursday or Friday Evening: (1) Have someone help with set up, blocking, moving of plants, chairs, etc. (2) Make arrangements for clean-up/putting things back after the service. (3) Remind all musicians to return their sheet music and tapes to a designated place. (4) Have a rehearsal; look and listen objectively, offer suggestions and keep it moving! You will need to modify this according to the order of service and type of worship style in your local church. A supply of the plan sheets should be printed and made available to each worship team member. It is a good idea to circulate this as a computer document file.

Worship Team Groups (10-26-15)

Your worship team may be as simple as three people who rotate leading music during worship on Sabbath. Or, your worship team may be large, with several teams of four to eight people each, which rotate, and technical sub-ministries or groups that provide worship leadership in a number of settings besides morning worship. Examples of such groups include a praise team that leads congregational singing; vocal soloists, duets, trios and quartets; instrumental teams that combine piano, organ, guitar, percussion, etc.; a choir that involves a number of members; a drama team that provides creative ways to touch hearts; media technicians who know that a picture is worth a thousand words; sound and lighting specialists; a children’s choir; a musician’s fellowship; outreach ministries of many kinds; a vocal ensemble or instrumental ensemble; and even a full orchestra.

Some worship teams serve primarily on service morning. Other worship or music ministries may focus mostly on a midweek or Friday evening service. Sometimes the budding musicians in your church need opportunity to practice and partake, but may not be ready for the main morning service. These folks may participate in other church services and in outreach opportunities to area churches, special events, children’s church, or even in nursing homes. As a worship team, do not think small and narrow; think broadly about encouraging anyone interested in participating. Provide a wide menu for participation even if it is holding cue cards, switching lights, moving microphones or stage props. Everyone is important!

Formation of a Worship Team (10-23-15)

There is only one effective way to recruit individuals to serve on a worship team. They must be asked personally. No matter how many announcements are made in the bulletin and from the pulpit, most people will not respond until they have a private conversation with a leader who asks them very clearly and specifically to join the worship team. This is essential and cannot be disregarded because of lack of time, etc., or the entire idea will fail to be effective.

When worship teams are initially formed, the pastor or an elder who oversees worship must do the asking. Once a team has been functioning for a while and replacements or additional team members are needed, then the team leader or the coordinator of worship teams should do the asking.

Often individuals asked to take on an important responsibility need time to think about it, pray about it and consider the key aspects of the role. That may seem to slow down progress, but it is really a good thing. The more careful consideration is given to the call to worship ministry, the stronger the foundation for future leadership.

It is important to put in writing the agreement by which a person becomes a part of the worship team. Provide a letter to welcome new members to the worship team. It can also be placed in the binder or information packet given to every team member. It can be customized for your situation.

Since joining a worship team is like joining a small group, many ministry leaders find a group covenant extremely helpful. It raises the commitment level of each team member and reminds each person of their challenge and calling.

The role of the worship team leader is an important one and must be clearly understood by the person(s) serving in that role. Handout written details that identify specific responsibilities of the worship team leader or worship coordinator. This role is sometimes called the Creative Director for worship.

Excellence in Worship Teams (10-21-15)

Personal excellence is nothing greater or nothing less than doing our best. This means discovering our unique niche where our individual passions, talents, and spiritual gifts converge, and working out of our strengths. Excellence in the Body of Christ is nothing greater or nothing less than doing our best. This means discovering where people can serve with their greatest strengths as well as finding the strongest people for a ministry.

In smaller congregations where there are fewer individuals, members may be asked to work outside their gifted areas in order to get the job done. In a larger congregation there is a chance for more specialization. Individuals can find their niche and flourish there.

As a congregation grows, there will be times when the pioneers will step aside from some ministries and make room for those who are even more talented and specialized. These pioneers will then be freed up to specialize in their areas of giftedness. Since the objective is not personal glory, rather glory for God, the stepping aside can be done with dignity and grace.

There will be a continued effort to discover each individual’s passions, talents, and gifts. The church will provide opportunity for the training and development of those unique qualities. Training programs will be designed to let the members succeed in lower profile experiences until they have proved themselves.

