On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love worship rehearsals? Maybe you never considered the possibility of the words “love” and “rehearsal” being in the same sentence. We’ve talked about rehearsal quite a bit here at Beyond Sunday. But the more I visit churches the more I see terrible rehearsals at the heart of many teams. We need to create effective rehearsals.
Over time, terrible rehearsals drain morale, eliminate productivity and encourage team turn over. In the moment, it doesn’t seem so bad. Long rehearsals, bad rehearsals just seem like a necessary evil in order to have a great Sunday. As long as Sunday goes off without a hitch, who cares about Thursday night, right?
Wrong. A great team is healthy behind the scenes. Terrible rehearsals don’t have to be the norm. Engineering a great rehearsal is a relatively small, easy, immediate next step that worship pastors can take, making a massive difference.
I’ve been in rehearsals where musicians have left, laid on the ground, made each other cry, and had enough bad attitudes to make the devil cringe. Let’s talk about how to avoid that:
How to Lead Effective Worship Rehearsals
1. Keep it Short – Long rehearsals are the result of poor planning, not unskilled volunteers. I encourage a 90-minute rehearsal because it’s respectful of your volunteers and the time they are investing week in and week out, throughout the year. You want your team to look forward to rehearsal, and ending when you say you’re going to end builds respect.
