Worship Leaders and the Local Church - Relationships (3 of 5)
When it comes down to it, the church is all about relationships. It began with humanity’s perfect relationship with God in the Garden. That relationship was broken by sin, causing us to enter into a relationship of struggle with sin. Because of God’s love for us, and His desire to restore relationship with us, Jesus did exactly that on the cross. Now, God calls us to relationship with other people, both for the purpose of evangelism (intrudocing others to a relationship with Him) and fellowship (strengething others in their relationship to God.)
As local worship leaders, we have every oppourtunity to build relationships in both ways. Here are some ways we can do that:
- Pray for your ministry participants by name.
- Meet with voluteers and encourage them. Ask them how they are doing and if there is any thing they are struggling with, both personally or within the ministry.
- Teach volunteers to become leaders and them let them lead.
- Enjoy and respect your relationship with your pastor and other authority figures in the church. Learn from them.
- Do some fun stuff with your volunteers every once in a while. Forget about rehearsal.
- Befriend musicians in the community and share Jesus with them.
- Mentor those on your team that are from Middle or High School.
Enjoys these opportunities to build relationships.
Great stuff Ryan. I believe that even a Holy, Almighty, Sovereign God actually yearns for something and that something is a relationship with us. I believe that we too often fall into the rut of preparation week after week without taking time to really get to know our ministry partners and what is going in their lives.
Comment by Ernie Stevenson — September 12, 2007 @ 12:25 pm
Yeah, one of my biggest problems at my previous church was that I didn’t take time to care for people. I didn’t take time to make sure the volunteers were doing okay. I really did care for them, but didn’t show it nearly enough. It seemed like all I cared about was being professional and getting the music to be “good enough.” That wasn’t the case, but when you don’t spend time cultivating relationships with volunteers, they’ll resent your desire to become better. When you do spend time with them, you can communicate and develop the desire to get better, while all the time showing your care and respect for those on your team.
Comment by Ryan — September 13, 2007 @ 6:00 am