Week 12 • Season 3 • Worship Team Devotionals
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
What’s actually going on
Sometimes a team just feels stuck.
Not in conflict. Not in decline. Just plateaued. The same songs we’ve done for three years. The same volunteers showing up tired. The same Sundays that are fine but not really alive. The team isn’t bad. It’s just stuck.
And when it’s stuck for long enough, you start to wonder if you’re stuck. If you’ve lost your edge. If you should leave. If a new church or a new role would unstick this. The Instagram of bigger churches starts to look really good around month nine of a stuck season.
Most worship leaders we talk to who are in their fifth-plus year of ministry have walked through a stuck season. Many of them have walked through several. The temptation in a stuck season is to do something dramatic. The wisdom in a stuck season is usually slower than that.
Stuck isn’t always a sign that something’s wrong. Sometimes it’s a sign that the deep work is happening underground.
What’s true
Galatians 6:9 says let us not become weary in doing good. Don’t give up. The harvest comes at the proper time. Not your time. The proper time, which is the Lord’s.
Worship ministry has seasons of high visible growth and seasons of slow underground work. The slow seasons are not failure. They are formation. The roots get deeper before the branches get bigger.
If you are in a stuck season right now, the call is probably not to leave. The call is to stay faithful and stay present. Show up Monday. Lead Sunday. Disciple the one. Pray for the team. Trust that the harvest is coming even though you can’t see it.
Some of the most fruitful worship ministries we know walked through three or four stuck years before something broke loose. The leaders who stayed faithful through the stuck saw the breakthrough. The ones who chased newness rarely did.
Don’t grow weary. Don’t give up. The harvest comes at the proper time.
For your team
Three discussion questions for your pre-rehearsal team huddle.
- Where on our team does stuck describe what we’re feeling right now?
- What’s one good thing we can keep doing faithfully even though the results aren’t visible yet?
- What would it look like to trust the Lord’s timing for our team’s next season?
Pray this
Lord, I am tired and the team feels stuck. Help me not to grow weary. Help me to stay faithful. I trust You for the harvest in Your timing, not mine. Amen.
This Sunday
Pick one good thing about your team’s current season and thank the Lord for it specifically before the first song.
Go deeper
In the network: Search “Should I Stay or Should I Go” in the TCC community for the live training on stuck seasons in ministry and discerning what is next. Free at thechurchcollective.mn.co.
This is Week 12 of 52 Weekly Worship Team Devotionals from The Church Collective. The first 12 (including this one) are available now — grab them as a free PDF. New devotionals drop every Monday morning. Free, denominationally diverse, 501(c)(3). Made possible by our Supporters: become a Supporter or give one-time.
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