Here are 10 Checkpoints for local church worship leaders. How are you doing in these areas? If you had to circle one of these that you need to work on, which one would it be?
1. Are you praying? Worship leaders need to pray for their church, for their people, for their ministry and for their teams. We need to set aside time to pray each day.
2. Are you planning ahead? Do you have schedules for your team? Are you prepared with music for rehearsals? Have you planned ahead so they know what is coming up? Do you have systems in place to make sure you are planning ahead?
3. Are you pastoring your team? Do you listen to your team? Are you providing opportunities for them to grow spiritually? You are their pastor – be there for them in times of struggle.
4. Are you encouraging your pastor? Pastors need worship leaders, whether you are volunteer or paid, to be loyal and supportive. Nudge your pastor when you need information pertaining to Sunday. Make it your job to find times to meet and discuss upcoming Sundays. Communicate on a regular basis. Let your pastor know the sermon was good.
5. Are you listening to new music? What system do you have for listening to and learning new songs? How will you keep the worship music fresh? Can you delegate that role to someone in the group? Be open to new music from all kinds of input. Consider writing a worship song. Here are 6 Reasons New Songs Are Important in Worship.
6. Are you challenging your group? Give your team opportunities to be stretched in both worship music, in professionalism and in outreach. Here’s one example from our worship team work day.
7. Are you delegating responsibility? I’ve recently heard something from Jason Hatley (Journey Church) about delegation. He said that if you write all your responsibilities at the end of the year, and they haven’t changed that much from last year, then you haven’t done a great job of delegating and developing people. Your team will flourish more if you hand off some responsibility and opportunities to serve, create, and lead. Another way to ask this question is, “are you replacing yourself”? Who is coming up through the ranks that will be leading worship at your church in the future? Are you inviting them? Pour into the next generation. They will be the ones who will be leading the church. Here’s some information about the way we work our children’s and student ministry worship teams.
8. Are you keeping a Sabbath? I recently heard someone suggest that we allow our work to flow from our time of Sabbath instead of thinking about resting after a week of work. I know God rested on the 7th day, and that works for me. But it’s a good perspective to think about our ministry flowing more freely after times of rest. Are you finding times to rest and allow God to be at work in you?
9. Are you staying faithful to the call? There are way more frustration in ministry than most blog post let on. I know that when I read information about growing the church, it seems simple until you are in the middle of it at your own church. But, be faithful to the call. Remind yourself of the call God has on your life. Seek the Lord for your strength. And serve where you are planted! Don’t always be looking over the horizon wondering what else is our there. When it’s time to go, based on God’s call, you’ll know. Stay focused where you are – growing the people and the church you serve.
10. Are you staying fit – spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally, financially? I recently ran across a podcast from Andy Stanley about the six rules for their staff culture. One intriguing comment he made was that each person brings home to work. There’s no way around it – if you aren’t staying fit spiritually or physically, that impacts your work, your team and your mission. If things aren’t lining up relationally and or financially at home, you bring in a different level of stress and attitude at work. Work to stay fit so that you are able and ready to serve as God has called you to.
Are there others you would add to this list? I’d love to hear them. Thank you for your faithful ministry in the kingdom!
OTHER POSTS…
10 Tools I Use For Worship Leading Each Week
5-D Worship – Worship Leadership Development In 5 Words
7 Ways Worship Leaders Shape the Church
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