Some of you “worship leaders” have asked me to write about my adventures as the new volunteer “leader of worship leaders” at my church. Well, it’s not adventurous really; not yet. We’ve only taken our first step together. But that step is one we’ve never taken before and is worth a mention I think.
We gathered our volunteers together to ask them to make four commitments: two spiritual and two musical.
Spiritual
- Worship God all week long. Will you commit to forming a habit of listening to and responding to God all week long by daily asking God to speak to you, reading the Bible, meditating on what God says to you through it, and praying? These basic disciplines help us to “abide” in Christ, to be “branches” tightly connected to the “Vine” because “apart from Him you can do nothing.” (John 15)
- Treat us like a church, not a gig. Will you commit to being part of our community on Sunday regardless of whether you are scheduled to volunteer or not? As volunteers we’re serving not only God but our community called “church.” We do this out of deep love for both. This love compels us to be part of this community not just when we’re scheduled to serve but anytime we’re able – every Sunday we’re in town and not serving someone else in need.
Musical
- Be prepared. Will you commit to practicing your part during the week so that by Sunday morning you are prepared to serve free of self-consciousness and anxiety? Sunday morning is not to the time to learn your part, but the time to put the parts together into one beautiful whole. Every Tuesday night you will receive a song list, chord charts and mp3s and you always have access to our leaders and other players if you need help of any kind during the week as you practice your part.
- Be teachable. Will you commit to listen to others and learn from them, especially your section leader? None of us, not even leaders, have arrived – we all have a great deal to learn about our instruments from each other. Our section leaders are our main teachers, available to you for mentoring on your instrument. They may also, at times, respectfully and kindly offer unsolicited critique and instruction. The better we become at our instruments, the less self-conscious and anxious we become and the more joy we experience in serving.
Commitment
Then, I asked them to take a week to pray and talk with family about their ability to make these commitments for the next six months.
The healthiest volunteer organizations do not ask for an open-ended commitment. In other words, most churches are not healthy because the Sunday school teacher, the bass player, the volunteer counselor are all asked to commit without time limit. When a volunteer is struggling, it’s harder to persevere and serve cheerfully when there’s no end to their struggle in sight. But a volunteer can stick it out more easily and cheerfully when they know their perseverance has a finish line and they know exactly when that is. Paradoxically, volunteers are more loyal when they’re given the freedom to quit at the end of their term.
Then, I promised: No matter how passionate and gung-ho a volunteer is I will not allow him to commit to more than six months of service at a time. No matter how amazing and integral a musician is to our community I will not be upset if they cannot make these commitments at this time and I will not try to change their mind.
Sometimes we assume that because we’re great at teaching, God wants us to teach at church. Or because we can sing we should sing at church. But only God knows what the next six months hold. He knows that in a couple months our spouse will be sick, our kids’ class will need a teacher, our responsibilities at work will increase and we won’t have time to practice, we’ll be wronged by a neighbor and nurse a grudge that hinders our sincerity in worship. Our talent is not an automatic “yes” from God. We need to ask his permission and our family’s before committing to six months of service.
I also reminded our volunteers that we currently have more musicians on rotation than we have people willing to love and serve children and youth. And children are a higher priority. My hope is that some of our musicians will in fact bow out and serve children for the next six months.
So, if you serve at your church in any capacity, I’d like to hear what that commitment and experience is like? How could your church better serve those who serve her? Leave a comment. Teach me something!
Jennifer says:
those are good words that I wonder how much is applied at my own church outside of children’s ministry.
Wendy Stephenson says:
Thanks for sharing, Shaun. I apologize for not being there last night, and I’m glad I was able to read this. I love that you’re asking a commitment to worship God throughout the week. What’s in our hearts shines through in our ministry. Part of what makes a strong worship leader is one that worships when no one is watching. Thank you for your minisrty.
Christy T. says:
This is great. I love what you’ve said about open-ended commitments, because my husband and I have felt that way before in places we’ve served at our church and have had to (at times) awkwardly bow out when our situations at work or home have changed. In the last few years I’ve seen so many people ‘burn-out’ because of open-ended commitments, and what you’ve said makes total sense.
Also – love the thoughts on worship leader commitments. It’s given me some things to think about and mull over.
Ron Amundson says:
I gotta disagree with the bit about children being a higher priority. Sure, if children are starving, or lack clothing, etc, absolutely said priorities are more important.
On the other hand if its a question of talents, whether if be in worship, or with youth, or even both… there really is no priority. Rather, it is a matter of different parts of the body. A hand is of no lesser or greater important than a foot.
That being said, when it comes to resource allocation and scarcity…. the term limits, and recommendations for rotation make a great deal of sense.
Shaun Groves says:
I do think I could make a very strong biblical argument that playing with, teaching, loving on even middle-class children with full bellies is more important (central to the mission of the local church) than singing songs to God together. But that’s not the argument I’m making here.
To clarify, at our church, the need is greater in the children’s department. That’s why I said we have MORE people willing to serve thru music than we do willing to serve children. At the moment the needs of those children are more important to our church than the need for musicians. I communicated that in this post horribly. So sorry for that.
