It was about six months to a year from when I first started serving in worship ministry that I realized, “Wow, this is actually kind of exhausting.” At the time, we had to be at the church at 6:15am on Sundays, so my husband and I had to drag our baby out of the house ridiculously early, and putting our son to bed late on rehearsal nights was more exhausting for us than it was for him. I was tired of the negative reports from angry congregants who wanted more hymns, it hurt my heart when we would get complaints written on prayer request cards (is that what those are for?), and I slowly began to realize that ministry is hard.
We are so busy trying to recruit new people to serve in the church, that once they start, we don’t usually volunteer this information to them; we go out of our way NOT to tell our volunteers that ministry is hard work. If you’ve been serving in your local church for more than a few months, you may have already come to this realization. It’s a hard one to miss. So, since we know that the average tenure of a worship leader is between 3-4 years and that 80% of the work in church is done by 20% of the people involved in it, what can we do to lighten the burden for those we serve with and for ourselves as we serve?
Expectations
Let’s be wildly up front with those who join us to serve in our ministries. My church recently started a program for new leaders (both staff and volunteer), where a handful of meetings are held with one of the pastors in which they discuss the reality of serving in a leadership position. Among the things discussed are that people may not always answer emails, people may not be as passionate as you. Our church has policies and procedures to follow, you should strive for a healthy family/church balance, people are flawed, and thats okay because so are you. The goal of these meetings to set our leaders up for success by not letting them be surprised by the truth that ministry can be downright hard sometimes. We don’t want our volunteers and staff to crash and burn, we want them to enjoy serving their God even through the hard times.
Time
One way to avoid burnout is to have a season of rest. In 2014 I made the decision to take 5 months off from the worship ministry, which was incredibly hard for me because I had been actively serving with the team for seven years. I am on staff at my church, so even though I wasn’t serving on the platform each Sunday, I was still engaged in what was going on, which was even harder. It took me over a month to get to a point where I could attend Worship and engage without making mental notes during the worship set. The time of rest allowed me to spend extra time with both God and my family. My love and passion and calling to the worship ministry was renewed, and when my time of rest was over, I came back a better worshipper than when I left. One of the difficulties of ministry can be that we get so personally attached to it, that we don’t allow ourselves a break from it. Time can be different for each situation. Perhaps you need to take a handful of months off, or encourage a team member to only play twice a month for a time? If you’re on staff and cannot take time away, maybe you need to review your family/church balance. Whatever it looks like for you, remember that God created the sabbath for a reason.
Purpose
Ask yourself this fundamental question: Why do we do what we do? Is it because we enjoy playing guitar for an audience or because we understand truly who God is and we desire to respond to His greatness through music? The purpose behind what you do will drive you and allow you to travel the highs and lows without extinguishing your passion. Take time to soak in God’s Word, spend time in the Word as a team. Continuously remind yourself of the purpose behind your ministry, remind your volunteers also, so that they can serve with a humble heart. What is the mission or vision of your church, and how does your ministry work to help accomplish that? While ministry is difficult, the ultimate purpose will energize us to continue.
It’s the truth, ministry is hard. It can be stressful, it can tax your family, and it can also be one of the best things to ever happen in your life. Serving in our local churches is biblical, it is a privilege, and it can bring much joy. I encourage you to stay strong and confident, knowing that your work is for God’s Kingdom. If you know someone who is going through a rough ministry season right now, encourage them, care for them, pray for them and remind them why we do what we do.
Presentable and Professional
I really don’t want to be perceived as troll but this post demonstrates exactly what is wrong with modern worship ministry and sometimes ministry in general. Why do you expect a job to be easy or rather “not hard”? As Christians we should be going out of our way to do hard things often, if not to demonstrate Christ’s love, at least to emulate his sacrifice. Furthermore, countless congregants have incredibly taxing jobs. Some are incredibly labor intensive, some emotionally intensive and some are stressful in both areas. This leads to the question: What’s wrong with parishioners requesting more hymns? Even if it is on a prayer request card. Maybe these people are too busy with their jobs and family to make an appointment with the ministry team to discuss these things. Or maybe it’s not really a big enough issue for an appointment. It’s their church, right? They pay the tithes, they sit in the seats, they participate in the worship. Non-believers and non-church goers often make unfounded claims to back up their not attending church, but if there’s one claim I’ve heard that is fairly reasonable it’s that church leaders are out of touch with how difficult life is for average Americans, i.e. your parishioners. Why go to church to hear the teaching and leadership of people who seemingly refuse to empathize with the life of parishioners, when said parishioners can stay home and read their own Bible or attend an independent bible study, or , never learn about the Church and Christ’s Love? Just some food for thought. I would encourage you to speak with your congregants and ask them about their struggles, maybe pick up a few books by authors like Corrie ten Boom and Richard Wurmbrand. Re-examine the sacrifices expected of church leaders.
Haley, thanks for taking the time to both read and respond. In regards to your comments on expectation I agree with you, which is why the post discusses expectations and the reality of serving. Many people who begin serving are young in their faith and haven’t yet experienced or come to realize the sacrifices that come with ministry. When that happens if they do not have someone mentoring them it can become extremely easy to think that it’s personal and doesn’t happen to others. They can easily get discouraged and quit. I am not saying those reactions are the correct ones, just that they happen. I believe approaching your volunteers and staff with realistic expectations as opposed to idealistic ones is one way to avoid that.
In addition, the last part of your post made reference to “it’s their church”, but actually it isn’t. As grown mature Christians, church isn’t about what we can get out of it. It isn’t about my preferences. The amount of money I tithe doesn’t make the church owe me anything. Our role in the church is to to be a functioning member; to be unifying not divisive, to be prayerful, to be serving using our gifts, and to lead our families and others to be healthy church members. I encourage you to pick up a book written by Thom S. Rainer, “I Am A Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference”, I loved it.
Pastors and congregants are all the same, we all have struggles, we all have bad days. Pastors are just like the average American in regards to pay, homes, family, schools. They have the same struggles as everyone else and I’m sorry to hear that this hasn’t been the outward portrayal of leadership that you and others have experienced. I pray when we both come across people seeking a church we would be able to lead them to a place where they can meet Jesus, where the Word of God is taught, where their gifts can be utilized and where they can at some point be a growing active participant in the church body.