8 Essential Elements Of A Thriving Worship Ministry 

Hi! Thanks so much for downloading this e-book and investing in your
growth as a worship leader. 

What you do is SO important to the health and vibrancy of your local

church. Your ministry impacts every person that attends your
congregation! 

That's why it's critical that you strive to build a thriving, excellent
worship ministry. I've written this e-book as a guide to show you how to
do just that.

In this book, you'll learn the eight essential areas that need your time,
attention, and focus to bring about a healthy, fruitful ministry. I'll also
give you practical action items to strengthen each area. By the time you
finish this book, you'll know exactly what you need to do to make your
ministry all that God intends it to be. 

A Quick Word About Me

My name is Alex Enfiedjian and I've been leading worship for nearly two
decades. I've led in all sorts of ministry contexts: small Baptist churches
of 150, youth groups of 50, non-denominational churches of 500,
mountain churches of 600, and now in a large mega-church of 10,000 in
Los Angeles. I even spent two years on the mission field, leading worship
in Russia! 

Besides serving in these various ministry contexts, I've also interviewed

some of the brightest minds in the worship space through my podcast:
The Worship Ministry Training Podcast. I've learned so much from
these experts, and have been able to pass that knowledge on to thousands
of worship leaders all over the globe!

All of this experience has revealed some vital truths about what it takes
to build a healthy worship ministry!

The Problems (and Solutions) Are The Same 

Over 15,000 worship leaders have accessed Worship Ministry Training's

coaching material. Some are in tiny churches, others in massive ones.
Some are in Cameroon, others in Connecticut. Whether you're in a rural
country church of 20 or a massive mega-church of 20,000, the problems
we face as worship leaders are the same. And so are the solutions. 

Over the years, I've boiled down my findings into eight essential areas
that must be in place for a worship ministry to truly be excellent. If you
see a church with a worship ministry that seems alive, I can pretty much
guarantee that you'll find these eight elements in play. 

So what are they? I'm glad you asked!

You can't lead people anywhere if you don't know where you
are trying to go. 

In order to take people somewhere, you need to have a desired

destination in mind. You have to see the desired outcome in your mind.
Only then can you begin moving people in that direction. 

And it can't be vague. 

You need to get clear on what you want your ministry to look like, feel
like, and sound like. This is your "vision". 
Your vision is what you see your ministry being in the next three to five
years. And getting a clear vision is your first step to building a thriving
worship ministry.

So how do you get a vision for your ministry? 

Well, you start by asking God. My encouragement is to take a day away

from your normal responsibilities to go somewhere to think, dream, and
pray. I would encourage you to go somewhere beautiful (ie: beach, forest,
mountain, river, lake, park, etc). 

Try to pick a place that is inspiring and also quiet. You don't want to be
around too many people (ie: Starbucks). You want to try to get in tune
with the Holy Spirit and hear His voice and promptings. 

So pick a quiet, inspiring location and leave your phone in the car (scary,
I know). Bring only a Bible, a notepad, a pencil, and an open heart. 

Then pray and ask God to show you what He wants your ministry to
look like in the next three to five years. Begin jotting down ideas and
thoughts that you have. It doesn't need to be pretty. Just get them out of
your head and onto paper. You can clean things up later. Don't refine
them. Capture them as they come. 

Think about the details. What do you want your corporate worship
experience to feel like, sound like, look like? What kind of people do you
want serving with you? How do you see your congregation engaging
during the gathering? What does the production feel like? What type of
gear do you want to have? What type of relationships do you have within
the team? What sort of energy is there? What sort of songs are you
playing? 

Try to think in as vivid detail as possible. The clearer you can get the
better. 

Once you get your ideas down, take them home and begin typing them
up into a detailed one to two-page "Vision Document". Use present
tense: "Our worship ministry is full of authentic worshippers who know
God's word and have a deep desire to be in His presence. We are loud
and expressive in our praise and we call out to Him with everything
inside of us!" 

