How do we see our life and our calling? It’s a question everyone must ask. What’s your vision for worship ministry? When we find ourselves thinking about the things that fill our days, what images come to mind?
For worship leaders, the question might go something like this: When you dream about your congregation, do you see them just as they are—and that’s OK? Or, do you see them as they used to be—and lament the changes? Or, do you see them as they might be—and feel the exhilaration of anticipating what God might do next? Are you simply content with the present? Do you yearn for the past? Or, are you anticipating what could become/is becoming?
These are not just casual “cookie” questions that worship geeks ask each other at Symposium snack breaks. These are far more than glass-half-full, glass-half-empty pop psychology. Your answers could be indicators of spiritual and emotional vitality for you and any other worship leader (author included). Because, with apologies to Matthew and the Messiah he was quoting, where your vision is, there will your heart be also.
Vision for Worship Ministry
We all know people so invested in the ministry to which God has called them that it makes you smile just to think about them. A close friend of mine left a mammoth music ministry (nearly 700 participants) he had started, and nurtured for 26 years, to take a part time position in a struggling, aging, urban congregation. The new, and VERY different, ministry quickly began to show signs of spiritual depth and life in ways no one would have imagined. Has he hit speed bumps and potholes? Sure! But the resilience of his faith and his commitment to the mission potential of his call carries him, and those working with him, with their eyes fixed on the future God is creating in their midst.
In a different leap of faith, another friend left a stable parish music position in a Roman congregation to accept a call to an emerging parish whose fledgling music and liturgical ministries are now exploding with spiritual energy. His approach to a now vibrant liturgy and the neighborhood arts ministry begins with words like, “What if…” or “Why couldn’t we…?”
