Culture of Crucial: Recruiting People, Not Musicians or Singers
September 3, 2008
I’ve been in some great discussions with other ministry leaders at my church about recruiting volunteers across the board. The Children’s Pastor thinks that the musicians and singers are the “jocks” of the church and that the volunteers in the children’s program are the “band nerds” of the church. Isn’t it funny how the tables have been turned after all these years? I kid, I kid.
Anyway, It just got me thinking that we as leaders need to be careful in EVERY area of ministry to fight for a Culture of Crucial. What I mean by that is that we have to create an environment where every single volunteer feels that they are a crucial part of what’s going on at your church.
Honestly, no one is the jock and no one is the band nerd. We are all crucial to God’s work in and through our churches.
One of the ways that we fight to maintain a Culture of Crucial is to recruit people, not just musicians or singers. People make up the lifeblood of our churches. People make the wheels go round. People are CRUCIAL to us being great leaders.
Without a team of people a leader is just a loner. People are who Jesus came for. Not ministry, not organizations, not religion…He came for people.
You get what I’m saying here. Musicians and singers ARE indeed people, but we shouldn’t recruit them based only on the fact that they sing or play. Right?
Here’s some things to think about when recruiting for your worship team (or any other team for that matter):
- Meet your potential teammate for lunch or dinner to get to know them better. From the beginning it sets the tone of a relational team instead of a skills based team.
- Share your desires for the team and then ask them to share their own desires and how they see themselves fitting into that picture.
- Before you ever audition a potential teammate you should get to know them. By listening to them and asking questions about who they are, where they’ve been, and why they want to join you can get a good idea of their skill level before you ever hear a note.
- Musicians and singers SHOULD be skilled at what they do, but they should never feel like you want them on the team only because of their skill.
- Let them know that they are CRUCIAL to the vision of your church, even if they don’t make it onto that particular team.
- Help them find another area to serve in if they don’t make it onto your team.
Every volunteer that serves on your team should feel like the team would fall apart without them. Would it? Probably not, but it’s the “I need you beside me” that is more important than “I need your guitar chops in the band.”
Just keep in mind that people are valuable for who they are, not necessarily what they do. Do we need great singers and musicians in our ministries? Sure. But I believe that if we don’t have relationships with those skilled musicians than we are not truly living up to our potential as Christ-like leaders.
Challenge: Spend a quick moment each week reiterating how much you enjoy serving WITH your volunteers. Don’t tell them that their voice is great or that they nailed that drum solo. Just tell them that you love the privilege of serving alongside them.
Related posts:
- Culture of Crucial: Connecting With People Before Worship
- Culture of Crucial: Now Is Not Normal
- Recreating Yourself
- Spirit of Excellence
- Perspective
Stay Connected! You can easily keep track of this discussion, all articles, or forum discussions by subscribing!
Subscribe by Email
Twitter
Articles RSS Feed
Forums RSS Feed
[...] take a few minutes to head over to the worship community and peruse my article Culture of Crucial: Recruiting People, Not Singers or Musicians. I contribute regularly over at TWC and enjoy being a part of such a great and diverse group of [...]
OOOh OOHHHHHHHH!
Thanks for this Russ. This is a sweet reminder of getting peeps involved… and I do have some great plans for where I’m headed….!
Btw, a thought…
Is it our job to help the “feel” like they are crucial or to understand that they are…? Is there a difference?
Great question, John. Personally, I would would say that one comes with the other.
Since we are emotional beings, created to express and experience life in and through emotions, that when a person “feels” crucial it helps in solidifying their understanding of the fact that they are crucial.
I know sometimes facts precede emotion, though, and so I would also say that when we continue to tell are people they are crucial and reinforce that by doing things that confirm it, people understand that they are needed and being to “feel” needed as a result.
I think it’s a two way street.
Thanks for commenting!
Russ
good stuff dude. the worse thing a staff person can do is treat volunteer how they get treated…and what I mean by that is the “expecting” factor. as staff we are “expected” to be there on time, perform our ministry at a high level, and be ministry mindset people….but the reality is volunteers are people who will try to do and be all these things but fall short. we must love volunteers passionately. saw a church sign that was cheesy but good with what you said: Workers are more important than the work!
Good thoughts. We are commanded to be encouragers and to love one another, and this goes far beyond admiring people for their skills.
In reference to my last my comment I want to clarify something. I by no means think myself or any staff member gets treated bad, I simply meant sometimes we feel pressure, then pass the pressure down. Ministry is meant to be excellent but not perfect. There I think I said it better that time. : D Volunteers are so important and a huge blessing to all of us who serve on church staff or those of us that are volunteer leaders. They are the church and they make church happen, ’tis a unique combination.
Hey Russ, great thoughts.
I think a couple of things that would help that I’m learning is to change some language a little bit. We “recruit” skill – we “invite” people. Maybe instead of talking about recruiting people we should talk about inviting people.
Your thoughts about getting to know people before getting to know their skill were right on – that’s definitely what inviting looks like. Thanks for this!
Russ,
Thanks for a powerful, awesome “give” in this article. Can I just say that I really enjoy “serving” with you on this site!
For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon
http://www.fredmckinnon.com
http://www.theworshipcommunity.com
@Ryan, great insight. Language can be huge in some situations.
@Fred, Thanks man. Thanks for giving me a voice!
BRILLIANT! So simple yet so often overlooked.
We designed a class setting that is really laid back so our worship leader can work with the vocalists who are taking the class either to just help them to improve personally or in hopes of joining our teams. This allows them to come to us, instead of us hunting them down! It gives them a glimpse of what it feels like to be part of the team and decide if this is their gifted area of service. It obviously also allows the worship leader to get to know everyone personally without the worry of one on one with woman, or anyone feeling intimidated. They are all in the same boat so to speak! It has served us well.