How can you test if someone really loves to lead worship?
Have them do it for free.
I realize that there are thousands of worship leaders out there who don’t get paid for what they do. I would actually venture to say that most worship leaders are bi-vocational.
Maybe you are one of them.
On top of your 40+ hour a week job, you are investing 10-15 hours into your local church, leading worship. For that, I thank you. Simply incredible.
The majority of my writing has been aimed at the vocational worship leader. What I never fully realized how sensitive an issue it is for those who want to be full time worship leaders. Today, I want to speak to your situation.
The Dissatisfaction Dilemma
The human heart is so fickle. I’ve talked to volunteer worship leaders with great jobs and large salaries who wish they could lead worship full time.
I’ve also talked to full time worship leaders who wish they could make more money.
We want what we don’t have.
I’m not saying this to beat you over the head. It’s just the way we are.
If you’re a volunteer worship leader who wants to be in full time ministry, I don’t want to discourage that. God may be calling you to do so.
Being a volunteer worship leader bring satisfaction to your life because you feel like it’s what you were made for. But it’s a struggle when you have a mundane day job and juggle too many responsibilities.
What do you do with this tension?
5 Tips For Volunteer Worship Leaders
Here are a few tips for volunteer worship leaders:
1. Change Your Vocabulary – Don’t fall prey to the “I’m never content” syndrome. Rather than saying, “I wish I could be doing something else”, say “Thank you for the blessing of where I am” Instead of “I hate my life…”, say “Thank you for these opportunities…” I’ve found it to be true – changing your vocabulary can change your life.
2. Keep Serving…Jesus – It’s very tempting to get your eyes off of what matters. Remember you are serving Jesus. That’s why you started leading worship in the first place. God knows your heart – your desire to lead worship full time. Trust his timing.
3. Connect – To be honest, there are many larger churches who are looking for part time or full time worship leaders or pastors. If you want it bad enough, don’t just sit around. Connect with people online, make calls, search around. For starters, it never hurts to connect with Justin Lathrop.
4. Pace Yourself – Between your full time job, your family, and your worship team, you probably don’t have much extra time. Pace yourself. Make sure you are taking adequate breaks and not killing yourself. Plan your week so there’s enough margin for health.
5. Realize the Difference You’re Making – It’s probably been a while since someone thanked you for what you do. Week in and week out, you are serving God’s people, facilitating their encounter with God, and making disciples. All the while maintaining a very busy schedule. You don’t have to do this but you do anyway.
Volunteer worship leader, thank you for what you do. As you live in the tension of where you are and where you want to be, may God bless you and strengthen your heart.
May your love for His presence and the good of His people never die.
Keep going strong.
Question: I realize there are many volunteer worship leaders who read this blog. What are some other challenges you face? What has God been teaching you through it? Join in the comments!
this is great, I am an example of a volunteer worship leader, who through Gods grace and calling, now serve as a full time worship pastor at a church.
these tips are spot on! I found myself in each scenario at some point of my journey
That’s awesome, Adam. How long were you a volunteer until you went full time?
Thanks for this post. I am a volunteer youth worship leader. It is really hard to do. I try to balance it, but it is really hard sometimes.
I have a fulltime college school schedule as well as other church and family activities…….and then there is worship leading and orchestrating practices. I get burnt out quickly if I let it (which I have several times int he past 3 months). I know that God has called me to this in my stage of life right now, so I am willing to do it.
I would say the biggest challenge is leading a group of spiritually dead youth (people my age and younger). It is hard when you pour your heart out on stage and then realize that no one really cares. It is starting to get better week by week, but I am still praying for revival.
That would probably be the hardest thing…
Are you referring to your band or the whole youth group?
I’m referring to the group in general. The band is fine. Actually, I just got back from church…and the worship was awesome! For some reason, tonight it just hit with a lot of the people!
I’m excited that God showed up tonight!
Awesome! Maybe it was because you commented today 😉
Thank you for this post. I am a part time worship leader/praise band member and I have been feeling a lot of this tension lately. These are all great points.
One of the biggest challenges/tensions I face is simply the contrast between work and what I feel God is (and always has been) calling me to do. Work in technology would take every ounce of me if it could, but my heart truly lies in worship of our Lord. These are wonderful things to remember. I need an attitude of gratitude and need to Trust more than I need to fix. Thank you so much for this post and this blog. It is very encouraging.
Thanks, David. So many people are in your shoes. They have a full time job that pays the bills but their heart is not in it. It all depends on how you look at it, I guess.
