Sunday Worship Preparation

Being apart of a worship team is a big deal.  Most people come to church wanting to hear good music, and wanting to feel better about themselves when they leave.  But for members of a church worship team it should be much more than this.  This should be your, well; Ministry!  We are all called to be a disciple or follow of Christ.  We are all responsible for shining God’s light so that we can grow his kingdom.  This is the responsibility of everything in the church from the greeters to the ushers to the deacons, and the preacher.

Minister of Music/ Worship Leader Responsibilities

For a Minister of Music or Worship Leader there are some core principals that should be considered.

1. Is the song first of all biblical? (Does it line up with what the bible says)
2. Does this song fit within the ideology of your church? (What does your church believe, and what’s your churches mission)
3. Does this song make sense during this part of the service? (You should not be singing a doxology hymn during alter call)

After these core principals are explored that is not the end.  There are still some considerations before a song is set to be done during worship.  The Worship Leaders first role is to usher in the spirit of God into the service.  He should till the ground for the Word of God.  Preparation is key for the Minister of Music or Worship Leader, but he has to consider other factors that should impact his decision on doing a song for church.  This next part is based on him knowing his worship team.

1. What is the vocal range of his singers? (He might have to bring the key down a couple of steps, or if the song modulates a couple of times he might have to stop the modulation after two times)
2. How well does the musicians or singer know the song? (There are times that even if the song is perfect for a service coming up, you need to wait until preparation is ready)
3. Are the Musicians and/ or singer capable of doing the song?  (Some songs have complex harmonies, rhythms, meters, or something that makes it difficult to pull off.)

It is important for the Minister of Music or Worship Leader to be honest with himself on this topic.  I know we always want to believe that our people can do anything, but sometimes there are situations that are out of the scope of the capabilities of individuals at the present time.  That doesn’t mean with practice, preparation, and training they can’t get there, but they need to be before attempting it in service.

Wow, that was a lot, and that was only for the person doing the song selection.

Singers/ Musicians Responsibilities

I have come to realize that the next part of preparation comes in the next three categories:

No Preparation

This is the church that doesn’t prepare at all, they just come to worship.  This is where there is nobody to teach harmonies, and the musicians may have no training.  The congregations of those churches are use to this limitations.  Most of these churches have more of a congregational choir, where everyone in the church is singing.  No one is paying attention to the musically of the songs.  They are just communally worshipping.  There is nothing wrong with this, but it is not for every church.  For this church your preparation is done.

Rehearsal Preparation

Rehearsal Preparation churches will come together near the end of the week between Thursday and Saturday.  In most cases the Minister of Music or Worship Leader is also the musician.  He will learn the songs during the week so he can teach it to the singers at rehearsal and sometimes give chord progressions to the other musicians.  They will often introduce new songs in rehearsal so that he can take a couple weeks to make sure everyone knows it enough to sing all of the parts.  He usually has a repertoire of songs just in case he needs to changes something.  After rehearsal for the next couple days it is the responsibility of the singers and musicians to listen to the rehearsed songs with the way it was taught in mind.  This is how most churches prepare for Sunday.

Individual Preparation 

In Individual Preparation the singers and musicians will get a list of the songs well ahead of time.  In some cases the beginning of the week, or maybe a month at a time.  This scenario assumes that everyone will do their due diligence.  The signers and musicians will learn the songs during the week, and come together for more of a run through rehearsal.  They will fine tune parts and make sure everyone is on the same page.  For this you have to have a certain level of worship members.  First the signers need to be able to listen to a song and get a base understanding of their parts.  The musicians need to also be able to listen to the songs for chord changes, lines, and have an understanding of what they need to be responsible for.  Individual Preparation is difficult because in most cases groups that can pull this off are in high demand, because of their expertise.  This way is the most efficient, but you need to have a group of people committed to working this way.

All in all, I have functioned in all three scenarios and they all get the job done in their own way.