Team use companion for a mixed worship and production team. Read 1 Corinthians 12:21–26, with verses 4–20 for context.
What is actually going on
Try this before rehearsal: finish the sentence, ‘I need someone else on this team because…’
The first answer will probably be practical. The vocalist needs the person mixing monitors. The audio volunteer needs the musicians to listen and respond. The service leader needs the person who knows how long a transition actually takes. Keep going until every role in the room has named a dependence outside its own area.
It’s a small exercise, but it can expose something our usual conversations miss. We tend to describe our work from our own position. We know what helps us do it well. We may have given very little thought to what our choices ask of the person standing twenty feet away.
A rehearsal can sound excellent while those different positions remain separate worlds. Everyone finishes their assignment. Nobody asks whether a choice that made one person’s work easier made someone else’s participation harder. We leave with a completed set and an incomplete picture of each other.
Imagine deciding to use the last ten minutes of rehearsal to work on a new ending. The musicians see an opportunity to improve it. Someone else knows the team had agreed to use that time to pray together. Another person has a firm leaving time. Those details belong in the decision. We can care about the arrangement and take the agreement seriously.
The person making the decision may not know all of that yet. The team needs a way to say it without assigning bad motives. ‘Here’s what that change would mean for me’ gives the group information it can use. ‘Who else would this affect?’ gives someone permission to answer.
Our huddle this week will practice that conversation. Each person will name a dependence, and together we’ll look at one decision and choose one act of shared care. Everyone brings something worth hearing, including the newest volunteer and the person who usually leads the discussion.
What is true
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes different gifts given by the same Spirit for the good of the whole community. The body has many members because God has arranged it that way. Difference belongs to its life. No member can supply everything the body needs.
Paul addresses both the member who doubts its place and the member who dismisses another. A foot cannot reason itself out of belonging because it isn’t a hand. An eye cannot declare that it has no need of a hand. Our confidence in our own work must leave room for dependence on someone else’s.
In verses 22–25, Paul challenges the community’s judgments about importance and honor. God’s arrangement calls the members to care for one another. Applying that to a mixed ministry team means every role takes part in giving and receiving care. Production volunteers, musicians, and leaders can each help the others see what they would otherwise miss.
Verse 26 carries this beyond the work itself. Suffering and honor are shared. Another person’s good can become a reason for our joy even when it brings us no advantage. Another person’s difficulty matters even when our own assignment is going well.
We won’t know every need, and nobody has to disclose something private to prove they deserve care. We can begin with what someone freely tells us and ask what help they would welcome. The huddle gives us a place to practice; following through gives the conversation weight. This week, let one agreed action show that we heard each other.
For your team
- Go around the mixed team. Each person names another role they depend on and one specific way that role helps them serve. Include a role different from your own; ask a follow-up question if you don’t yet understand its contribution.
- Name one decision in this week’s rehearsal or service plan that could leave someone’s needs or participation out. Who is affected, and whose view is missing? Hear from them before agreeing on a change.
- Choose one shared-care action the affected people welcome. What will happen, who will take responsibility, and when will the team check that it helped? Write that agreement down and return to it at the next huddle.
Pray this
Lord Jesus, thank you for making us members of your body. Help us receive what others bring and speak honestly about what we need. Give us patience to hear how our decisions affect one another. Teach us to share joy without comparison and to respond to difficulty with care. Help us keep the agreement we make today. Let our life together reflect your love as we serve your church. Amen.
This Sunday
Before the service, the person responsible for the team’s shared-care action checks in with those affected, then brings a brief update to the next huddle so the team can learn and follow through.
This devotional is part of The Church Collective’s free 52-week worship team devotional series. Get the first 12 as a free PDF.
Leading While Grieving