I’ve been a volunteer worship minister for 12 years and a leader for 6 years. I don’t have a job right now, but when I did have one I never felt like it got in the way of me leading. I would always look forward to leading worship and just church in general. Now that I’m unemployed I find that I can do more to plan for worship and I find that i’m more relaxed when I do so. I don’t think that I would ever want to be a “full time” worship leader. I don’t want leading worship to be my job. I feel that it will lost its significance on me because it would become something I have to do, instead of something I want to do.
Rafael, thanks for sharing your perspective. This is one that I haven’t heard too frequently. So if a church offered you a full time position, you’d reject it?
(sorry about the late response) Well If my home church right now offered me a full time position, I would consider it. I guess my concern is really the terms and what is really expected and how much actually involves lead worship. But if another church for some reason offered a full time position, i would have to pray on it a lot. I don’t believe that any position in church can just be offered to someone. I believe that when God gives us a calling, He also gives us a place to live out that calling. For sometime I didn’t want to be at the church I’m at now, but God made me understand why He has me here.
Thank you so much David. I appreciate the time you put in to publish all your blogs which are encouraging us all over the world. You are such a gift to us.
I find the loneliness of my role quite a challenge too. Not loneliness in itself, because I lead multiple groups and am continually in rehearsal or communicating, but loneliness in understanding the importance of worship. In my denomination, my pastor ( my husband) is the worship leader. He gives me huge freedom in choice of music , mainly because music is not the means by which he worships the Lord, so he doesn’t quite ‘get it’. I have one person in my team who loves to worship rather than sing, and she is such a gift to me.
My continual challenge is to love, encourage and value each member of my teams and my congregation – to accept where they are in their journey , and not to feel frustrated that we are not corporately praising the Lord in the way we could be , and that He deserves. I guess its a bit like our faith journey – we can’t make people believe either.
My antidote to those feelings is exactly as you have suggested: Being grateful and honoured that I can serve Jesus in this small way ( in the big scheme of things)- even when its seems such a huge part of mine – I get to do something I love ; getting perspective – making time for my family and friends; and even though I don’t get thanked very often, I make a point of thanking and encouraging my team – maybe I can play a part in developing a culture of encouragement.
Penne, I know there are others who share your pain. Oftentimes worship teams can be groups of people who don’t love to worship as much as they love to play music. That can be a challenge when you’re trying to facilitate a worshiping culture.
That’s so true. But at least there’s a seed .. and how can we not be impacted by the praise we sing unto God even if we may lack understanding. And I am thankful that they are moved by their love of music to volunteer their gifts and time. God will do the rest. I know that Holy Spirit is working amongst us. This year I have begun asking my team members to lead in prayer before worship more often than I do, and I have found that such a blessing – I get to see into their hearts and I can see that the Lord is working.
I guess its just that I know there is so much more ..for myself too..and maybe that’s just the cry of our heart on this side of heaven. I long for the day I can be part of the heavenly choir. How awesome will that be!!
Amen!
David, thanks again for another encouraging post. I am so thankful that God allows me, each week, to lead worship with some of the most talented musicians in our area. I spent many years playing bars and clubs, to at most a couple hundred folks each night, but now God allows me to get in front of around 600 worshippers and praise His name. There is nothing I can think of that is more rewarding than that. By the way, I don’t get paid. I have already received my payment.
Chad, that’s awesome man. Great attitude.
Thanks for the shout out. Hope all is well for you.
No problem, Justin. Keep rocking it!
Volunteering time and resources to facilitate others in worship and offerings creates some healthy tension between priorities and freedom.
I believe we are made to worship often, in all kinds of circumstances. And I have recently been encouraged never to come to worship without an offering from what He has given, be it rain or be it drought.
An offering of sorts for today:
A Daily Prayer, preschool style and inspired by words of Christ in Luke 11:
Our Father God, your are the most amazing in all the universe!
We want to be part of your Kingdom, and we want to be loving and living by your Word.
Help us do the good work You have given us to do today. You are our helper, and we trust you to give us just what it is we need for doing that today.
Forgive us when we let go of your love and do not remember to thank you for your great big helping hands. We know you will forget our rudeness in the same way we forgive others of the things they owe back to us. Thank you for giving us each other to help each other!
Lead us away from following things that pretend to be as great or good or kind or true as you are. Bring us out and separate us from things that are just plain bad and gross to you. Nothing can compare to You, and nothing at all can separate us from Your love!
