Together-ness: The Worship Band is my Small Group
June 8, 2009
For all of my adult life I’ve been a paid staffer in music ministry in small to medium sized growing churches. I love it.
One thing I continue to learn (you’d think I get it, right?) is that it’s impossible to have deep, meaningful friendships with every single person in the church. It just can’t happen. Whenever I’ve tried to go deep with more than about 8 other people, I’ve failed miserably. That doesn’t mean I don’t speak to anyone else or even hang out with anyone else. But it does mean that I am intentional about where I direct my friendship.
I wish I could be bosom buddies with every person that walks through the door. But I can’t.
Out of all the books, equations, formulas for doing ministry in the church only one hits the mark for me. BE LIKE CHRIST. That’s it. Everything else works (or doesn’t) for a season and then fades into obscurity. Sure, there are principles that are timeless and transferred from ministry book to ministry book, but I want to point out that the church existed for thousands of years before ministry help books hit the best seller list.
BE LIKE CHRIST.
Jesus invested his friendship into a small group of men. There were 12 of them. The Bible also paints a picture of an even smaller number, 3. He had an inner circle. Now, back to my mind-blowing formula (BE LIKE CHRIST). It’s really not rocket science. It makes sense for me to find a handful of people and to really live life with them.
It just makes sense to invest in a small group of friends as opposed to trying to be everyone’s friend in the church. Even if you’re only a church of 50. There’s no way that you can healthily do life with that many people.
WORSHIP BAND.
Where I’m at now, I’ve seen this organic small band of brothers and sisters happen in two ways. One is our small group Bible study. There are 4 or 5 other couples that we just absolutely LOVE doing life with. That makes sense right?
The other is our worship band. I love these people. And not just for their shredding abilities! We spend more time with each other than anybody else in the church. I intentionally take members out for lunch. We hang out. They come over and watch movies. I go over to their house and eat dinner. We have great conversation, and although a lot of these relationships are still budding, I am at one of the best times in my life as far as friends go.
I feel like we’re living Biblically. I don’t feel like I’m just a nameless number on a church attendance sheet. Or a compensated ministry whore used only for the benefits that the “church” can get out of me.
CHALLENGE:
Don’t look at the members of your band/choir as just people who come once a week to play and sing and even offer worship together. Look at those events as a springboard into a beautiful, meaningful friendship that could potentially last a lifetime. I threw out the word organic earlier in this article, and want to come back to it. Organic happens naturally. You’re naturally with the members of your band more than the other members of your church. You all naturally share something that most church members don’t share: musical skills. You’re ALREADY in a situation that could organically grow into something deep and wide.
Look at your worship band members as potential life journey compadres! You want deep, small group friendships/relationships? Start right where you are.
Related posts:
- UN-Together-Ness: How to Cope When Your Worship Band ISN’T Your Small Group
- Small Group vs. Team
- Five Fundamentals for Selecting Band Members
- Forerunner Media Group Presents Cory Asbury
- Review: United Pursuit Band: EP
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Yeah you and Lydia need to come and go swimming at the lake house or go tube’ing
has lydia ever been fishing
Good stuff!
Hey, Russ…
Great article, and so true. I have discovered over the years of being in ministry that it is very possible to spread oneself out too thin while trying to maintain an excessive amount of “deep relationships” at the same time. But the small-group model, as promoted first by Jesus, then by churches that have found it to be instrumental in “fleshing out” the call to relationship, is very important to our ministry. Like you, I have found it enough to be in relationship with my ministry partners, i.e., my bandmates. Learning and growing in the worship ministry together is exciting and rewarding – and even more so when we allow ourselves to “go deep” with just enough people.
Thanks for the comments all!
For me it’s our weekend set up team. The same people that set up week in and week out. Our worship leader, some band members, lighting gal, sound guy, media person, video guy, stage design. The same people that are there every Saturday and Sunday. Open the dorrs and close the doors. We go out for lunch almost every Sunday and also sometimes on Saturday. Others are always invited to join in.
I think this is awesome! I feel the same way. I’ve been a member of a handful of different churches: small, medium, and one with a rather large congregation… and did not feel the dynamic I discovered with HOJ until I joined the worship team. It felt like joining a family! Same thing for the small group. As soon as I plugged into the team and the Joy Group, I felt so much more connected to the church itself. I love it!
[...] a previous “Together-ness” article I shared how great an experience it can be when your worship band is in essence your small group. [...]
[...] want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxIn a previous “Together-ness” article I shared how great an experience it can be when your worship band is, in essence, your small group. [...]