Worship Ministry Leadership
Called to Lead for God’s Glory
The Attraction
Leading a worship ministry can be an attractive profession. You are on the platform weekly showcasing your talents for others to enjoy, you often receive compliments for your work, and there is no shortage of people who want to be on your team. As a Christian, is there anything better than the prospect of serving the Lord full time on a church staff? As a musician, you can make a living doing what you love to do, making music! All of this sounds good, but none of this has anything to do with leading a worship ministry. These attractions have more to do with personal fulfillment than fulfilling a call of God. Far too many begin their journey into worship ministry with the mind-set that ministry is simply a career choice they are attracted to, and not a calling to shepherd the sheep that God has put in their care.
The Call
Being a leader of a ministry is something God calls one to be, not for the sole benefit of the called, but for the equipping and building up of the church. Ephesians 4:11–13 says, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” The call to ministry is something not to be taken lightly. Just to know that if you are truly called to lead others in the ministry, the Creator of the universe is entrusting you personally to equip the people of His church to serve. What an awesome privilege and responsibility!
Serving God by serving and leading others to serve others should be the highest of our priorities, and not solely the satisfaction of having our personal desires fulfilled. God is so loving and giving that He wants to satisfy our personal needs, yet He wants our primary focus to be on His kingdom. This teaching of Christ is highlighted in the gospels in Matthew 6:31-33 and Luke 12:29–31. One might quote Psalm 34:7 that says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” One also needs to keep in mind that when you seek first the kingdom of God, the desires of your heart will line up with the purpose and pleasure of God.
The Glory
There is an old saying that if you observe a turtle on top of a fencepost, then you know someone put it there. Through the years when someone has complimented our children or our parenting, my wife has always responded by saying, “If it’s good, it’s God.” One way to know if God has called someone to ministry is when observing them in a position of leadership, it becomes obvious that God put them there. Matt Chandler, Senior Pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas once said, “God ultimately raises up leaders for one primary reason: His glory. He shows His power in our weakness. He demonstrates His wisdom in our folly. God gives leadership according to His good pleasure.” The apostle Paul reminds us that God is the initiator of all and deserves all the glory in Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.” God chooses and calls those that will lead others to Him for His glory. God puts us where we need to be, when we need to be there, for His purpose and glory even if we look as strange as that turtle on a fencepost to the world around us.
“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise’ and “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” 1Corinthians 1:27–29
