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.

The Act or the Church? Which are YOU?

Do you go to church? Where do you go to church? I remember being in the company of believers hearing them exclaim " I Belong To The Church of.." or "I Attend...." It was as if they had an exclusive membership to a club or something. People will often flock to a church in which the leader is like a celebrity. It seems to bring a sense a pride to member to proudly say "I Attend New Wave Ministries" and "My Bishop Is..." How impressive.
There is nothing wrong with church pride, but church membership is not a promise of salvation. Your faith in Jesus Christ is what gets you into the body of Christ. Belonging to a prominent church with a membership of 1000 or stronger, doesn't mean that church has the monopoly on the teachings of Christ nor are they "THE" path to God the Father. Identifying with a favorite teacher, preacher, pastor or prophet is not good because they are just ministers (servants) of the gospel.
Paul had a similar problem with... the Corinthians (Corinthians 3), rather than identifying with the Body of Christ, the people identified themselves as being apart of Paul or Apollos. Paul referred to this type of behavior as carnal. Who is Paul but a minister (servant) of the gospel?, who is Apollos but a minister (servant) of the gospel? Who is your Bishop or favorite Evangelist or celebrity Prophet, but a servant of the gospel? In the book of Romans 8:7… “because the mind of the flesh is enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself (Y.L.T).”
The ministry (service) has no place for superstars and heroes, we (the believers) belong to the body of Christ not to a building, not to a movement, not to a denomination or an organization. Attending a geographical location faithfully on a Sunday morning or being proud of the celebrity status of your church and its leaders does not equate to citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
When looking for a place to fellowship with Gods people, don't be fooled by the celebrity of the leadership of the high-tech gadgetry in the building that others call church. I'm sure there are many who are reading this article, have heard a hundred times, "You Are The Church?". Far too many people will express their disappointment in a Leader after he or she falls. But we are God’s people, how is it that we are and at times can be so easily fooled? In many cases we have only ourselves to blame.
Understanding who and what the church is will cause you to realize that you can't sign in, you must be Born again and keeping a close walk with the Savior won’t allow you to be taken advantage of by the “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.

Challenges of Women working in Church Ministry

In these tough economic times many churches and ministries are tempted to scale back on planning events so that it won't put any added burden on women who are struggling to make ends meet. The problem is that this is exactly the time when we need to gather for fellowship and encouragement. Here is a "Top 10" list that can help women's leaders plan more effective events that are perfect for this tough economy.

1. Use your own members: Organize an event that uses your own members as the leaders. You can find different women who have specialties and have them lead small groups or you may have someone who would be able to teach a large group time. Look around and see who has a story to tell that others can relate to and go from there. You may want to gather several women and hold a panel discussion on a specific topic. be creative and allow God to direct you to the right women.
2. Reinvent the covered dish: Most often the cost of an event is largely tied up in the food. Keep costs down by either asking everyone to bring a dish to share or enlist a team of women to organize the different dishes you want to offer and let them designate who brings what. You could decide on a theme and plan the food around that.

3. Network with Other Churches: Find some other churches in your area and share or trade Bible Study materials with them. Your church could buy one study and theirs a different one then after you finish, trade studies.
4. Plan 1 night events: Schedule your next event on an evening so that your costs can stay low. You even start a little later so that everyone has dinner before arriving then offer a dessert fellowship after the program.
5. Serve Others: Remember that if the economic crisis has hit you hard then it has devastated many others. Organize your women to focus on helping others. Service projects are a great way to build strong bonds and show people the love of Jesus in a practical way. The bonus is that your struggles tend to diminish in the face of what others may be dealing with.
6. Start a Support Group: Offer the opportunity for women who have lost their jobs or who's husbands have lost their jobs to gather for support and encouragement. Let your community know it is available and you may be surprised at the outreach it can become.
7. Get Out of the Church: Take your Bible Studies out of the church and hold them in different homes in the community so that people don't have to spend much time or money on gas to be involved.
8. Decorate for Less: Women's events always have the issue of decorating. Go old school and use things you already have at the church or enlist different women to hostess each table and make decorating her table part of her duties.
9. Simplicity and Relevance: Don't ignore the issues that people are dealing with but rather plan a event to specifically address them. Make it a brown bag night or just very simple in all details. Offer topics such as how to dress, dine, decorate on a budget. Consider inviting a financial specialist to speak on practical advice in troubling times.
10. See the big Picture: Plan your events to coincide with other large gatherings like just after church or when the youth or children are already doing something. Take the stress off of women who are worried about being all things to all people and who feel guilty for taking time out for themselves.

These are just a few ideas. Whatever you decide to do, don't give up on ministry. Women need encouragement and support more now than ever before.