Hugh Ballou, Consultant, Synervision International

Worship is central to the church.  Worship unifies the Body of Christ. The team that plans worship consists of the pastor and musician in smaller congregations and expands to a more diverse team in larger ones. The senior pastor has ultimate responsibility for worship. The director of music/director of worship ministries is charged with the detail planning and execution of worship, allowing the pastor to be the spiritual leader of the congregation.  This is one of the most critical relationships in local church ministry if worship is central to our faith. 

How can we as leaders lead believers on a journey of spiritual formation and faith transformation without implementing change in our own lives?  Unifying and transforming a body of believers begins with the worship planners. 

Let’s examine the principal areas for building and strengthening this team of pastor and musician.

Clarify roles and expectations. In order for this clergy/musician team to function effectively, there must be a solid relationship between the two.  It might be useful to develop a set of “norms” for the relationship.  This set of norms could be in the form of a covenant or a set of guidelines for the working relationship.  Enlightening moments come when uncovering the places where there may be different perspectives for simple things such as: how decisions are made, priorities in decisions, negotiating differences and methods for handling a disagreement.  It is also helpful to identify leadership styles for the major players in worship planning using an instrument such as Myers-Briggs or Birkman (www.birkman.com).

Regardless of the size of the church, the musician is an invaluable support to the pastor who must be the spiritual leader for the entire congregation.  The musician works under the direction of the senior pastor and, with effective teamwork, frees the pastor to be the pastor and the visionary leader for the congregation.  Therefore, it is essential that the musician be equipped with the tools for planning worship and charged with the responsibility to do so.  A knowledgeable, effective pastor knows the power of delegation.

It may be decided that both parties are “experts” on some subject matter and that neither is an authority on every topic. That is, it is healthy to admit when one doesn’t know the answer and both are committed to figuring it out together.  After all, each will know when the other is bluffing!

A relationship with trust and openness is key to dealing with the many challenges to leadership found in this most leadership-intensive institution, the church.  It takes two individuals with healthy self-esteem, dedication to harmonious leadership, and great maturity to be able to withstand the constant challenge to leadership that exists in today’s church.

It is important for the musician to understand the ultimate authority of the senior pastor for making worship decisions.  It is also important for the senior pastor to understand the value of the educated contributions of the musician.  The working assumption here is that the musician is a church musician, not a musician who leads music in church.  There is a profound difference.  The full-time church musician understands his or her roles as pastoral musician, worship leader, and team member.  He or she likely is educated in theology as well as worship traditions for the denomination served.  Part-time church musicians sometimes feel less adequate because they may not have a college degree in church music and have not had a formal education in worship-related subjects.  There are many ways to become educated in the theology of worship.  The pastor can be a mentor for those who are serving smaller congregations or those who are less experienced.

A major source of conflict can be in choosing service music.  Some pastors wish to choose all the hymns, other service music and suggest a suitable anthem.  Why, then, hire a skilled church musician?  This not only is an insult to the skill and intelligence of the musician, but it also undermines the confidence and area of supervision for a person working in this chosen area of expertise.  On the other hand, if the pastor who is preaching a particular service wishes to suggest music that fits exactly into the theme of the message and the flow of the service, then the musician should certainly try to accommodate the suggestion.

Another potential area of stress is not allowing sufficient time for music preparation and creative service planning.  Time is needed for selecting suitable selections for music ensembles or choirs, time may be needed to acquire the music, and certainly time is needed to prepare the music thoroughly. The required lead time varies; however, three to five weeks is a bare minimum for finding, purchasing and learning music.

Study a book or article together. Choose a book such as Speaking the Truth in Love, by Kenneth C. Haugk and Ruth Koch to read and discuss either together or as a full staff.  This book helps to determine and respond to various communication styles.  It deals with passive, assertive, passive-aggressive and aggressive behaviors and gives strategies for dealing with each one.  The assertive style is certainly the style preferred in this context.  The book study will provide a forum for exploring styles of relating and responding in a format that is mutually beneficial.