Document what you "see". Put it on paper. Then clean it up and refine it
once or twice. Once you have a vision document for your ministry, it will
become your road map. 

Your vision document will help you know if you are on the right track. It
will help keep your decisions and actions in line with where you
ultimately want to go. You can't have a healthy ministry without a clear
vision. 

Along with a clear vision, you also need to have clearly defined "values".
What are values? 
 Values are the defining characteristics that you decide will be important
to your team. 

Everything can't be important. So what is? What is truly important to you

and your team? 

Values define what is most “valuable” to you.  They designate what your
top priorities are as a team.

It might be that "songwriting" is a value. "We are a team that songwrites

constantly." 

It might be that "production" is a value. "We are a team that is

constantly pushing our use of production to creatively illuminate the
beauty of Jesus." 

“Values define who you want your team

members to be, how you want them to behave,
and what you want them to accomplish.”

The words you choose might not currently describe your team. But they're
words that you'd like to describe your team one day. 
One helpful exercise is to ask the question: "If someone came from
another church and observed our team, what words would we want
them to use to describe us?" 

What words do you want to describe your team? What do you want
people to say when they talk about your team? 

Write them down in a list. Try to keep that list between five and seven
words. Remember, not everything can be important. If everything is
important, then nothing is important! 

To help you get started, here are the seven words that I want to be true
of my own worship team: 

We are: Worshippers, Servants, Encouragers, Committed, Family,

Creative, Progressing.

When deciding your own words, you must fight for the right words. For
example, at our church, we could have chosen "Excellent" instead of
progressing. But "excellent" feels like it's something you can attain. You
can reach it. You get to a certain level and then you are "excellent."

But progressing means that no matter how good you are, you keep
striving after more! That's what I want our team to be!

That's what it means to fight for the right words. Don't settle until you
know it's right. 
So find your value words and get them down on a list. 

Now that you have your vision and values, you need to introduce them to
your team. 

Have a team meeting and introduce (and explain) the new vision and
values of your volunteers. Get people excited about them! With
compelling words, paint a vision of where you see God taking the team,
and how you'll behave as you journey together towards that goal. 

Then be sure to constantly reiterate the vision and values in big and
small ways. You need to weave it into your conversations on a regular
basis. People have short memories, and it's the leader's job to constantly
remind them "who we are" and "where we're going". 

So that's what it means to have clear vision and values. It's the first and
most foundational element of a thriving worship ministry. 

How are you doing with defining and communicating your

vision and values to your team? 
The second essential element of a thriving worship ministry is a healthy
culture and relationships. Culture is everything in an organization. 

Management guru Peter Drucker says, "Culture eats strategy for

breakfast." What he means is that teams with great culture can
accomplish infinitely more than teams with bad culture. 

Think about these words: gossip, distrust, lies, ego, pride,

competitiveness, complaining, lethargy, negativity, corruption. 

Doesn't sound like a great place to serve, right? 

How about these words: positivity, joy, encouragement, celebration,

collaboration, progress, momentum, laughter, acceptance. 
Sounds nice, right? 

Which ministry would you rather serve in? Me too. 

That's the power of cultivating a healthy culture for your team. As the
leader, you are responsible for defining, establishing, cultivating, and
protecting your team's culture. 

But what is culture exactly? It's quite simple, really. 

Culture is how the people on your team treat each other. 

Ultimately, culture is how people interact. 

As the leader, YOU set the example and tone of how your team
members should interact. How you treat people, will be how they treat
people. Your behavior will become the standard that everyone else
copies. You know the phrase: "Follow the leader." 

If you see an area of bad culture on your team, there’s a chance it’s
stemming from you. 

I remember a season where my team was gossiping about people on the

production team. After addressing the issue with them, I realized they
had actually learned it from me! I had a habit of complaining to my
team about the mistakes the production department would make during
services. They were simply following my lead.  
 If you gossip, your team will gossip. If you speak encouragingly, they will
speak encouragingly. Make sure you set the tone by acting how you want
your team members to act.

