How to have a great rehearsal Part 2

A philosophy of worship is a bit like the ‘back end’ of computer software – the stuff that the person operating the software doesn’t know about, or even care about, until the software crashes… and you’ve probably all experienced that. Then what might sound boring, all of sudden is vital.

It’s similar for worship teams. Most people don’t bother about why we do worship… we just do it, until it starts to become a little unstuck because the “why” of worship has not been cemented into the culture of the team.

By “Philosophy” of worship, we mean the attitudes and guiding principles that underpin why we do what we do.

The Philosophy of worship teams is born out of a theology of worship (a topic for another blog). It is vital to have a dynamic philosophy foundational to everything we do in worship. A clear philosophy of worship informs the culture of the team, and sets you up for ‘success’ in how the team operates.

While the philosophy of worship is often determined by those in leadership (Lead Pastor with Worship Pastor or person in charge, creative director etc),it needs to be articulated in such a way that everyone serving can understand and embrace it.

Everyone needs to be aware of why we do what we do.

So here are four philosophical issues you may wish to consider for your own team, that are born out of a theological understanding of worship. You may want to include more, but these four when practiced, should help your team stay on purpose…

• Clarify Purpose. What are we doing as a worship team each time the family of God meets? It’s more than just playing, singing, sound engineering, welcoming etc…
• Elevate Servanthood. The team needs to understand that this is not about them and their gift, but that their gift is all about serving God by serving His people. This will impact how they play and not play; volume; attitudes and so much more.
• Nurture the culture. At each rehearsal, take the opportunity to remind people what they doing and especially why they are doing it, and both the privilege and importance of serving. It may be a sentence or two for short rehearsals before a service, or a bit longer at a fuller rehearsal to tease out a detail or two.
• Know the difference between a practice and a rehearsal. Practice happens at home (learning songs, learning words, rhythms, leads etc). Rehearsal is what we do when we bring what we learnt at home, to the group. Rehearsal assumes that you already know what you are doing and that you are fluent with the song, ready to adjust and work with others.

You may wish to document your philosophy, but I would encourage you to make it a dynamic document so that as your understanding of worship grows and develops out of your relationship with God, so will your philosophy.

Are there other aspects of this topic that I haven’t mentioned? Please join the conversation.