One of the benefits of this approach is increased excellence of the worship service. The quality will be raised a few notches and those serving will have great joy and fulfillment. The Body of Christ is blessed, the community is blessed, and those ministering are blessed.

Another benefit is increased efficiency. Those gifted in certain areas will reach a benchmark of quality more quickly than those working outside their area of giftedness. Furthermore, if they put in as much time as those who aren’t quite as gifted, they can raise the benchmark to a higher level.

How to Operate Worship Teams (10-20-15)

If you have worked through parts one and two on worship teams, you are ready to pull together a team and begin its work. How many people do you need? What will they do? What about rehearsals? How do you keep the team going? How often will you meet? This session will focus on a variety of suggestions gleaned from the experiences of worship teams both in Adventist churches and other Protestant congregations. Think about how these ideas apply to your situation and customize them to fit your church.

Perhaps the first item to think about is simply this: Does your local church need a single worship team or several teams? This depends very much on the specific role of your team or teams. If the worship team is to be primarily a planning group, then only one team is necessary in all except the very largest congregations. If your team(s) is to play a key role in actually leading worship each Sabbath, then it would be a good idea to have two, three or four teams, so that each team only needs to be on duty one or two services a month.

Characteristics of a Healthy Worship Team

How does a worship team function when it is healthy and effective? There are five fundamental traits of healthy teams to consider:

1. Everyone on a healthy worship team is committed to the same vision. They agree to focus on reaching for the vision and mission of the local church. This shared focus helps hold the team together. It keeps them on track. An effective leader casts the vision again and again in every team meeting and rehearsal. The leader regularly reminds each person why the team exists.

2. A healthy worship team desires mutual results. Together the team functions, knowing they can go much further as a group than they ever could alone. Another term to describe this interdependent facet of team life is synergy. That is, the output is greater than the sum of the individual parts. A worship team recognizes that there are and never will be a “star of the show” in leading worship. The only star is Jesus.

3. Healthy teams play together and pray together. A worship team that spends time building relationships outside of planning meetings and rehearsals will foster nurturing relationships that will last and help carry the team through difficult times. Teams that spend time worshipping the Lord and praying for one another will outlast groups which piece music together to put on a performance.

4. Healthy worship teams foster new leaders. A worship leader should consider part of his or her responsibility to find and mentor new leaders. As the worship team develops and grows, a leader will strengthen the ministry by raising up new leaders. That means nurturing talent, but also simply caring for the spiritual development of those in the team.

5. A healthy team is clear about the difference between leading worship and performing. It may seem like a subtle difference, but it is tempting to become self-focused when leading worship instead of God-focused. A person can lead a flawless worship service totally void of the Spirit.

Where Will It be Done? (10-19-15)

Goals are measurable, specific things to be achieved. For example, the goals of a worship team might include conducting monthly assessments, planning two large music events around holidays, and including a certain number of songs each week that appeal to certain groups in the church.

Strategies focus on the basic elements of how you will do your ministry. If a worship team is going to positively impact worship services, for example, they will probably want to have regular planning meetings and rehearsals. They may also want to conduct debrief after each service, provide training, and develop a system for caring for the members of the team.

Tasks are the specific “to do” lists that implement strategies and accomplish goals. The four elements of a clear task include who will do it, how much will it cost, how long will it take (or when should it be done), and where will it be done. For example, Julie may be asked to put together a sample worship input sheet to be handed out to seven people once a month on Sabbath asking for their response to the service. She may be given a budget to make some phone calls, photocopies, or money to buy a resource. She may also be asked to have something ready in one month. Of course she can work on it at home, but may be given permission to use the computer and printer at the church office if needed.

5. Affirm the Leader: Before you put the plan into motion, the leader needs to be affirmed. Even though the need, the people, and the program may be in place, without the right leader, a worship team should not be started. Affirmed leadership will take appropriate responsibility for the ministry. Without the right leader, problems may be quickly given to others who may not have the passion or gifts to resolve them.

Sometimes the leader is identified before the proposal is presented to the church board and the suggested leader’s name is a part of that proposal. Without a designated leader, the ministry is doomed. A leader provides guidance, has a clear picture of the direction of the ministry and coordinates problem-solving for the team.