Besides being the primary example, you must also clearly define
"acceptable" and "unacceptable" behaviors. Your team needs you specify
what are “good" behaviors, and also which ones won't be tolerated. 

"Being part of this team means..." | "Guys, we don't do that here." | "On our
team, we only speak well of others." 

“Culture is created by what you celebrate and

what you tolerate!”

Celebrate the good you see, while simultaneously confronting the bad
that you want to extinguish. If you don't vigilantly protect your culture it
will devolve into the default human condition: sinfulness and selfishness. 

Just like a garden: water the flowers, pull the weeds. We have to
actively cultivate the culture we want to have. 
Encourage and exemplify good behavior, while confronting and calling
out bad behavior. Soon your ministry will have a healthy, enjoyable
culture where people feel loved, and like they belong.

Let me give you three simple ways to improve your team's culture: 

1. Be Positive and Celebrate Others - Be a kind, encouraging,

positive, and welcoming leader. Create a warm, loving, open,
"family" environment where people feel accepted and like they
belong. Use your words to speak value into people. Believe in
people. See something in them that they can't yet see in themselves.
Call out the best in them. "Wow, you're really good at that!" "I love
this about you!"

2. Be Honest and Straightforward - Always speak the truth in

love to people. Have honest conversations with them about what's
going well and where you'd like them to keep growing. Don't leave
them guessing. Honest and open communication fuels trust. When
people know that you're willing to treat them like adults by
speaking with them face to face (instead of talking about them
behind their backs), it will increase their trust and loyalty to you as
the leader. 
 3. Show Care - Lastly, let your team members know that you care
about their lives, not just their talent. Make sure everyone on the
team feels included during casual conversations and that they feel
like their voice is heard. Send text messages to check in on people.
Call team members randomly to find out how you can be praying
for them. Take members out for coffee, or have them over for
dinner. When people feel cared for, the health of your team's
culture will increase. 

So that's the second essential element: culture.

How are you doing at cultivating and protecting your team's

culture? 

 
...and all the creative-types gag. 

But really, you can't have a thriving worship ministry without robust,
reliable administrative systems. 

The purpose of administrative systems is to bring order, stability,

reliability, and efficiency (ease) to your team. 

Without stability, nothing can grow.  

Administrative systems are the routines and processes that bring stability
to your ministry so that it can grow.
They are the tasks you do on a repeated, regular basis that bring about a
desired result. 

Basically, you want to create rhythms and routines for your ministry, so
that the right things are happening at the right times, and in the right
ways. This creates stability. 

And when things are stable your ministry can move beyond just
"surviving". 

If things are so disorganized that every week feels like you're starting
over from scratch, then it's pretty hard to make any forward progress. 

Some examples of disorganization: 

• You're texting team members last minute to see if they can play. 

• Your chord charts are perpetually wrong, and you're always

scrambling to print them five minutes before rehearsal. 

• You don't finalize your setlist till Saturday night, and your band
never comes prepared, because there was no time to practice. 

• Your sound closet is so disorganized that you can't find the right
cable to start rehearsal. 
When your ministry runs like this you are spending all your energy just
fighting against chaos. 

Why not tame the chaos monster, and then repurpose your energy into
things that will actually move your ministry forward? Things like writing
songs, recording music, recruiting new musicians, training volunteers,
doing discipleship and team building activities, or improving your
production? 

If you want a great ministry, you have to "automate" your repeated tasks.
Doing so allows you to focus on work that will actually move you towards
your ministry vision! 

You don't want to have to think about the mundane. You just want it to
work! That's the power of having great organization and administrative
systems.

So how do you build such systems? 

Well, first, you need to get everything out of your brain and onto a
calendar (or task app). 

