Is your worship based on excellence or ministry? Dan Navarra discusses both.

Since basically the introduction of contemporary music to the Church some fifty years ago, the worship team has become a central part of how the church goes about its ministry. Pastors all over the world aspire to have people in their congregations participating in powerful worship that attracts new people, and yet ministers to the faithful on a deep and meaningful level week in and week out. In an effort to help accomplish this goal, many churches have made the shift towards having a “worship leader” on their payroll.

Unfortunately, the worship leader is only one person – which makes for a pretty lame worship team – after all, there is no ‘I’ in team. Because the worship leader is only one person, most churches have opted to have volunteers from the congregation join the “worship team,” and have created an entire department of people who volunteer and help serve the church. The “Worship & Arts” department has become a revolution. The mantra of recruitment for serving in the worship team is basically, “if you have a passion for music and/or service, there is a spot for you!” Every worship leader has a need for sound guys, drummers, PowerPoint-button-pushers, vocalists and even cymbal players to join the army of musicians! This, however, is where ‘the problem’ arises.

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