I hope that clarifies. Thanks for the pushback. Sorry for the confusion.
Heather EV says:
I volunteer in my church’s youth group and Ilove it.
I don’t have a commitment time, although I could make one if I chose to. The general commitment I have is that I could back out anytime I needed to or wanted to. Currently, I could not imagine leaving it because I adore the job and the kids I work with. It’s amazing.
Heather EV says:
Oh, and how could they better serve me? The youth leader at the church is very flaky at meetings and such, so he could be more reliable in that way. Other than that, I can’t think of much.
Shaun Groves says:
A flaky youth minister??? I’ve never heard of such.
Sarah says:
This is awesome, Shaun. I am not currently involved in the worship/music aspect of church ministry, mainly because I did it for so long without any parameters that I burned out (and I’m terrified at the prospect of experiencing that again). Our church had, at the time, the opposite problem–there weren’t many people interested in the worship ministry, and there was a real need for someone to get involved. So, when I stepped in, it became a limitless responsibility that I couldn’t balance with the rest of my life. Having defined expectations and commitments as you’ve outlined above would have really changed my “worship leading” experience.
Princess Leia says:
Being a music minister’s daughter, I’ve been on stage at church for most of my life (sometimes even voluntarily). When I was single, I purposefully took on as many tasks at church as I could, with the thought that I was allowing someone married (and especially someone with kids) to spend more time at home.
I stepped down from the children’s SS class I was teaching because I just felt I wasn’t called to do it anymore. It was hard as heck though because I loved it and I knew there wasn’t anyone to replace me. Turns out, God was calling me overseas during that year, so someone was going to have to replace me anyway and God knew best to have me step down at the beginning of the SS year rather than in the middle.
When I came back from overseas, my “place” had healed over and it was hard to get back in for a while (due to school commitments and reverse culture shock). Shortly after I _did_ get involved again, I met and married my husband. We attempted to walk away from ministry for our first year of marriage, but only succeeded for a few months.
Since the kids have come along, I’ve taken longer-than-average maternity breaks and have been involved in far less (since _I_ am now a married person with kids). And I do it without (much) guilt.
I am NOT a regular member of our church’s Sunday morning praise team (although I have made myself available to fill in, when needed), mostly because they rehearse during the SS time and after years of not having a SS class/small group, I value it too highly to miss it regularly.
I’m also NOT a member of all of our choirs (to do so would mean to either leave hubs to get the kids ready for church on his own every week or would mean waking them up early).
I guess all of that to say that, having grown up in “the ministry,” I’m ok with saying “no” and walking away from time to time (although sometimes it’s harder than others). I do remember a time though when the praise team was having us all _sign_ open-ended commitments. Before I signed mine, I added a 6-mo time frame.
I love your first step and will probably attempt to mimic it with our Saturday night group, I’m just concerned because a) I’m not the “leader of leaders” (i.e., possible toe stomping), b) many of those we work with are youth or very young adults (so life is commitment-less and/or still parental-controlled), and c) most of our “leaders” have shown little interest in committing to be part of our “church” when it’s not their turn to lead and I’m afraid that asking them to do so would mean that I’ll be the only one left. I think it’s those fears (or similar ones) that stop a lot of church leaders from sticking to requiring commitments like this.
Now to get over myself and just do it, trusting in God’s provision.
(sorry for the super-mega comment!)
Karen F. says:
Wow . . . lots to think about.
I love your time commitment philosophy. I agree that volunteers work well within parameters and it helps them to know there is an end if needed. I also have seen it work to retain volunteers as well.
I also appreciate your comments that your music volunteers are plentiful while your children’s ministry volunteers are lacking. All ministry is vital, but your church can sing without a guitar player . . . your children will not learn without a teacher!
Thanks for your heart for God’s church and how that is impacting your local Body!!
Dee says:
I go to a pretty small church, and I sing on the praise team, I’ve headed up VBS for the last several years, I take care of creating the PowerPoint slides for the service every Sunday, I do other computer stuff when needed, and I’m the lay leader so I’m at most committee meetings.
We have extremes; some people are way over committed (almost to the point of burnout *raises hand*) and most are not committed at all, and won’t commit. I think they feel like they’ll be stuck with something forever-and-ever-amen if they commit to do it.
I think if there were clear expectations about what committing to a ministry means, there’d be less fear of committing, and less over-committing. I like the six month idea. I think it’s healthy.
FzxGkJssFrk says:
I might just have to steal this verbatim and implement it this week. If you don’t mind. (And if my pastor agrees…)
10km says:
Love all four of the commitments you mentioned. Someone I worked with in prison ministry many years ago insisted that the volunteers come already “prayed up,” because, as she said, you cannot give to others what you yourself do not have.
jen says:
Sounds like you are making a lot of good choices and setting some good parameters for the volunteers – yay!