Ask yourself: What are the things you need to do often if you want your
ministry to be strong? What needs to happen on a regular basis to have
awesome services and healthy teams? Once you list all the action steps
needed, figure out where they best fit on your calendar.
This would include weekly tasks, like all the little things you need to do to
prepare for a service (picking songs, printing chord charts, etc). List them
all out. Then pick the best day of the week to do each item. 

It can help to batch similar tasks on the same day (ie: all your song-
related tasks on Monday; all your service prep work on Tuesday; all your
meetings on Wed, etc), to keep your brain in a certain mode of thinking. 

Once you know which day works best for each task, create recurring
calendar events for every action item. If it involves other people (like
sending songs to your team, or scheduling musicians), then earlier in the
week is better. 

After you get your weekly tasks dialed in, start looking at what you need
to do each month to keep your ministry running smoothly (ie: schedule
teams, do team training, monthly discipleship, team potluck, etc). 

Get all those tasks on your calendar as recurring events, and then move
on to quarterly, bi-annual, and finally annual events. 

Build the plan, then follow the plan. 

The plan will work! 

One unexpected benefit of being a consistent and reliable leader is that

you will attract excellent people. High-quality volunteers don't want to
give their time and energy to something that is run poorly. But if they see
that you are organized and on-the-ball, they will feel like their
contribution won't be wasted. 

So be administratively excellent and watch as you attract high-quality

people!

Here are a few ways you can be administratively excellent for your team: 

1. Get Ahead of The Schedule - Instead of scheduling teams and

songs the same week as your upcoming service, why not schedule
them three or four weeks in advance? This will allow your team
members to plan their personal lives, and will also give them
enough time to practice the songs.

2. Go Above and Beyond with Resources - Our team members

are there to help us. By helping them, we are actually helping
ourselves. Do the hard work to make sure your team has everything
they need to succeed. Give them great resources so they can
prepare well. Make sure every song has a clean, correct chord
chart, an Mp3 in the proper key, and YouTube tutorial videos for
important instrumentation parts. You can even record harmony
parts for your singers! Remember, by working hard to help your
team, you're actually helping yourself (and ultimately your church)!
 3. Have A Process for Everything - The last way to be
administratively excellent is to have a process for everything. Do
certain activities the same way every time. This creates consistency
and fairness. Here are some examples of areas that need a process: 
Auditioning. Onboarding. New Team Member Training. Sound
Check. Annual Evaluations. Create documents and processes for
each of these areas, and you will bring clarity to yourself and your
volunteers.

Remember, nothing can grow without stability. Administrative systems

are how you create stability so that your ministry can actually move
forward!

How are you doing with administrative systems and

organization? 
The fourth essential area of a thriving worship ministry is musical
excellence. I would also include production (sound, video, lighting) in this
category. 

Some worship leaders over-value musical excellence. Other worship

leaders say only the "heart" matters. 

The truth is both matter to God. (We'll talk about the heart in the eighth
essential). 

God cares about the inside AND the outside. Don't believe me? Look at
the tabernacle. 
God told Moses to recruit the absolute best craftsmen and artists in all of
Israel to build His tabernacle. He wanted it to be a thing of beauty. He
wanted art, intricacy, and creativity to highlight and surround His glory. 

God cares about excellent art and so should we. Since we primarily
minister through the medium of music, we should seek to do so as
excellently as possible. 

Musical excellence, when performed with a humble heart, actually

KEEPS the attention on God. Excellence is transparent. It doesn't
distract. It highlights and enhances. 

That is how we should seek to use it. Not to draw attention to

ourselves, but to keep the attention on God. 

Musical sloppiness is a distraction and rips people's attention off of God

and onto the musician and their mistakes. 

We honor God and we help our church when we serve with excellence. 

Here are a few ways you can help your ministry grow in musical
excellence: 

1. Develop Yourself - Show your team that you are serious about
improving your craft. They should see you taking lessons, stretching
yourself into new genres, trying new techniques, learning new
instruments, etc. Remember, people follow the leader. Lead the
 way in learning! 

