Church

Learning To Lead In A Church Plant

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Every church and context is different. Whether an established church with large resources, and a deep bench of skilled musicians, or a church plant that is scrappy and industrious, every church and context has strengths and challenges.

As I have reflected on my experience serving in a number of church plants, here are a few things I wish I would have been able to learn sooner:

What Sustains You

Energy, momentum, adrenaline, and enthusiasm can take you farther than you would expect. But ultimately they are insufficient in their ability to sustain the long-term discipleship work of planning a church and making disciples. Once the energy is spent, moment wains, adrenaline empties and enthusiasm turns to routine - if love is not the undercurrent animating and motivating your service, you will be hollowed out.

The People

The chaotic, entrepreneurial nature of church planting is often attractive to people who enjoy starting something new. Many people who join you in the beginning will not be those who stay for the long haul. And that is okay. Some people will be with you for seasons. If and when people leave does not negate the very real investment they made in the church, or that you as a leader made in them.

Learning

As a worship leader, it takes time to learn your people. But this can be challenging when you do not even know the people who will be showing up at your church! Take time to learn about your church, your people, and the songs and liturgy that will resonate with your people. Be consistent - bordering on stale - as you plan your gatherings. There is enough uncertainty for people arriving at a church plant, keep songs familiar and regular as things take shape.

Encourage

Set up and tear down, evangelism and discipleship, learning on the job, building a team - planting a church is relentless and can be exhausting. If God in his kindness has provided one or two other people to serve on your team with sound, lyrics, musicians, or vocalists, thank him! And thank them. Notice, celebrate, and honor your people for the way they serve and sacrifice. I have been on the receiving and sending end of thank you notes, and I am always surprised how valuable these can be in feeling seen and appreciated. Buy a stack of cards, and write to your team regularly.

What would you add?

17 November: Liturgy & Set List

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  • CREATOR

    Call to Worship: Psalm 27

  • LAMB OF GOD

  • WE FALL DOWN

    Sermon: 1 Corinthians 13:4

    Scripture says, greater love has no one than this, that they would lay down their life for their friend. How do we know what love is? We look to the cross. But Scripture also tells us that when Christ died for us, we were not God’s friends, we were his enemies. And if you are here this morning as someone who has received the saving love of Christ through the cross, you have been called not just to love your family, friends, and the people you like, but your enemies. If God is able to reconcile sinners to himself as a holy God, what a small thing for him to reconcile one sinner to another. But that is not something that we can do in our own strength and ability, we need God’s help to love God, and love others. Let’s respond in song as we ask him to help us do that…

  • JESUS PAID IT ALL

  • YET NOT I BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME

    Benediction: Romans 5:8-11

Hierarchy

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What is the most important area of ministry within the local church? Is it the preaching ministry of the church? Maybe the worship experience? Perhaps children’s ministry? What about missions, outreach, justice, and mercy ministries? Or could it be hospitality and prayer? Or a host of other ministries that honor God, serve His people, and reach the lost?

Likely, your theological convictions have knowingly (or unknowingly) shaped how you, your pastor, and your congregation consider these questions. To that end, I contend that if every area of ministry has its central aim: to herald the Gospel, proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ, preach the Word in word and deed, and grow deep disciples of Jesus - there is no hierarchy of ministry. And if those things do not describe the work of ministry within the local church, perhaps the question is not - which area of ministry is most important and vital, rather, why is this not true of every area of ministry?

As worship leaders, this is why our song choices matter. This is why thoughtful liturgy matters. This is why growing as a communicator matters. This is why the local church matters, because everything we do is to: “…proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

Regardless of your area of ministry and responsibility, there is no space for superiority or inferiority complexes within the body of Christ.

Purified Motives

As a worship leader, passages like Matthew 6:1-7 give me a significant amount of pause:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

As worship leaders, our role is public by nature. So are there ways we can ensure that our motives are pure? Because only God can see and know our hearts, it is only God who - in His kindness - can reveal to us the places where our motives are out of step with His heart. If we desire pure motives in our leading and serving, we must be people who are attentive to His voice (by His Spirit and through His Word), and be people who are quick to confess our sin to God and to others.

We are incapable of purifying our own motives. But we can (and should) test our motives.

Some questions to consider in testing our motives: What do I want? How do I respond when I don’t get what I want? Why do I react that way? What are the stories I tell myself in the quiet of my own heart and mind?

Creating Culture Carriers

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Culture matters. Every church has a culture, every team has a culture, and as leaders, we bear a responsibility to shift the culture toward one that resembles the Kingdom of God and the person of Christ more than it resembles our cities, churches, and leaders. But this work of culture is not - and cannot be - a solo endeavor. One of the ways I think of leaders on my team is carriers of the culture. What is true of us now, and where we are prayerfully aiming the direction of our lives, our team, and ultimately our church will be shaped by the carriers of our culture on our team.

How to identify culture carriers on your team:

Do you have culture carriers on your team? You will be able to recognize them because their voices, presence, and influence have an outsized impact on the team. On a worship team, the temptation might be to consider those with a microphone (choosing songs, leading the liturgy, running a rehearsal, etc) as the main carriers of culture - and this might be true. However, I have often found that the most consistent carriers of culture are not always the most obvious leaders. Who shows up early? Who is encouraging the team? Who is investing in relationship? Who is giving more of themselves (in time and talent) than is expected of the rest of your volunteers? Here are your culture carriers.

