Choosing Spiritual Team Members

Choosing worship team members is a critical yet often hurried step, especially in the early stages of building our ministry. Often times just for the sake of building a group, we will rush into this process and we will end up getting ourselves in a tough situation. By that I mean we can end up adding someone to the group who really doesn't have the same vision or priorities that you have. That is why it is so important to have a plan in place for creating a band and choosing new vocalist and instrumentalist. So today we will take a look at some guidelines that you can use in creating your worship team that will lessen or even eliminate some issues down the road.

As you build your ministry no matter the style or affiliation, there are a few basic things to consider.

Pray, pray, and pray some more. When choosing group members your #1 priority should be to pray. Pray that God would lead you to the right people for the positions that are needed. What are some specific things that you might want to look for and pray for?
Choose heart over skill. The key qualification for being part of the group must be more spiritual rather than practical. The group must be made up of worshipers. I mean that is the purpose and the goal of the worship team right. Though I know it can be tempting to choose someone simply because of their musical skill, we must not loose site of the goal and remember that the heart must come before the art. Believe me you will save yourself a lot of frustration by choosing someone who though might have the lesser skill as a vocalist or an instrumentalist but they are spiritually strong. Just trust me on this one. Someone who plays or sings well and just wants to be in the band is not a good candidate. In worship there is no room for performance. The goal is to glorify God not themselves. A person that is considering being a part of this ministry must have a passion for glorifying God. The bottom line is to look for calling over gifting.

What are some other areas that we might want to consider? Are they committed to the church? Do they regularly attend? What kind of personality do they have? Do they seem to get along well with others?

A word of caution must be pointed out here. Be careful not to become judgmental. That is not the purpose here. The goal is for us to heed the leading of the Holy Spirit in choosing team members. Again can't stress this one point enough, pray! The focus of the worship team must be first on glorifying God and second leading His church in worship.