2. Understand Arranging Parts - Many worship teams are stuck

just playing the chords on the chord chart. But that's boring and
bland! Music can (and should) be much more intricate and
beautiful than that! Teach your band to play in parts. Where each
instrument contributes a unique part that interlocks with and adds
to the whole. Learn and understand rhythm and counter-rhythm;
melody and counter-melodies. Listen to your favorite albums with
good headphones and try to dissect what each instrument is
playing and why it “works”. Learn how to build songs dynamically,
layer by layer. Understand how parts should increase in intensity
and complexity as a song progresses, so that it unfolds and
crescendos with time. Learn the role of each instrument and the
place it should occupy within the frequency spectrum (lows, mids,
highs). Check out a multitrack file and "solo" the different
instruments one at a time to hear how all the pieces fit together.
Once you begin to grasp how it works, begin teaching the concepts
to your team. Encourage them to learn the parts of songs that
come from the original recordings. Send them YouTube tutorials
for complicated songs, and ask them to learn the specific parts.
Soon learning parts will become a normal part of their
preparation. This will dramatically increase your musical
excellence!
3. Set High Expectations - Let your team know that you expect
(and God deserves) the best from them. Lovingly inform them that
they must prepare their parts at home BEFORE they get to
rehearsal. Teach them that "practice is personal and rehearsal is
relational." That they should spend at least forty-five minutes each
week learning their parts at home, so when they come to rehearsal,
it's just about putting those parts together. Then kindly hold them
accountable to those standards.

4. Run Efficient Rehearsals - Lastly, to improve your musical

excellence, run great rehearsals! Too many worship leaders run
lousy rehearsals. The band walks away frustrated, confused, unsure
of themselves, and unconfident of how Sunday is going to go. We
don't want to do that to our beloved teams! Running great
rehearsals means that your band receives the set early enough to
practice.  When they arrive for rehearsal the stage is set up, the
charts are on their stands, and the sound system is turned on and
tested. It means that you start on time and that you keep the
rehearsal moving without getting stuck too long on any one song. It
means you check with your musicians after each song to see if they
have any questions or want to do any sections again. It also means
that you give clear direction about what you want each player to
play or any changes you'd like them to make. Don't be timid.
You're the leader. Ask for what you want! The band will be
 thankful for the clear direction, and the final product will sound
much better! After you get through all the songs once, run the
whole set top to bottom; practicing all the transitions and any
speaking or prayer parts. This allows the band to actually practice
what those moments are going to feel like in the service. If you
really want to go to the next level, record your final (full) run-
through, and send the recording to your band. Ask them to review
it and make any necessary changes before Sunday. Now everyone is
feeling confident and ready for Sunday to be a great day of
worship! 

So those are a few ways you can improve the musical excellence of your
ministry. 

How are you doing in the essential area of musical

excellence?  
The fifth essential area of a thriving worship ministry is effective training
and development pathways for your volunteers.

If you're waiting for perfect team members to fall out of heaven and into
your lap, you're going to be waiting a LONG time! That just doesn't
happen. 

The truth is: People are trained, groomed, and developed into great
team members over long periods of time. And it's your job to develop
them.

You may not have realized it when you got into ministry, but as soon as
you became a church leader, you also became a coach. 
Church leaders are equippers (see Ephesians 4). 

Your job is to coach and equip your people to be successful in life and
ministry. You are to give them the practical training they need to serve
God with excellence and purity. 

If you look at any great ministry you'll see that they have very serious
training and development pathways. Hillsong, Bethel, Passion, and
others all invest substantial time and resources into equipping their
people to be excellent for the Lord. 

It may sound like a lot of work to actively develop your people, but the
truth is, you can start small. It doesn't have to be a big, complex
program. Start simple. Invest in one high-potential team member for a
few months. Once they are doing well, move onto the next person. Rinse
and repeat until you've spent time equipping your whole team. Then
work on developing more formal training systems. (I'll give you some
ideas in a bit). 