Another idea is to write articles together on relevant subjects.  Subjects might include some of the following: the liturgical year, religions symbolism in the sanctuary, theological reasoning behind parts of the worship service, and other areas related to worshipping together a community of faith.  Articles for the church newsletter or Sunday bulletin are a good place to begin, and then the wisdom may be shared with the greater church community in denominational and national publications.  This can be a learning experience for the authors as well.

These activities will take time away from important tasks; however, the time saved in the end by providing ways to minimize conflict and increase creativity are worth it and will enable more productivity.

The book suggested is only one idea.  Other books on communications, leadership, teamwork, or worship planning may be a better choice. Either way, the useful points from the reading can be summarized and reframed to fit the situation.

Develop a plan for dealing with conflict and criticism. Where there are humans there will be conflict and disagreement.  However, conflict and disagreement need not be weapons – they can be creative tools!

Conflict can exist between leaders as well as between leaders and the congregation.  The guiding principle here is for the two worship leaders to create a strong enough relationship so the outside pressures do not divide them in any way.

First,  any interpersonal conflict between the clergy and musician must be dealt with.  The disagreements must remain between them and not spread to others by talking to friends and congregation members about the conflict.  Speaking outside the relationship is breaking a confidence and is not acceptable. Outside the meeting room, no evidence of disagreement must be revealed.  Keeping it within the context of the discussion and taking it personally, if it isn’t intended, is essential. The conflict must not fester and must be resolved as soon as possible.  It is essential to be unified in order to function as God’s well-tuned instruments for ministry.

The decision-making portion of  the agreement will help when decisions do not come easily. A possible paradigm for making decisions is to work toward consensus. The root of the word consensus is consent. Each person gives consent to a decision that is not necessarily a personal first choice, but is the best choice for the common good. Important elements of reaching consensus include the following: listening, discussing, considering the other point of view, responding, safely debating, forming a concept, revising the concept, and adopting the final concept.

Determine a way to achieve consensus.  Debate may be a creative activity for one person and a challenge to authority for the other person. It should be determined how to explore options, discuss the facts.  Pastor and musician should come to a planning meeting well prepared, but able to make adjustments in the plan as needed. 

Reaching decisions effectively is determined by the strength of the trust between the parties as well as the level of respect earned over time by working together.  Strength in a relationship is affected by how the parties work together and by how they handle themselves when things do not go as planned. Ministry professionals must act professionally – always.

Preparing ahead for difficulties. Part of the relationship is defined when the going gets tough (in the life of a ministry professional, this may be a frequent experience!).  For example, pastor and musician should plan how to respond when antagonists in the church try to triangulate their relationship. The integrity of the relationship is preserved by not taking sides.

The well-prepared team is ready to work through situations when there is criticism. It requires being strong and not taking comments personally if they are not personal; not getting pulled into irrelevant conflict; listening, observing, and listening some more.  The words may not give the entire message.

At this point a fragile relationship can turn to conflict in an effort to preserve position or self-esteem.  The relationship is strengthened not by what happens, but by how it is handled.  Pastor and musician must stay in touch; be open and honest; admit failure, if needed; seek to understand issues first, and then seek options.  Solutions come last.

Celebrate life and success! Remember, success should be celebrated.  The celebration doesn’t have to be shallow, phony or funky. A genuine celebration of God’s blessings to our ministry provides empowering, energizing and validating messages to our spirit. God blesses our ministry more than we acknowledge. God enriches our worship more than we realize. Celebrate!

Originally published in Worship Arts Magazine. Used by permission.

Hugh Ballou is an independent consultant, facilitator, executive coach and motivational speaker. He has served as director of worship ministries for 40 years in churches up to 12,000 in membership. His book Moving Spirits, Building Lives: Church Musician as Transformational Leader can be found at Cokesbury bookstores and Cokesbury online at http://cokesbury.com/bookstore.aspx?pid=525651. His book Transformational Leadership Workbook has just been published. Other information and articles on leadership are available at www.synervisioninternational.com and www.worshipfulworks.com