Should the leader be an equipper or a doer? At times we confuse the role of a good leader as someone who “does everything.” That is not what a worship team leader is all about. Ephesians 4 speaks of “equipping” gifts to help the members “do ministry.” A good leader is an equipper, helping the rest of the team serve effectively. It is true that some leaders will play a primary role on Sabbath morning, perhaps leading music. But in a best case scenario, a good leader reserves energy and time to build up the team. What happens when we place “doers” in the place of equippers? Such leaders will often do everything themselves. They will not build a team and attract new members. They often become overwhelmed and do a mediocre job of serving. The ministry will lack vision and be stifled. And, in the end, these people may quit. Strong “task” people are often put in roles of leadership. Try seeking a leader who is someone who thinks more in terms of “we” than “me”, who is in touch with the need to train, delegate, share, and work alongside others.

Even if such a leader cannot be found, cast the vision for that role. No one will perfectly fill it. By describing it from the outset in these terms, the worship team will more likely flourish because it is based on God’s principles for how team leaders are to function..

How to Develop Worship Teams in the Church (10-16-15)

So let’s outline a detailed, step-by-step process for developing worship teams in the church. Here are several steps to consider:

1. Identify the Need: Ministry is another word for service and service is always done in response to visible and identifiable need. This could be people to serve, or a problem to solve. The need for a worship team should be clearly felt and articulated. Ministries should not start just because other churches have one. Neither should they continue just because they have always existed. Clearly identify the need for a worship team.

Here are some questions to ask yourself and others in your congregation to help you assess whether there is a need for a worship team in your church: (1) Do our worship services involve a variety of people? (2) Is there a system in place to assess the relevancy and excellence of our worship services on a regular basis? (3) Have we created ways to nurture, affirm, and develop the budding gifts of our members in our services? (4) Is the planning and leadership of worship in our church done by a few people who may also be burdened with other responsibilities? (5) Is the involvement in planning worship seen to be more of a “task” than a “calling” for some? (6) If we were to raise the excellence of our services a couple of notches, for the glory of God, what plan is in place to do this? (7) Have we thought of the various groups our services may be totally ignoring? Children? Young adults? People from the local community?

Unless there is a felt need to have a worship team, you will meet nothing but resistance. Ponder the importance of seeing how others need to sense a need before change will take place. What may be obvious to you may need clearer articulation to others who are not as passionate about having a worship team. Don’t be surprised if people say things like, “Our worship services are fine just the way they are.”

Develop a list of your own questions that help raise important issues and highlight areas of need. Don’t focus too much on what’s “wrong.” People tend to become defensive when the familiar is attacked. Include questions that raise the sights of others about “What could be.” Then formulate statements that capture the essence of what you hear and are learning. Write them down. Pray over them. If God is planting a vision in your mind, give it time to grow.

2. Gather the People: When a need for a worship team has been identified, the next step is to form a group of people who are interested, appropriately gifted, and exhibit a genuine passion to see that need met. They meet for prayer and discussion. Through wisdom and time these people formulate a clear vision for the ministry.

Passion is the God-given desire to make a difference in the church somewhere. For you or others, it may be to dramatically improve the level of excellence in worship planning and implementation. As you prayerfully think about the need for a worship team, begin to make a list of people you believe are also passionate about this ministry.

If you have any familiarity with spiritual gifts, you may be inclined to think of worship team leaders who have gifts of music, creative communication, leadership, speaking, etc. These are certainly helpful gifts to keep in mind. But don’t limit your scope of who may be involved in a worship team. Some teams are very small and consist primarily of three or four individuals who lead a time of singing during worship. But other teams utilize multimedia, creative drama, and other elements. That may mean there are people gifted in technology, administration, and hospitality who could be a part of a worship team.

God can use a variety of people to accomplish His purposes for your church. You may not think of the gift of mercy as being directly connected with a worship team, or gifts of intercessory prayer, but there will certainly be moments when these gifts need to be exercised on behalf of the entire congregation during worship. Some churches even have a group of members with gifts of prayer spend the entire worship service hour in prayer in another room in the church, praying on behalf of the worship team leaders, the pastor, the church members, and guests.