By investing in people short-term, you reap long-term gains. They are a

better drummer/singer/guitarist for the entire time they stay at your
church. You spend three months training them, and you get to reap the
rewards for years or perhaps even decades! Training people costs you a
little bit up front, but it's so worth it!
Here are some ways you can make training and development a central
part of your ministry: 

1. Establish A Coaching Relationship - As soon as people

audition for your team, explain that your role is to help them grow
and be successful in ministry. Tell them that you'll be providing
regular feedback on what they're doing well, and where you'd like
them to grow. This establishes the coaching relationship from the
outset and gives you permission to regularly speak into areas where
you'd like to see improvement. Then, be sure to actually utilize the
coaching relationship to provide the feedback you promised. 

2. Create Alternative Outlets of Service - Not everyone is ready

for the main stage. And that's OK! You need to create outlets for
people who aren't quite ready for prime time. They need hands-on
experience, and you can provide places where they can gain it!
Start a choir for singers who can't hear harmony yet. Start a youth
band or children's ministry band, where novice musicians can gain
experience. Then occasionally send some of your best musicians
down to those "lower" venues to help train the less experienced
players. As they get better, move them "up" to a venue that requires
greater musical excellence. People need safe places to blossom. It's
your job as the leader to create such places. 
 3. Offer Regular Training - The last way to make development
and growth a central part of your ministry is by regularly offering
practical training to your volunteers. Hold monthly workshops for
your team. These can be instrument-specific workshops (like vocal
training, electric guitar training, etc). Or you can do full band
workshops, where you hone in on specific topics (like dynamics,
song memorization, stage presence, etc). Besides group training,
you can always do one-on-one training with your high-potential
volunteers. If you make one-on-one training part of your weekly
responsibilities, you will see rapid improvement across your team.
If you don't have the skills to offer the training, try pairing weaker
musicians with a more experienced player on the team. You could
even offer to pay for private lessons for one or two team members
that would benefit most. 

If you invest in your people, you will see a return. And not only will
they be blessed, but you and your church will benefit as well! Developing
people is the call of every Christian leader, so let's take that call
seriously. 

How are you doing with training and development in your

ministry?
As you can see from the previous five points, most of the elements that
make a thriving worship ministry happen OFF the platform. But how
you perform ON the stage still matters very much! Leading our worship
services is the central part of what it means to be a worship leader. We
should seek to do it well! 

What does it mean to have solid platform leadership? Is it about singing

great? Speaking well? Good stage presence? 

Partially. 

But the real way to know you're being "successful" on stage, is if you're
getting the room to participate. 
“The stage is for serving the room.”

Being a worship leader isn't about being a great musician. It's about
being a great leader. Are you leading the room? Are people following
you? Are they participating? Are they engaging? 

If you're on stage, doing your thing, but your church isn't participating,
then you're failing. 

“Your job is not to sing, but to help the people sing!”

You're not there to impress, but to invite! 

So how can we have solid platform leadership? 

There are lots of factors that go into being a good leader from the stage,
but here are two that should get you started: 

1. Be Warm and Authentic - Be a warm, welcoming, open-

hearted, people-centric leader. Be yourself. Be real. Try not to be
stiff, or fake, or overly "holy". Don't be someone that you're not...be
who God made you to be. When you are yourself, people will let
 their guard down and feel free to be themselves too. We're just a
bunch of sinners in a room, trying to hear from God and tell Him
how much we love Him. Don't make it any more complicated than
that. Don't make it a show. Don't make it a performance. With that
said, you should still speak, sing, and lead with confidence and
command. If you look nervous or unprepared, the people will feel
anxious for you. Do whatever you need to do OFF the platform to
feel comfortable and confident ON the platform. Practice your
guitar, warm up your voice, rehearse what you're going to say, etc.
If you are comfortable and confident onstage, you've won half the
battle. 