(We are a military family, so we have to switch churches every few years.) Several times when we have left churches, I have heard a lot of, “Oh, what is this ministry going to do without you? Who is going to lead? Who is going to fill your shoes?” And I always laugh. It is not about me or about what I have done. That ministry is about what God is doing in that particular part of the body of Christ. I always start a ministry with an exit point in mind (usually because I am aware that the US Air Force has other plans for our family), and I always try to share that openly. I also am fully aware that I am limited and flawed, and though I might train up others to follow in my absence, it is God who truly trains up their hearts. And time after time, I am humbled to see someone step into the place that I have left . . . and do a much better job than I could have done. I love that you have given the musicians an “out” – both in the way of pointing them to ministry elsewhere and in the sense of giving them a time limit. I think that will be powerful for the congregation and for those individuals!
“How could your church better serve those who serve her?” What a good question! Once I was the leader of a ministry in a church. The pastors in that church prayed for me at least weekly, and they reminded me that they were praying for me and for the women who ministered alongside me and the people that we ministered to. Those reminders were powerful, and the prayers were so very often answered. I am still grateful for those prayers!
Kristie says:
We do everything trimester based- both serving and even community groups- for the reasons you said. We’ve found it works very well. There’s a bit of confusion when the trimesters are ending/starting with folks thinking they must abandon their community groups for a different one when in fact they are encouraged to re-sign up with their current one if they are enjoying it. But other than that, it has been running very smoothly.
And, like you, we also have a difficult time staffing children’s ministry. Our pastor asks (in a very non-official, here’s-an-idea- kind of way) that if you have a child in children’s ministry that you would serve there at least one portion of the year. Not to discourage people without children in the ministry, but I think it’s a decent idea. We have so many people that volunteered this summer that we are rotating one week on, one off, which will probably stave off some burn-out too.
Paula from Northern Ireland says:
Thank you for the post – this was very timely as I have been working through a difficult situation in my own church about committing to something out of guilt – because I have “always done it” and faced with a shortage of leaders I have been told that once again it would be good to have my “talents” on the team – however in taking time to be quiet today, in really listening to God, I very clearly heard Him say that He wasn’t giving me permission to take up this opportunity of service. Thanks again.
MamasBoy says:
I’ve always been most fond of the ministries that have a potluck or BBQ once a month or once a year and invite the whole family. 😉 In all seriousness, I don’t think Christians eat together enough, especially in the home. Even my soccer board gets together once a year for a dinner with spouses and kids. If the Church picks up the tab for at least the meat, it’s also a nice way to say “Thanks.” for all the hard work people put in.
MamasBoy says:
At my church most Sunday School/religious ed jobs last the entire school year and then shut down for the summer. They require a 9 month commitment and then give people time off to think about things and decide whether they will teach the following year. I’m not sure how the music ministry works. I think there is one full-time guy who gets paid and everyone else volunteers. There is typically a completely different set of supporting cast at each service, so nobody has to attend more than one service except the paid music leader.
Please, let us know how this turns out and which commitments worked out the best and if you decide to add any others over time.
Kris says:
Dear Brother, I respect you all over again.
This is very encouraging to read. I think many Christian individuals and churches need to learn what you are doing.
I served in a church with 1200 members in 3 year- old Sunday school and worship hour for two years. Every single Sunday, with the exception of one when I was out of town.
When my second son was born at the end of that two year stint with a birthdefect, we were home bound with him for about three months. I was so lonely it was rediculous. The church knew. I asked for visitors, phone calls…anything. NO one came. Where were all the mamas of those three-year-olds I had been teaching?
When we returned to church, I was exhusted, needing to be fed, needing to socialize, needing love. What happened? I was put on the list for church nursry the first Sunday back. I wasn’t even asked.
I didn’t go back.
I’m now part of a different church. This church has asked nothing of me. They have loved me, encouraged me, asked what I need, begged me to let them know what they can do for me.
Now I’m in preparation for starting a new church ministry for single parents. I feel totally free and ready for this. I’m truely excited and passionate about it, because I feel loved and respected. I know my needs will be met, too.
Mela Kamin says:
This is really good … I appreciate the consideration with which you approached them – consideration for them, leaders like yourself and the church as a whole.
I’ve been involved in ministry with no end in sight and have felt burned out – and I know MANY others who pulled out possibly for good because issues like these were never addressed.
I stepped down from Sunday School after teaching for 6 years, because God allowed me opportunities to sing/speak. It was very difficult to do so, because I loved it and we are very short-staffed. However, I chose to say No, so I could say Yes to another gifting.
As for music, we have a traditional service, with a song leader singing the hymns from the back – no stage stuff. And, once a month, we have a contemporary service with a small praise band.
When people see I’m not up there, they often wonder why. I love what you said here: “Our talent is not an automatic “yes” from God.” It’s my pride that thinks I should be up there all the time … so when I’m asked, I agree only if I can commit to rehearsal & to serving that weekend without feeling pressured to perform. But there are times I have to say No. Some people don’t understand and while it sounds ridiculous from a tweeting/FBing/blogging artist with CDs to sell – that I’m trying to not make it about me, I really am trying.
My husband & I also serve as coordinators for a team and we are responsible for set up, serving as ushers, greeters, etc. a few times a month. It’s not a huge time commitment. But, it’s a still a struggle to get enough people from our group to commit to helping serve. I think if some of these issues were addressed, it would definitely help going forward. Thanks for sharing.
Kevin Cook says:
Well said.