Start making a list of possible members who are interested in being a part of a worship team. Talk with these people. Don’t ask them to make any initial commitments. Let the list grow as you continue to pray and ask God to lead the process of beginning a worship team. You might ask your pastor for suggestions. Assure him or her that you are exploring the idea of a new ministry and want to work in harmony with the church leaders.

3. Call A Meeting: At some point, call a meeting to discuss your heart’s desire for a worship team. You might meet for a potluck in someone’s home. Invite the pastor. Have someone take notes on your meeting. A sample agenda for your first meeting might include the following: (1) Prayer and praise time; (2) Short introduction to the purpose of the meeting; (3) Invite everyone to respond to four questions: One thing I really appreciate about our worship services is … Something I wish we could improve in our worship services is … I believe a worship team could strengthen our services by … One concern I have about developing a worship team is … (4) Closing comments and discussion about another meeting; (5) Prayer time.

In a second meeting, the group could focus on a vision statement for a worship team ministry. This statement would succinctly describe the preferable future of worship that it sees happening in your church. It “pictures” what could be. That’s why it’s called a vision statement. This statement can become a guiding compass to help keep your future ministry team on track. It should contain at least two elements: How will this ministry glorify God? How will this ministry build up the church?  Create your vision statement to be in harmony with your church mission statement, if your church has one. The more you wrestle with and personalize a vision statement for your team, the more it will truly be a guiding compass. If it is not owned, it will not be used and ownership usually comes from helping to construct the statement.

4. Prepare the Plan: After reaching a consensus on the need and developing a vision to meet that need, it is time to develop a ministry plan for your worship team. Continue to meet together until the strategy and details of a ministry plan is worked through. After a plan is developed it needs to be approved.

Once a clear vision has been articulated, specific plans should to fall into place. Further meetings will focus on preparing action plans that can be submitted to the church board for approval. These can be grouped into three areas: (1) Goals: What we need to accomplish. (2) Strategies: How will we get there? What is our plan? (3) Measurable steps or specific tasks: Who will do each task? How much will it cost? How long will it take?

Establishing Effective Worship Teams: Part Two - How to Develop Worship Teams (10-15-15)

As much as we admire solo achievement, writes John Maxwell in his book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, the truth is that no lone individual has done anything of value. “The belief that one person can do something great is a myth. There are no real Rambos who can take on a hostile army by themselves. Even the Lone Ranger wasn’t really a loner. Everywhere he went he rode with Tonto!”

You have probably seen the acronym for TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More. Contrary to many people’s opinions, it is true. One is too small a number to not only achieve greatness but also to accomplish a purpose effectively. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “There can be no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.”

This is why the New Testament develops a theology of the church using the human body as a metaphor. Each part belongs to a system of parts that must work together to accomplish its mission and sustain life. No one is more important than another. Each has its unique and special place in the “body.” Effective ministry takes place when the whole “body” is functioning together interdependently. God is best honored and the people most blessed.

C. Gene Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership, observed that the power of teams not only is evident in today’s modern business world, but it also has a deep history that was evident even in biblical times. Look at the example of Jesus and His approach to His eternally significant mission. He called 12 disciples to be his leadership team, and He often accomplished tasks by dividing up the team into smaller teams. Wilkes reminds us of why building church life around teams is so important: (1) Teams involve more people, thus providing more resources, ideas, and energy than would an individual. (2) Teams maximize a leader’s potential and minimize her weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses are more exposed in a system that focuses on individual leaders. (3) Teams provide multiple perspectives on how to meet a need or reach a goal, thus providing several alternatives for each situation. Individual insight is seldom as broad and deep as a group’s when it takes on a problem. (4) Teams share the credit for victories and the blame for losses. This fosters genuine humility and authentic community. In an individualistic system, people take credit and blame alone. This fosters pride or a sense of failure. (5) Teams keep leaders accountable to the goal. Individuals working by themselves can change the goal to meet their individual whims without any accountability. (6) Teams can simply do more than an individual can do in the same assignment.