2. Actually Invite Participation - The second way to be a great

leader on the platform is to invite participation from your people.
At the start of service, remind them why they came to church:
"Family, we're here to worship the Lord of Heaven and Earth. He
is worthy of our passionate praise. We're not here to watch...we're
here to contribute to the worship of a worthy God!" If you need to,
teach them why we worship, and how: "The Bible says we raise our
hands as a sign of surrender and humility. Let's try it together."
While singing, use 'vocal cues' and exhortations encouraging them
to sing out. And at the end of worship, tell them how beautiful
their voices sounded going up to the Lord. That will encourage and
reinforce the idea that their participation matters. 
Just remember that being a great leader on the platform means helping
the room engage with God. Use the platform to serve the room. If
anything you're doing on the platform is distracting or hindering the
room from worship, then re-evaluate and try again. 

How are you doing with solid platform leadership? What's

one thing you could work on this week? 
The seventh essential element of a thriving worship ministry is clear,
consistent communication. A good leader is a good communicator. 

If you want people to follow you, then they need to know what's going
on. The more you communicate, the more connected they will feel to
what's happening in your ministry. 

Silence is a slow killer for leaders. 

First of all, silence erodes engagement. People lose touch with the central
heartbeat of the ministry. They forget what they're supposed to do, how
they've been asked to do it, and why it matters in the first place.
Secondly, silence often gets misinterpreted. 

People often take silence to mean that something is wrong. They think
you're upset at them, or unhappy about something, or crafting some evil
plan. Human beings tend to fill narrative gaps with negative assumptions
and conspiracy theories. Silence often breeds gossip and whispering. 

See how lack of communication can slowly kill your ministry? 

The solution is to communicate openly and often. The more you

communicate, the more cohesion you create. 

Let people see and hear from you often. Let them get a sense of your
heart. Give them a glimpse into your mind. Help them to know you and
what you're thinking. The more they feel connected to you, the more
they'll trust you. And the more they trust you, the more you can lead
them. 

There are different methods of communication: 

Personal Communication - A casual text message to see how a team

member is doing. 

Group Communication - A group meeting to inform the team of a

major change in the ministry. 
Digital Communication - An email about a new song you plan to
introduce. 

Face to Face - A quick reminder to the team before service about why
we worship. 

One on One Meetings - If a team member is struggling, etc. 

A great leader will use ALL of the above communication methods, and
even more.  Again, the more you communicate, the more cohesion you
create. 

As a leader, you may feel you are OVER-COMMUNICATING. But the

truth is, when you're sick of saying it, your team is barely
starting to hear it!  Welcome to leadership! There's no escaping the
need to constantly communicate. 

Here are three tips to help you excel at communicating with your team: 

1. Define Primary Communication Channels - Tell your team

how you plan to communicate with them. For example, "We will
use Planning Center for scheduling, and Email for all other
communication." Or maybe your group decides text messaging is
best... or a private Facebook group. Whatever you decide, stick to
it. Don't scatter your messages over a dozen different platforms
(Instagram for this person, Facebook for that person, email for
these people, and SMS for the rest). Hold your team accountable to
 using the agreed-upon channels, and let them know if they don't
check it, they'll miss out! Having one primary channel simplifies
your communication process and helps people know where to look
for relevant information.

2. Be Clear - It's important that you keep refining your messages

until they're as clear as humanly possible. What are you really
trying to say? What is the desired outcome of your
communication? Use less words. Cut away the clutter. Drive home
your point. Use formatting tools effectively. Make your email
subject lines clear. Put all the most pertinent information into a
succinct sentence. For example: "IMPORTANT: Mandatory
Meeting - Sunday June 4th (Please Read)". When sending written
communication, avoid giant walls of text. Use paragraphs and
section headings. Make it so that a team member could skim
through the headings and get the gist of what you're saying. Be
clear!

