However, the “worship band” model has also brought with it a new set of problems that have frustrated many worship leaders. Most of these problems stem from the fact that the musicians and vocalists who volunteer to serve in a local church worship ministry have only experienced the “band” model. These volunteers have great intentions and want to serve God with their talents, but they may need a better understanding of how playing music in a local church setting is different. The musicians of our generation are band experts. We have grown up consuming the bulk of our musical entertainment from groups of four or five guys playing bass, drums, guitars, and keyboards. As a teenager, I remember idolizing bands and wanting to be a “rock star” myself. My musician friends and I spent a lot of our time forming bands, naming our bands, creating cool graphic art of our band’s name and trying to find a place to perform. (We probably should have spent some time practicing!)

When I grew older, I had the opportunity to join a worship band in a local church. I brought with me the experience and expectations of “being in a band,” and this way of thinking continued as I later became the lead worshipper. My personal music paradigm was opposite of Romans 12:2 which says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.” NLT

Thankfully, God in His amazing grace helped me to see a clearer picture of music ministry in the church and how it is more than just having a great “band.”

So hop on the tour bus with me and lets explore together some key differences between being in a band and serving in a local church worship ministry.

Six Key Distinctions Between Bands and Local Church Worship Ministries (LCWM)

1. A band is finite, a “closed circle.” A LCWM is infinite, an “open circle.”
Most of us have been exposed to popular secular bands like the Beatles. This band was strongest as one unit: Paul, George, John and Ringo. When the Beatles split up, no individual member achieved success as great as the group enjoyed. In fact, no secular band has ever enjoyed long term mainstream popularity while constantly changing the key members of the band. Because of our exposure to this musical culture, we often assume the following incorrect statements:

1. Our worship team is strongest when it is “us four and no more.”
   
   
2. The ultimate goal of a worship team is excellence, which can only be achieved by the same group of musicians playing together for a long period of time so that they fully know each other’s playing styles and can together produce music that is “tight.”
   
   
3. Adding a new member will mess up the “chemistry” of the band

The truth is that a LCWM is not a band, even when it looks like a band, and a LCWM must be an “open circle.” This means that our worship ministries, like our churches, must demonstrate inclusion instead of exclusion. God has called us to open the circle wider to train up new worship leaders, musicians and vocalists to be the lead worshippers for the next generation. How many musicians have disappointedly left churches when they felt they would never get an opportunity to serve unless a current band member died or moved away?

A great way to put this into practice is to have multiple volunteers at each position. Finding extra singers may not be difficult, but training and investing time in new musicians can be a challenge. Still, that is what we are called to do! Using a variety of musicians and singers is a “God” idea as revealed in 1 Chronicles 25:8, “The musicians were appointed to their particular term of service by means of sacred lots, without regard to whether they were young or old, teacher or student.” NLT

A drummer with a “band” mindset gets concerned when anyone else plays “his” drums, even when the church owns the drums. Ownership mentality is concerned with “my music,” “my place on the platform,” “my equipment” and “my position” in the band. Ownership says “because of my years of faithful service, I deserve to play every Sunday.” Even in worship ministries that do rotate multiple members, if one member is disgruntled because he wasn’t chosen to play on Easter Sunday even though he has been with the band longer than the musician that was selected, the attitude is incorrect and is more influenced by a “band” mindset of ownership rather than a mindset of stewardship.

A true stewardship approach to worship ministry says, “I am only holding a position of service for a season until God brings someone else for me to share this with or pass it over to.” Stewardship recognizes that we don’t own anything, nor do we have any rights to demand. Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 9:17-18: “If I were doing this of my own free will, then I would deserve payment. But God has chosen me and given me this sacred trust, and I have no choice. What then is my pay? It is the satisfaction I get from preaching the Good News without expense to anyone, never demanding my rights as a preacher.” (NLT) Paul knew he was “crucified with Christ” and as a “dead” man had no rights that he could demand.

Many musicians and singers with a “band” way of thinking feel that they are entitled to certain “rights” due to their degree of talent or their tenure on the team. I discovered this myself when our church changed to in-ear monitors and all instrument amps were removed from the stage in order to provide a cleaner sound for the congregation. This change took our worship team out of their comfort zone. Some team members were unhappy that they could no longer have their preferred equipment played at their preferred sound level and left the team. They could not fully see past their personal sacrifices to grasp the overall vision of an improved worship experience for the congregation. As a leader, I had to shoulder much of the blame because I had not done a good job in teaching about servant ministry.

One practical way to limit team members feeling of ownership is to ask the church to purchase most of the musical equipment. Back in the day, ownership wasn’t really an issue because the church owned the piano and the organ! However, today many worship team members feel overly possessive because they use their own personal equipment. I’m not suggesting that churches provide a guitar for the guitarist, but they would do well to purchase the less personal items such as drums, instrument amplifiers, keyboards, etc…

Let’s teach our worship teams about stewardship and watch how God’s blessings pour down when we realize that everything we have comes from Him and belongs to Him!

