Learning to Let Go

Many music ministry leaders have to wear many hats: music director, song leader, administrator, production manager, stage crew...

It can be exhausting. 

And when their church grows, it can be hard to off-load the previous responsibilities to other members of the team. But this is precisely what must happen if you want to build a healthy environment that helps more people grow in their giftings and prevent you from burning out. 

The Control Factor

When we're so used to doing things by ourselves by necessity, we learn to perfect our methods for ourselves because we're the only place of input within the system. Sure, we can rely on other instrumentalists and singers to participate within the service, but the execution of behind-the-scenes work comes down to us. 

This means we get to have control over the entire process from beginning to end, and it's completely tailored to our preferences. But when the time comes that the responsibilities exceed our ability to carry out, giving up that control can be hard, mainly because of pride. 

If we hand over our fine-tuned "baby" to someone else, how in the world could they do it just as well as before? Surely, they don't really know what it takes to get things done the right way!

There's something to be said that good stewardship plays a part in this objection; after all, we must entrust these responsibilities to someone who is capable. But  the guise of stewardship often acts as a smokescreen for a prideful heart.

Letting Go

The cure for this really comes back to what I just said: We must entrust these responsibilities to someone who is capable. Here some ways that you can establish trust and ensure that person inheriting your responsibilities is set up for success:

Get to know their background and learning style.

Different backgrounds and experiences produce different strengths and weaknesses. It always seems to be on the side of technical know-how, whether that's arranging a tune, instructing a group, or troubleshooting a systems problem. Take the time to see where those strengths and weaknesses are, and then you'll know how to utilize each team member most effectively. 

Take time to train. 

Training doesn't always come down to teaching new skills, per se. While that is often necessary to do, especially in a lean operation, it's even more crucial to align your new team members with how you expect to communicate, timetables and deadlines, and how each task should be prioritized. 

After this is taken care of, you can then make tweaks to how they perform each task, offering insight and instruction to tailor their work to meet the standards that have been set. 

Establish Fail-Safes as Safety Nets

Sometimes, mistakes can fall through the cracks. But that's OK—it's reality. The thing that ensures a high quality of outcome is to have a solid safety net in place, should a task remain unfinished, any equipment breakdowns, or having absent team members. Formulate a plan that addresses any possibility of derailment; it often just comes down to pivoting to a new format and adjusting "who" does "what."

The Next Step

After you've done this, you can then focus your energy on maintaining your remaining responsibilities, but even more importantly, devote more of time to development, vision casting, and "macro" decisions to carry your team further along the path to progress. Keep empowering your team to hone their skills, giving them new responsibilities and opportunities to bring others into the fold, and you'll quickly see how more effective your overall work is compared to being a "solo act."

Blended Worship 101 from MyWorshipStore.com

For many of our readers, you have to strike a balance between pleasing the “modern” and “traditional” groups that make up your congregations.

Often, we see that many churches choose to separate these factions to keep things civil.

But if you truly want unity, then have to go with a different approach.

Author Teresa Ledford has put together a great resource called Blended Worship 101 that shows you exactly how to do that. Topics covered include:

• The benefits of a blended music approach

• Common mistakes to avoid

• How to overcome resistance to change

• How to introduce and reinforce new songs

• How to modernize hymns

• How to create smooth transitions

• And more!

Just click the button below if you want grab your copy!

Be blessed 👊✌️