3. Over-Communicate - The last way to communicate well is to

over-communicate. Your team members are busy. They miss
messages. They have 1,342 unread emails in their email inbox. So
repeat yourself often. Say the same thing over and over again in
different ways. If you have a big change coming to your ministry,
email the team, then remind them in person when you see them at
rehearsal. Go an extra step and text the flakey people who will
 likely forget. Being a leader means repeating yourself often. Don't
be frustrated, it's just part of the job. You're trying to keep a diverse
group of people moving together in the same direction. It's like
herding cats. Over-communicate and you'll keep the team moving
in the right direction.

So, clear communication is the seventh element of a thriving worship

ministry. 

How are you doing in communicating with your team? 

Last but certainly not least... a thriving worship ministry exudes a deep
spiritual hunger and passion for God. This is honestly the most
important aspect of any ministry. 

If a ministry has everything else we've discussed, but lacks spiritual

passion and hunger, then it is an utter failure. 

God cares that His people love them with all their heart, soul, mind, and
strength. He is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in Spirit and
in Truth. 

He doesn't care about your songs if your hearts are far from Him. In
fact, He calls that "noise" (Amos 5:23). 
God's primary concern is your team's spiritual fruit. Does your team look
and act more like Christ? That's the only metric He's actually concerned
about. 

If your team is musically excellent but full of envy, gossip, lust, pride,
ego, backbiting, division, and gossip, then God will "spit you out of His
mouth." It doesn't matter how beautiful the songs are, if the heart is
rotten. The heart is what truly matters. 

So how can you increase your team's spiritual hunger and passion? Here
are five ideas: 

1. Cultivate It In Yourself First - Be consistent in your own

personal prayer, worship, and Bible Study times. Learn to get to a
place of adoration when it's just you and the Lord. You're the
leader and you have to exemplify this. It will naturally pour over
into your team.

2. Cultivate A Praying Team - Worship is simply prayers set to

music. If you can teach your team to pray without any music, then
it will naturally translate to the times when they're on the stage.
Make prayer a regular part of your team. And don't rush through
it either. Learn to linger. Become a praying team. 
 3. Study the Scriptures Together - Whether it's in between
services, or on a weeknight in your home, have regular times
devoted to studying and discussing the Word of God together.

4. Encourage Holy Living - Culture is corrupt to the core. Be sure

your team members aren't living like the world when they're not at
church. Encourage them to seek purity in the content they
consume online. Speak out against sinful sexual practices. Exhort
them to honor God with their bodies. Ensure that they aren't
defaming the name of Christ by being around people or in places
that they shouldn't be. Encourage your team to live a godly life.
And don't stop encouraging. 

5. Worship Without An Audience - Lastly, try having a night of

worship and prayer with just your team. No congregation, no fancy
sound system. Just a few instruments, a circle of believers, and a
desire to seek God's face and linger in His presence. 

Just like anything in life, cultivating a hunger for God takes work. But it
should be the top priority for you as a worship leader. God cares most
about your team's spirituality. And you should too! 

How is your team's spiritual hunger and passion? 

Conclusion

Now you know the eight essential elements of a thriving worship

ministry. But what now? It's not enough to simply know. It's time to take
action! James tells his readers, "Don't just be hearers of the word, but be
doers." I would say the same to you. You can know what all the
healthiest worship ministries are doing...but unless you begin to act on
this knowledge, your ministry will stay stuck where it is now. 

But your ministry is too important not to act. God has called you to lead
this critical part of your church family. He has entrusted it to you. He's
asking you to be a good steward. To return it to Him better than you
found it. He's asking you to care for your people's souls. Your worship
ministry's health will directly impact the health of your entire church!

Are you ready? Are you ready to take your calling seriously? 

Good!
Don't be overwhelmed. Pick one or two areas from this book, and work
on them this year (you already have the action steps needed). Then, next
year, work on another two areas. Soon you WILL have a healthy,
thriving, and successful ministry! 

God has called you to this. He is with you. He will guide you. He will
bless you as you seek to honor Him. Be diligent, work hard, be humble,
trust God. Watch Him work and be amazed!

-alex 

More Resources For You

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courses for worship leaders!