Last week I wrote about identifying the culture of your church. This week I want to take a look at how to identify the culture of your worship team. In many ways, identifying the culture of your team is similar - to identify the culture of your team you must be in relationship with the team members, you need to observe over time, and you need to ask questions. But as a church has a unique culture, so does a team functioning within the church community.
Are you stepping into a team that already exists?
No group of people is a blank slate. These are people who have served together, who have history, who have been formed and discipled, who have shared together. What things have historically been normative? What does the team value? What is the shared language and understanding of the mission and vision of the team?
Are you building something from scratch?
If you are church planting or beginning a new area of ministry within your church - you are the culture. Vision is important - without it, the people will perish (Proverbs 29:18). But we must also be open-handed enough to shift, change, and grow and God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Much of the work of identifying the culture of your team is so you can determine what needs to be celebrated and redeemed, and what needs to be rejected entirely. In what way has the team been formed? In what ways do they need to be counter-formed?
When I was living abroad a fellow American once shared with me, ‘The goal of serving here is not to make people become more American, it is to help them be more like Jesus.’ What would it look like for the people on your team to serve in this culture, with these skills, on this team as Jesus would serve? What would their life and ministry look like free from the weight of sin?
Culture-making is discipleship. And discipleship is the long-long, ongoing work of the Spirit and the community. Learn. Grow. Celebrate. Reject. Be counter-formed by the Gospel.