For these reasons, one of the greatest geniuses of the modern world, Albert Einstein, once commented, “Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

When it comes to planning and doing worship in the church, using teams becomes even more significant. It is not just the above reasons why team work is more effective as a practical matter. There are also theological reasons why teams are more appropriate than individual activity. Corporate worship is about facilitating an environment and atmosphere conducive to the worship of the God of heaven and earth. Worship is about acknowledging, paying tribute to, showing value to this God. And from the very beginning of Scripture, the nature of God is defined as relational, a triune God, a God who lives eternally in relationship with others. Everything God does, God does in teamwork.

So why would congregational worship, designed to give praise and acknowledge the values of this God, be planned and led by one person working alone? Would not this be out of alignment with the very nature of the God being worshipped?

What’s more, if it took the Trinity to plan and produce the rich, diverse, and complex creation in the beginning, so that everything would have its place and be structured to exist in harmony and complete interdependence with everything else. How could we think it to be possible for one person to plan and produce a meaningful worship experience involving the diverse, complex, and unique gathering of individuals that God calls together for congregational life?

The Back-Story of Worship (10-13-15)

A group of researchers studying the effects of stress used twin lambs as subjects of an interesting experiment. For the first part of the experiment, one of the lambs was placed in a pen all alone. Electrical pulsing devices were hooked up at several feeding locations in the pen. As the lamb wandered to each feeding station in the enclosure, the researchers gave the lamb a short burst of electrical current. Each time this happened, the lamb would twitch and scamper to another part of the pen. The lamb never returned to the same location once it had been shocked. This was repeated at each feeding station until the frightened lamb stood in the center of the pen shaking uncontrollably. He had no place to run. There were shocks everywhere. Completely overcome and filled with anxiety and stress, the lamb collapsed in a nervous breakdown.

The second part of the experiment involved the first lamb’s twin brother. The researchers put him in the same pen. Only this time they put his mother in the pen with him. Presently, they shocked him at the feeding stations. Like his twin brother, he immediately twitched and ran; only he ran directly to his mother. He snuggled close to her while she grunted softly in his ear.

She apparently reassured him because the lamb promptly returned to the exact spot where he was shocked the first time. The researchers threw the switch again. Again the lamb ran to his mother. Again she snuggled with him and grunted in his ear, and again he returned to the same place. This happened over and over, but as long as there was a safe place, a reference point for the lamb to return to after each shock, he could handle the stress. He was able to cope.

We live in a world that is filled with the shocks of life; stress, anxiety, fear, danger, failure, hurt, pain, brokenness. The list is long. We are surrounded by forces that drain us, damage our dignity, and call into question our identity. Each year seems to bring with it a faster and faster pace of life, more demands on us, more things to do just to keep up and survive, not to mention what it takes to go beyond maintenance to the increasingly impossible dream of actually thriving. There is a profound sense of incompleteness and lack of personal resolution. 

Worship is the “safe place,” that “snuggling reference point,” that brings life into focus. It brings us face to face with a God who loves us and who embraces us no matter what. Worship’s encounter with God fills the sometimes nameless void we feel in this broken, fragmented, hyper-active world. Worship is our greatest human need and calling.

So when the stakes are so high, why would we want to be haphazard about it? Why would we simply throw a service together? Why would we let one person do it all? Why wouldn’t we choose to plan worship, to be intentional about the experience, and to do it all collaboratively, like the very God we’re worshipping?

Benefits of Worship Teams (10-12-15)

1. Focused Planning: A worship team provides an intentional focus on the planning of worship services. A team is dedicated to providing a worship atmosphere that glorifies God. This is the calling of the team. It is not a “task” but a “ministry” to take seriously. Worship teams understand the vision and mission of the local church and see their involvement as a way to move the church toward this vision.

2. Increased Participation: Worship teams, by nature, increase the level of participation both on the platform and for the entire congregation. When a “team” of people plan and lead worship, the number of people involved goes up. Many worship teams take on the challenge of bringing excellence to the service. That means utilizing a number of gifted people to provide a smooth service. Worship teams can also think of creatively connecting the congregation in worship through appropriate responses throughout the service.

3. Modeling Interdependence: As more churches move toward a gift-based approach to ministry, the desire to build “interdependent” teams is raised. Inter-dependence is the concept that each member values each other member for their unique and diverse contributions to the whole. In other words, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” An effective worship team models for the rest of the congregation that ministry is best done in groups.

