• Second , if you ’ re not sure what skill or habit you should invest in , ask your team and / or your lead pastor . They all know at least one area you need to grow . : - )
23 . SPEND A FULL OR HALF-DAY WITH YOUR SENIOR PASTOR . [ Ministry Growth ] Schedule something you both enjoy ( or something he / she enjoys , and you can tolerate ). It might be a day of golf , a putt-putt outing , a day of fishing , or catching a minor league ballgame . Have at least one meal together that day , too .
And be prepared . Write some questions to get to know him or her better , both personally and what he / she is seeing for the church ’ s future .
A church can only benefit from a deeper relationship between its senior pastor and worship leader .
24 . PILOT A NEW POLICY OR MINISTRY SYSTEM CHANGE . [ Ministry Growth / Future Prep / Embracing Summer Limitations ] Implement a change in a ministry operation with a trial run or pilot program . Maybe it ’ s an overhaul to your scheduling process . Or it ’ s a change to your rehearsal you want to make .
Most people are already used to being out of a routine in the summer , so capitalize on this . And if people hear “ trial ” or “ pilot ,” they ’ ll be more willing to go along with changes .
Also , seek feedback along the way . Remember , when it comes to embracing change , people will buy-in if they have a chance to weigh-in .
And likely , by September or October , you can adopt the new changes as permanent with little or no drama .
25 . DEVELOP MORE WORSHIP DESIGNERS . [ Ministry Growth / Future Prep ] If you ’ re a solo worship designer — that is , you do all the service and set planning / design , break free from that leadership and ministry barrier this summer .
When you ’ re the only one capable ( or allowed ) to plan worship sets , you are creating a cap for ministry expansion . That is , you ’ re the lid holding back future growth of both the ministry and potential leaders .
So here ’ s a quick process that might work for you : 1 . In June , invite your leaders and / or potential leaders to a training event where you teach and demo on how you planned this month ’ s songs and sets . Then , work together to plan July songs . ( You also may want to open up this event to any team members . You never know who might have a knack for creating a great worship set .)
2 . Gather again in July to plan for August . This time , let them design a mock worship set on their own , and then you can review and critique them . This will show you who has natural gifts for planning an engaging journey of worship . And who doesn ’ t . Note : Not every person who ’ s a good upfront worship leader is a good worship designer . And some of your best worship planners might not ever be upfront worship leaders .
3 . Continue this development process into the fall and beyond , and you ’ ll have a team of trained worship designers .
To help , here are two resources :
1 . SongCycle book - To effectively have multiple worship designers , you have to have a standard song list , a clear plan for rotating those songs , and a strict process for introducing new songs . You ’ re asking for musical and stylistic mayhem if you let your worship leaders and designers choose any song from any source . The SongCycle book will give you those standards and boundaries you need . Here ’ s the FREE digital workbook version .
2 . Worship Flow book - Worship Flow will show you how to move seamlessly from between worship moments using scripture , silence , prayer , music and other elements . You ’ ll also get tips for intentional verbal transitions that keep the focus where it needs to be — on worshiping God .
These two resources will help your team understand how to plan an engaging worship service from a biblical model . It will also help them avoid the rookie mistakes of poorly planned transitions and over-stuffed services .
26 . EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT BAND CONFIGURATIONS . [ Embracing Summer Limitations ] If your team is like most , their availability is sketchy over the summer . This is a great time to embrace different sizes and configurations of bands .
Consider scheduling a two-person acoustic duo ( two acoustics or a piano and acoustic ). Make it a trio by adding a percussionist to play cajon and shaker .
If you run a big vocal team , this is a great time to experiment with one leader and one back up . You might find that fewer voices in the mix actually makes it easier for the church to sing . It definitely makes it easier on your audio engineer .
If you run a larger band with multiple guitarists or keyboardists , strip down to a power trio ( bass , drums , guitar ) or four-piece combo . If everyone plays their part , you ’ ll still have great sound .
Scheduling small bands out of necessity this summer might lead you to discover some musical combinations that really resonate with your church .
27 . INVEST , WATCH , AND IMPLEMENT ONE TRAINING RESOURCE THIS SUMMER . [ Ministry Growth / Future Prep ] Set a singular ministry growth goal to focus on
28 August 2024 Subscribe for Free ...