3. A band is an exclusive, privileged group. A LCWM is about serving.
Our culture tells us that a band is all about the elevated platform, the spotlight, the exclusive backstage area, the arrival by limo and the autograph session. Though your average church musician will not arrive by stretch limo, this mindset of band exclusivity can still invade the church. It will often manifest itself by band members asking, “Where is my bottled water?” Now there is nothing wrong with bottled water and vocalists and drummers can certainly use hydration, but lately it seems that all church worship teams are sponsored by Dasani. Between songs and especially at the end of the song service, every musician and singer whips out a bottle and starts chugging away in front of a congregation that may be just as thirsty but not as “privileged.” (By the way, I am a worship leader with a water bottle, not a disgruntled congregant!)

Another manifestation of this “band exclusivity” mindset is when some worship bands leave the sanctuary as a group after the worship to go to a room to wait for the sermon to finish so they can come back and do the closing music. I visited such a church one time, and all I could think about was how the pastor must feel as he watched his worship team leave for java and donuts instead of staying and supporting the ministry of the Word.

“Band exclusivity” is also projected when the worship band informs other ministry leaders in the church that the band members are unavailable to serve in the nursery or other service areas of the church due to the higher priority of their presence on the platform on Sundays.

Remember, any action or activity that separates the worshipers on the platform from the worshippers in the congregation only contributes to the perception of the worship band as an exclusive insiders “club.”

God’s Word tells us that we should prefer others above ourselves. (Romans 12:10) We should follow the example of Jesus who “made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7).

Put this into practice by giving your worship team opportunities to serve the church and community without using music! Serving may not develop a tighter sound in your band but it will develop something greater: character.

Other ways to lessen the distance between the worship team and the congregation include being more discreet with the band privileges such as the water bottles and personal cooling fans, or try putting the band off the platform and on the ground floor for a real “we’re in this with you” worship experience! Also, having multiple worship teams allows each volunteer to have as much pew time as platform time to help keep a healthy perspective.

4. A band can be gender, talent, looks or age prejudiced. A LCWM is open to all.
If we were to look at popular secular and Christian bands as sources of information on how to create a great worship band for our church, we would have to exclude almost all women, anyone older than 40 or younger than 20, anyone that is not handsome or beautiful, and any musician or vocalist that does not have “recording studio” quality talent. While these criteria may work best for selling CD’s, they are not good guidelines for selecting worship ministry participants.

A worship team that only includes “perfect” people sends the wrong message to the congregation. It conveys that if you don’t look a certain way, there is no place for you to minister at our church.

While the culture of this age puts priority on talent and looks, I suggest the following criteria for selecting worship team members:

1. Are they faithful?
2. Are they dependable?
3. Are they humble?
4. Are they teachable?
5. Are they servant/leaders with a passion for God?

Remember that the temple worship instituted by God included participants that were old and young, teacher and student. (1 Chron. 25:8)

5. A band has “band” goals. A LCWM has church family goals as defined by the senior pastor’s vision and the local church’s mission statement.
If your worship team members’ expectations are to record CD’s, make a name for your worship band, travel and give worship concerts, but your senior pastor has expectations of the music ministry providing worship for the seniors’ Christmas banquet and the homeless shelter outreach, then someone is going to be disappointed!

A LCWM cannot do its own thing and operate as an independent group within the church. The function of the worship team is to serve the church family by facilitating worship for all its members. You may find that as you focus on serving your senior pastor and your church family, God may open doors for you to make that recording you’ve always dreamed of!

When was the last time you invited the senior pastor to a worship team rehearsal to share from his heart his vision for music in your church?

If we don’t clearly communicate the vision and mission for our worship ministry to our team, we can only expect that our volunteers will fill in the blanks with their own personal dreams and ideas. Remember, like the “Blues Brothers” we are on a mission from God!

6. A band is about performing. A LCWM is about facilitating.
A musician with a “band” mindset is interested in having a place in the worship set for his Jack Black “School of Rock” guitar solo, shopping for his next “rock star” shirt to wear onstage, and asking his buddies to make sure he is heard in the mix (and if not, to go to the sound operator and let them know of their ghastly oversight). The hoped for response from the congregation is “The band sounded great today!”

For a worship team, facilitating worship for the congregation takes priority over personal musical preferences. The hoped for response from the congregation is “Wasn’t God’s presence felt here in worship today!”

I tell my team to think of our church families as weary travelers who have spent six days walking through this broken and depraved world to make it to our sanctuary on Sunday. Our task is to wash their feet with our worship and lead them to the refreshing presence of the Lord.

Our worship service should begin with strong leadership that arrests the attention of every attendee away from the distractions of this world and its problems and lift it towards our glorious King who can solve any problem! And as we carefully guide our friends along the path to His presence, we purposely begin to become less and less visible so that all they see is their precious Savior. We must decrease so that He can increase. At this holy moment, clever modulations are inappropriate, amazing vocal acrobatics are distracting, and impressive displays of instrumental virtuoso only cloud the view of One who is perfect and altogether lovely.

And so, my fellow worshippers, there is nothing wrong with being in a band if that is what God has called you to do. I am thankful for all the wonderful Christian bands that provide us with great music that inspires and lifts us up.

However, if you volunteer in a local church worship ministry, don’t approach your opportunity to serve with the attitude of finally “making the band,” but, rather, take on the attitude of Jesus who spent his last evening on earth washing the feet of his friends and, in doing so, provided a beautiful illustration of what true ministry is all about.