4. Opening New Avenues: It is important to nudge people out of their ruts, to encourage them to sit up and take notice. Worship teams can enhance the worship experience by trying new methods to communicate the gospel. Ellen White suggests, “Whatever may have been your former practice, it is not necessary to repeat it again and again in the same way. God would have new and untried methods to follow. Break in on the people—surprise them.” (Evangelism, page 125)

5. Musical Needs Met: How many churches are desperate for gifted musicians who can communicate a message skillfully through voice or instrument? Worship teams raise the level of music quality, for the glory of God, not any person. Rehearsals and scheduled practices say to participants, “We want to give our best to God.” A worship team may also provide opportunities to teach and mentor budding musicians.

6. Shares the Burden: Many times a pastor’s well-planned Monday schedule is tossed into a blender on Tuesday because of an unplanned church crisis. That’s the nature of the work. Wednesday’s bulletin deadline produces a cute sermon title, a quick choice of Scripture for reading, and a hymn or two picked out by the bulletin secretary. What a blessing and relief a worship team can be to a pastor who is open to working with others on planning Sabbath activities.

7. Greater Representation: A worship team that uses assessment tools and is composed of a variety of gifted people from the congregation will raise the “connect” factor. When a single person plans all services, the worship “lens” becomes quite narrow. A team that is open to suggestions and plans a variety of elements in worship can help more people connect with the worship experience. Some worship leaders half-jokingly say, “We try to offend everyone equally!”

8. Raising the Excellence Factor: Sometimes we confuse “Just as I Am” theology with “Give of Your Best to the Master” when it comes to worship. Worship teams raise the value of humble service and excellent service. It is no honor to God to “throw something together” at the last minute. A careful study of the sanctuary services in the Old Testament teaches us of the care that went into preparations for worship.

9. Cost Effective: Many churches pay for the services of an organist. There are some churches that go beyond this in providing a complete array of music services. By utilizing and building a gifted team to lead music, churches may save costs spent on outside help. Such a team may also work to train others in the congregation, coaching and nurturing music talent for God’s glory. Instead of paying money for someone to come and play at your church, invest that money in lessons, instruments, or seminars for your worship team to develop their gifts. What an affirmation that would be!

10. The Priesthood of All Believers: The 16th century Reformation reminded us that we have no need to approach the throne of grace through an earthly priest. We are a “priesthood” of believers (1 Peter 2), and priests have a ministry. What better way to emphasize this important Protestant doctrine than by modeling it on Sabbath morning. By involving a variety of members of your congregation in leading worship, your church upholds the belief that everyone is a minister in the body of Christ because everyone has been given a spiritual gift.

Establishing Worship Teams (10-09-15)

Another of the core values of the divine nature is collaboration. Notice again the Genesis 1 story of creation.  The Hebrew word for God here is Elohim which is in the plural form, Gods. So when it comes to creating humans, God says, “Let us make human kind in our image and in our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) The rest of Scripture alludes to this reality that all members of the God-head were intimately involved in the creation process: God the Father was the creative thought, God the Son was the creative expression, and God the Spirit was the creative energy. All three personalities-in-one worked in perfect collaboration to both plan and facilitate creation. And all three personalities-in-one worked in perfect collaboration for the redemption and restoration of the creation. The divine image is one of relationship and creative collaboration to accomplish the divine purposes.

This is why the New Testament (especially 2 Corinthians 12) describes the Church as “the body of Christ,” a body made of up of many parts, all of equal value and significance, working together for a common purpose; to bring glory to God. Creative collaboration is at the heart of God’s image and therefore at the heart of the life of the Church which lives out the divine life on earth.

So should it be any surprise that when the church gathers to worship there will be lots of creative collaboration among the members of that local expression of God’s body to plan for that worship experience? After all, that’s the nature of the very God we are worshipping every Sabbath.

So let’s take a practical look at how to establish worship teams in the church that will enhance the weekly worship experience.

What is a worship team? A worship team is a dedicated group of interdependent, collaborative people committed to prayerfully plan, coordinate and lead public worship. Teams may vary in size. Some may be composed of three or four members who rotate leading music on any given Sabbath. Other teams may consist of 12 to 30 individuals, including coordinators for music, drama, sound and lighting, props, ushers, etc. The focus of worship teams will vary as well. In some congregations, the worship team simply provides music each Sabbath. Other churches spend time planning well in advance, in cooperation with the pastor’s sermons, to select themes, Scripture readings, music, etc.