How to encourage culture carriers on your team:

  • Invite them in. Bring them into your thought process, and your planning.

  • Ask them to do intentionally what they are already doing naturally.

  • Entrust them with greater responsibility in leading the team, the congregation, and planning.

  • Ask them to weigh in on decisions about songs, events, services, and the overall direction of your team.

  • Make space for them to grow as leaders

  • Make investments in their leadership on your team as well as their growth as people.

Ultimately, this is the discipleship. And discipleship is the long game. This work will be slow, but it is the kind of self-giving we are called towards as disciples of Christ, as we make disciples.

26 May: Liturgy + Set List

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  • CREATOR

    Call to Worship: Micah 6:6-8

  • A THOUSAND HALLELUJAHS

  • THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD

    God is great, and He is good, and He is kind. And he could have chosen to reveal nothing of Himself to us. But we know from Scripture that God is three persons in one God - the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. This morning is Trinity Sunday, the day in the Church calendar when we recognize and celebrate the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in salvation. The Church calendar, unlike the calendar that we follow as modern, western people, is oriented around the life of Jesus. So we are going to take a moment to pray these ancient words as we set our attention and affection on the person and work of the Trinity:

Glory to the Father who created us;

Glory to the Son who redeemed us;

Glory to the Spirit who sanctifies us;

Glory to the most high and undivided Trinity.

Whose work is inseparable,

Whose kingdom abides,

World without end,

Amen.

A Trinity Sunday, Prayer of St Augustine

Sermon: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Scripture says that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And when Christ returns His glory will be undeniable because the glory of God will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. Let’s set our attention and affection on the One who has come and is coming again. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together…

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

  • RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)

Benediction

5 May: Liturgy + Set List

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  • PSALM 134 (BLESS THE LORD

    Call to Worship: Psalm 84

    God is present everywhere, always. But at the time of this Psalm, the presence of God dwelt among his people in the temple. But now, because of the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit - the presence of God dwells in the heart of every follower of Christ. And perhaps we are never more aware of the presence of God because He is uniquely present when the people of God gather because he inhabits our praises, he is in our midst by the power of the Spirit. With our feet on the ground here in North Carolina, because of Christ we stand in the very presence of God, and God is in our midst right here and right now. We sing to a God who is not far from us, but has drawn near to us in and through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Let’s sing about who he is and what he’s done…

  • REJOICE

  • THIS I BELIEVE (THE CREED)

    Sermon: Ephesians 2:19-22

    If you are here this morning as a follower of Christ, you have not been saved to be a person, you have been saved to be a people. The people of God, the family of God, the dwelling place of God, the temple of God. And together we’ll remind ourselves of who we were, what Christ has done, and who has called us to be. Let’s read from Ephesians 2…

    LEADER:
    And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world,
    following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
    ALL:
    among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—

    LEADER:
    by grace you have been saved—

    ALL:

    and raised us up with him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
    in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

    LEADER:
    For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

    ALL:
    For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Let’s sing a song that has been on the lips of the Church for generations…

  • DOXOLOGY

  • IS HE WORTHY

    Benediction

9 April: Tuesday Refocus

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“The church - the body of Christ - is the place where God invites us to renew our loves, reorient our desires, and retrain our appetites.” - James K.A. Smith

Every person is a tangled mess of loves, desires, and appetites. At the moment of conversion, followers of Jesus have been given a new heart, and from a new heart flows new affections (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10). But we will spend a lifetime for our affections to be continually transformed - this is the ongoing work of sanctification.

Through the power of God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people that I…

…am reminded of who I am, who I am not, and who I am called to be. 

…come face to face with a life in community that breaks apart my desire for self-sufficiency.

…learn to serve rather than be served.

…am both wounded and healed.

…am reminded of who God is, and what He has done.

Father, may we joyfully submit to Your work through Your people for Your glory and our good, amen.

Amen,

AB

Good Friday: Liturgy + Set List

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  • TRISAGION

Invitation to Rest

God, it is good to be near You.

Would you help me become aware of your presence and nearness in this moment?

Psalm 46:10

  • MAN OF SORROWS

Invitation to Remember

God, where was I far from You today? Whether in thought, word, or deed?

Hebrews 8:12

  • LAMB OF GOD

Invitation to Rejoice

God, would you show me how to endure in light of the fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore promised to me as a follower of Christ?

Psalm 16:11

  • JESUS PAID IT ALL

Sermon: Leviticus 16

Invitation to Repent

God, in Your kindness would You lead me to repentance?

Romans 2:4

  • HOLY MEDLEY

Holy Is Our God/We Fall Down/Holy Forever/Open The Eyes of My Heart

  • COMMUNION MEDLEY

Lord, I Need You/Grace Alone/Thank You Jesus for the Blood

The Lord’s Supper

Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

Invitation to Request

Father, would You give me the ability to respond like Jesus: requesting of You honestly, while also in humility surrendering to Your will?

Matthew 26:39

  • SON OF SUFFERING

Benediction/Sending/Further Time of Reflection