Each and every new day, please show our eyes and ears and feet and hands and mouths and hearts and minds how to be close to you and how to live with your smiling face over us.
Thank you for the community of peace and justice and mercy that you have made for us, to live with you here on Earth, and also someday in Heaven.
Keep us strong within your power, and thank you for making us a part of your bright shiny kingdom forever.
Amen
and Matthew 6, Ephesians 2, Romans 6, Hebrews 10-13, book of James, James 5, Psalm 139, and 2 kings 18:41-46 He is our helper and the author(originator)of our faith (and the source of faith of all the faithful). He has given us life into another Kingdom, and He did that while we were still dead in our sins. Let us offer the parts of our body to the new, remaining dead to the old, until we are reconciled completely(perfected at last)within His everlasting grace and joy.
Bro, as a part time WL myself, this post really spoke to me, great tips to remember!
Thanks for a great article and I also enjoyed reading the posts. As a pastor of a growing church my perspective is different. For 7 years now the 1 constant criticism I have received is the music is too slow. We have an older lady leading on piano and some singers (we are grateful for their willingness to be involved) I would love to have someone with a heart for worship to step in and take over the music ministry. I am not very musically talented and find myself having to do it all.
Let me just assure all you worship leaders …. I guarantee you are appreciated wherever and in whatever capacity you serve.
Guy, that is a tough situation to be in. I know a lot of senior pastors who do both worship and preaching. After a while, it gets to be too much. I’ll be praying God sends a worship leader your way!
This article really blessed me. I can definently identify with the struggle of being a volunteer worship leader. I am a full time college student and a professional wedding singer as well. I often find it frustrating trying to decide whether to take a wedding gig ($$$) or lead worship. Im also responsible for conducting rehearsals and all other aspects that also go into preparation for Sunday morning worship. Since I am a college student, I always need to take the gigs that are offered to me. How do I continue to juggle the two? Should I ask my church to be employed part-time on staff? If so, how do I approach that conversation. Thanks again for this inspirational article. God Bless!!
Anya
Anya, I would simply have an honest conversation with your leaders. Ask them if a part time position is open. If not, continue serving but let them know that you need to take some more paid gigs in order to pay your bills. They should be able to help you with your life balance.
Here are a few things I offer as an encouragement to all of you strong soldiers who lead the Body of Christ into His presence for no other reason other than He has called you into His plan-
There are many Sundays that go by and no one says anything. You wonder…. am I making a difference? I know that I am being blessed beyond measure because I am worshipping, but is anyone else being helped? Are God’s people feeling the joy and blessing of His presence? Is this helping anyone? Sometimes months go by and you wonder because no one has said anything…. You don’t have to have pats on the back to keep going, but you wonder what your effectiveness is, BECAUSE that is the whole reason “you do what you do”.
Mostly people don’t mention it! Either they are so distracted by there own stuff or they don’t know how to express their hearts without feeling overly vulnerable.
When our church came to an end and people realized that we would never be together again, it gave them the courage to speak up. I realized I wasted some energy worrying and wondering. If I ever have the opportunity to serve God’s people again in this capacity, I will not waste my energy asking these questions each week, ever again!!! As long as you are asking the right questions and being open to instructions from those in authority over you, you have to leave it up to God to remove you if you are not being effective. If you are IN the position of leading than God IS using you because it is HIS doing, not yours.:) Thank you for encouraging me today! Blessings!
Thanks for your encouragement!
I was a part-time compensated worship leader for about five years. I am now a volunteer worship leader at a different church. Which one do I prefer? You may be surprised that the answer is: volunteer. There are a few reasons:
1. I don’t need the money. I have a solid full time career, and I’m happy in my career choice.
2. I take breaks when I want to. One thing I hated about the paid worship job was the expectation that I be there every single Sunday, save the two Sunday’s I was allowed time away. Tack that expectation onto the full time job and you get what I’d call the “never a day off” effect. Burnout? You betcha.
3. I feel good about what I’m providing to the church, and I have this remarkable freedom to say NO to requests that I just don’t have time or resources to satisfy.
4. I take myself off the band schedule every few weeks, and I attend my church and just worship with everyone else, like any other church member. I gain perspective. I fight off the burnout. I get to sit beside my wife and just enjoy the morning without the anxiety of fleshing through all the details to make sure the worship goes off as planned.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the mornings I lead. I still love them thanks to the mornings I don’t have to lead.