What is the difference between a worship committee and a worship team? Usually a worship committee gives broad guidance to worship services, developing a standard order of service or liturgy. Worship teams are involved more in the details of planning weekly services and actually helping to lead worship. A committee is usually composed of people selected to provide representation. Teams are built on the gifts and interests of the people involved. A growing number of church leaders are interested in utilizing a team to help plan and lead worship on Sabbath.

A worship team can help raise the level of planning, the excellence, the thematic focus, and the relevance of the music. A team can help remove distractions. It can nudge people beyond simply “going through the motions” to provide an uninterrupted and much anticipated focus on God, which in turn facilitates a deeper human experience of the completeness and resolution we were created for.

What is the role of the pastor in a worship team? Leading worship is often relegated to the pastor. He or she is seen as the “qualified” or “trained” professional to plan and implement worship services. We often separate clergy and laity in the body of Christ. Yet the Bible defines pastoring (or shepherding) as one of many spiritual gifts in the body. Since Peter calls believers a “kingdom of priests” (1 Peter 2:9), all God’s people have been called to “minister” (serve) in the body with the unique gifts each has been given. Pastors have unique gifts that vary. Their gifts, united with other gifted members, provide a blend of abilities to give a “whole” sense to worship.

Ellen White describes this issue, going so far as to put “preaching” (often seen as the pinnacle of the worship hour) in context. She says, “Let ministers devote more of his time to educating than to preaching.” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 7, p 20) She condemns pastors who “do the labor instead of educating others to share the responsibility.” (Review & Herald, Nov. 6, 1888) We deny the New Testament teaching that we are a “body” of many parts when we expect one person to coordinate and lead worship. As one senior pastor of a growing church observed, “Worship planning is more than a one man/one woman job.”

Worship planning and leadership through worship teams is one of the ways the Church lives out its image of the divine nature.

Importance of Intentional Worship Planning (10-08-15)

Here is a typical scenario. You are sitting in your church sanctuary between Sabbath school and church. Announcements have droned on for about 20 minutes. The well-meaning elder has virtually read the entire bulletin. He then exits the platform. Mrs. Tinkerboom then begins to play the organ quietly. You recall the music from the last funeral you attended. Mrs. Tinkerboom plays the same piece every Sabbath. Mrs. Tinkerboom has been the organist at your church ever since you could walk.

After three false starts, four men walk onto the church platform, kneel for a moment, sit down and the service begins. You’ve memorized their every move. By the time the Scripture reading, the offering call, the pastoral prayer, and the special music all plod past you, like they do every Sabbath, in the same order, with almost the same participants ...you start taking a trip, in your mind’s eye. You are somewhere else. Your church services may not be like this. But many are.

What’s tragic about this kind of scenario is that it is so much in contrast to the very nature of the God who is being worshipped. Consider the story of Creation told in Genesis 1 and the very first message it communicates about God. Before God rests from His work of creation, before He presides over the first Sabbath worship service with Adam and Eve, notice how he plans and prepares.

Genesis 1 describes six days of detailed, strategic and intentional planning. God has a plan. It begins with bringing order out of chaos (verses 1-2). He then fills and infuses the order with more and more life. Each day builds upon and fills up the previous day’s creation to maximize what He’s done so far. Each day develops more complex life that requires the previous days’ completed activity. All six days possess the total building blocks necessary for a maximum experience on the pinnacle of the week, the Sabbath rest.

Imagine the worship experience Adam and Eve enjoy because of God’s approach. The story of Creation is evidence that at the heart of God’s nature is a creativity that flourishes with advance planning, intentionality, strategic thinking and action. There’s nothing during that week that happens haphazardly or without thought and foresight. God doesn’t just throw stuff together, hoping for the best results. He doesn’t come to that first Friday evening and suddenly say, “Well let’s see, tomorrow’s my first Sabbath worship experience with my creation! I wonder what can I put together for the service?”

