HOW & WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?: QUESTIONS FOR A NEW YEAR OF MUSIC & WORSHIP MINISTRY.

We are a few days away from the beginning of a new calendar year. The 2024-2025 Christian year, which for many began with Advent (December 1), finds us in YEAR C of the three liturgical cycles (Year A, Year B, or Year C). At the same time, many clergy, music ministers, and worship leaders stand at the threshold of another (packed!) year of local, denominational, and cultural observances, celebrations, ceremonies, rituals, and "Big Banner Days" that are significantly undergirded by music and worship arts. HOW WILL YOU GET IT ALL DONE? WHAT STRATEGIES ARE YOU EMPLOYING TO GET YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND WORSHIP MINISTRY THROUGH THE DEMANDS OF THESE CONCURRENT (AND AT TIMES CONFLICTING) CALENDARS?

What measurable goals have you set for yourself and for the ministry that serves with you? Or, will you forge into the new year with the same habits and ways of thinking? Are there opportunities for thinking about excellent music and worship ministry in different ways? Absolutely! I pose this question not just for the sake of pursuing novelty, but with the goal of keeping us, and those what serve with us, spiritually, psychologically, physically, and fiscally whole. Here are a five (5) prompts to help guide planning and ministry evaluation for the new year as we seek ways to work smarter and more collaboratively:

• HOW CAN WE BE BETTER STEWARDS OF TIME?

  • Show up early and show up prepared! Begin your rehearsals, meetings, and services on time and end on time (or earlier). Accomplish what needs to be done, but don't take all day/night to do it.

  • Plan so your rehearsals, meetings, and worship services move with a pace that communicates to volunteers (and your congregation) that you care about their time. Do not sell folks short. At the same time, deliver your best prepared self. Your volunteers can tell when you are prepared and when you are not. Your personal preparation (or lack thereof) affects the quality everyone's time. The faster you can get people out of the door, the faster they will want to come back.

  • One of the best and quickest ways to earn the trust and respect of people in your faith community is your ability to NOT WASTE TIME.

• CAN WE BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT REST & REFLECTION?

  • Think about how you can build in collective ministry rest at increments that work best for your context. This can happen in many ways and at various intervals during the year. Collective ministry rest should not be accidental. It should be intentional. Think about proactive ways to avoid ministry burnout and low morale.

  • Before jumping into the next ministry assignment or major holiday, have you designated time to reflect/evaluate the ministry moment you just completed in community with others? Asking pertinent questions in conversation with other stakeholders can help make ministry moments more effective and memorable the next time they come around. Pause. Gather other minds to join you in your reflection. Document your conversation and make a commit to the input offered.

  • If applicable, how/when will you evaluate paid and un-paid music/worship staff? What incentives do you have in place for staff who demonstrate exceptional leadership? Do you have updated job descriptions for each person in leadership? If you are not currently evaluating worship staff, this might be the year to think about implementing a process.

• ARE THERE NEW WAYS TO THINK ABOUT ARTISTIC GOALS?

  • Have you thought about setting and articulating musical/artistic goals for your CONGREGATION as well as for each ministry or ensemble in the music and worship arts ministry? What/How will you teach the congregation this year? At what intervals will you focus on the worship education of the CONGREGATION?

  • Are there ministries that need to be created, re-structured/combined, or disbanded? As you evaluate music and worship staff, a careful evaluation of each ministry may be something to consider if you are not currently doing so.

• HOW MIGHT WE THINK ABOUT ADMINISTRATIVE & EDUCATIONAL GOALS?

  • How can you better organize and administer the music and arts ministry? Are there opportunities to better communicate with the ministry, the congregation, and the larger community using technology, social media, print media that you are NOT using?

  • Is there a book or article you can assign the entire ministry to read for a time of online and/or in-person reflection and idea sharing? What conferences/workshops will you attend this year? Might there be a conference (or two) that you would suggest for members of your worship ministry to attend? What books will you read or podcasts will you follow to keep you in loop with music and worship trends across faith traditions?

  • How are you cultivating the next generation of music and worship leaders in your context? Are there opportunities to allow young people to lead in worship through performance ministries and/or assisting with liturgy (prayers, Scripture readings, etc.) ? What can the ministry do to help train young people to be effective worship leaders?

• RE-THINK: COLLABORATION AS CURRENCY, NOT COMPETITION

  • How will you come out of your ministry silo to be in community with other worship leaders and musicians in your city or region? What accountability partners do you have to help keep you challenged and growing as a leader? Might it be time to start a tribe of music ministers in your corner of the globe?

  • Consider planning and selecting music for major seasons of the year with other worship leaders online and/or in-person. Think about how beneficial it could be to think through Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Homecoming, Women's Day, Men's Day, Church Anniversary, and other yearly moments with your colleagues at a coffee shop or around a dinner table in someone's home, or on a Zoom. The goal is conversation and idea sharing, not competition.

  • Think about at least one (1) outreach ministry opportunity with another church/faith community or non-profit performing arts organization in your city or region (symphony orchestra or community band, a dance/theatre company, art gallery, a community choir, etc.) that you can do to allow your worship arts ministry to experience something collaboratively your church probably would not be able to do on it's own.

Every calendar year represents a clean slate of possibilities for doing excellent ministry. How leaders choose to embrace each year will determine the quality of success the ministry will experience. I strongly advocate for more intentional periods of personal and collective rest and reflection throughout the year, not just the summer months and the end of December. Reminding yourself that you are not alone in the work of music and worship ministry can be sobering if we are open to ways to bring conversation partners together to help think through issues and opportunities for planning, time management, artistic/performance possibilities, and how we minister to the people entrusted to us. No person (or church) should be an island. No of us stand alone.

FOR YOUR RESPONSE: What questions or suggestions come to mind after reading this post? In what ways has this post inspired or challenged your thinking and patterns of leading? Feel free to leave a response in the comments below.