Jacob serving in CA
QUESTION:Outreach ministry?
"How do I find musicians interested in outreach ministry, not playing in a worship team? If I ask a worship leader for available musicians they only know worship team musicians and they don't seem to be interested in an outreach venue."
RICK MUCHOW:
It"s always important to ask the right question to the right person. We might have a great question, but asking the wrong person can leave us going in circles. When you have a vision, often the best thing to do is to share the vision with as many people as possible in as specific a way as possible.
When you have a burning desire for a ministry outreach or any ministry, before asking who can help you, ask where does this fit within the context of my church or para-church organization? How does it fit with your career path or personal time available? Ask what is God doing and how can I contribute? How does this vision contribute to what God is doing and in what context? A vision such as "I want to go reach the world for Christ" is a great vision but before you can enlist people to help, you need to have specifics about how you are going to reach the world for Christ.
Depending on who asks a Worship Leader for available musicians, the Worship Leader could have a different answer. If the Senior Pastor asks the question, then the question would not be an "if" but "how". The answer is often a matter of capacity: manpower, money and time. All three resources are limited.
A funny phrase with serious implications comes from the illustration of the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt, which doesn"t sound particularly funny now that I"ve written that. The phrase is "more bricks, less straw." The Pharaoh would often demand the Hebrew slaves to work faster and produce more without giving them additional resources. This is the concept of "free money" at the church level. In the church environment, people will often ask for things they don"t want to pay for or don"t have the authority to ask for. Really, that isn"t fair which leads me back to the premise that when asking a question, direct it to the right person. The Worship Leader is not always the right person to ask about ministry expansion.
As a Worship Leader, my first question when asked for musical resources and support for a ministry idea is does this fit within the Senior Pastor"s vision or philosophy of ministry? It"s an automatic filter in my process, and in order for me to move ahead, it must fit into my responsibilities and the philosophy of ministry of my Senior Pastor. For example, I choose to respect the responsibilities of my fellow pastors and their ministry teams. I will automatically redirect a question that affects their ministry team to that ministry team. It"s not a matter of my interest. It"s about working together in harmony.
With your question, who is responsible for outreach at your church? If that"s you, I would start with the Senior Pastor first and present your vision for music involvement with your ministry. The Senior Pastor will then enable and resource you to fulfill the vision.