No, God brings order out of chaos at the very beginning of the week and then intentionally infuses that order with every kind of life imaginable as each day goes by, an ever increasing energy as the week progresses, a Spirit-breathed infusion into the entire well-orchestrated process, so that when the Sabbath comes, it results in an amazing, life-enhancing, God-glorifying experience between Creator and creation.

There’s another text that alludes to this important attribute of God’s nature. The verse is about the Lamb “who was slain before the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8) What does that mean? Even before our world was created, God had made plans for the salvation of a fallen world. The Lamb would be sacrificed “in the fullness of time.” Humanity would be redeemed. The plan was put in place. An intentional strategy for dealing with sin was developed long before the need arose.

The book of Revelation refers again and again to that Christ-event as the motivation for worship among God’s people. “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created … Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” (Revelation 4:11, 5:13) Once again, God’s advance planning, the divine intentionality, for both creation and redemption provides the context and content for the experience of meaningful worship.

If intentionality, foresight, and advance planning are core attributes of the divine nature, and worship is about focusing on God and giving value to what God values, why is so much of worship activity so haphazard? Why are worship services so often thrown together without much creative thought, planning and preparation? Why do so many people choose to stay away from church because they consider it boring, irrelevant, and not meaningful? Is it possible that the very lack of strategic and effective planning for worship might be a factor in worship that often does not help to bring the sense of completion and resolution people are so desperately looking for? What could it look like for a congregation to place an emphasis on effective, intentional, creative worship planning?

Establishing Effective Worship Teams (10-07-15)

The story is told about one of the famous eighteenth century classical composers who had a rebellious son. This boy gave his parents terrible heartaches. One of the things the boy enjoyed doing to make his father upset was to come in late at night after his dad and mom had gone to bed, and before going to his own room, sit down at his dad’s piano in the living room. Slowly, loudly, he’d play a simple scale, note by note, deliberately. And he would intentionally stop the scale right before the final note, leaving the scale unfinished. Then he would go to his bedroom.

His father, hearing the scale minus the final note, would toss and turn in his bed, going crazy, his mind unable to relax because the scale was unresolved. Finally, in consternation, he would groggily stumble down the stairs to his piano and hit the final note of the scale. Only then would his mind and body surrender to sleep.

We have all been created with the need for completion and resolution in our lives. So when we don’t experience that, we feel frustrated. We are half ourselves, like there is a need for something more. Thousands of people live their lives in search of something more, never quite sure where to look, often experimenting in ways that are not effective or healthy and that do not produce the desired result.

St. Augustine, one of the early church fathers of Christianity, noted this reality about life and penned the words, “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” This is one of the central truths of Scripture. We were created by God with a God-shaped hole that can only be truly filled by God. Another way of saying it is, when we pay attention to God in our lives and how God encompasses and embraces and fills all of life, we are brought to a sense of completeness and resolution like nothing else can do for us.

When we realize that the whole point of worship is to pay attention to God as the creator and sustainer and redeemer of life, to focus our hearts on God and God’s purpose for life, we begin to sense the absolute value of worship to the human experience. Worship is one of God’s most effective tools for bringing us to a place of completion and resolution in our lives.

Yet the tragic irony is that the way so many congregations worship on any given Sabbath—the lack of intentionality, the lack of preparation and planning, the lack of focus, the lack of anything in the service that is engaging and meaningful—would lead one to think that corporate worship is not very important or less important than the other activities of the church. Our practice reveals our true belief and values.

“Evangelism is an exceedingly important work of the church, as is teaching, fellowship, servanthood, missions, and the healing of broken lives,” writes Robert Webber in his book Worship Is A Verb. “But it is worship that really stands behind all these activities. The church is first a worshipping community. Evangelism and other functions of ministry flow from the worship of the church.” (page 18)

Worship as God’s tool to connect us with Him and bring us completion and resolution in our lives is of primary significance. But if the way churches plan and facilitate the worship experience often is not as effective as it could be, then this divine tool doesn’t accomplish what it was designed to. Perhaps sloppy and poorly executed worship experiences actually increase our sense of incompleteness, like the composer painfully experienced when his son left the final note of the scale unplayed. That is actually the way many worshipers describe their feelings when they attend church services.