worship in the city

The team should adjust to the change by being responsible to keep an eye on how we are doing on meeting [the team’s] objectives, and by being active and intentional about making the changes necessary to make that happen. We also need to be careful to ensure that the needs of each individual with regard to their participation on the team are being met.

We do need to be careful about the greater objectives. For example, if the team grows in such a way that the older, more experienced members are forced out by the new, then the goal of discipleship has failed. If we have a whole team of twenty-somethings, then there is no one to mentor and disciple the young and the restless.

“The needs of each individual” do need some attention. I try to be sensitive to people’s individual levels of commitment and skills. However, if the needs of an individual outweigh the needs of the group they might need to just move on. No one’s position on the team is sacred (not even mine). If my goals or needs get in the way of those greater objectives, then I need to move on. A man once approached me about participating on the team. He told me about all the experience he’d had in music and all his credentials, but then he told me that his work situation meant that he could never come to a Saturday rehearsal or even a Sunday morning warm up. I just told him that if his work situation changed then we could talk, but no one is that special. The music team is a group of worshipers who serve the body by preparing the music for worship. If you can’t be there for that preparation, then just sing along on Sunday; that’s what the projected lyrics are for.

It would be nice if the team could be divided into groups that could work more closely with each other to get that "team" feel back again

This is actually a really good idea. I have been thinking about it a lot, and I have even at times wondered whether we should have everyone divided up into mini teams. I know of churches that use this system with success (my cousin’s ministry operates in this way.) However, after putting a lot of thought into it, I feel convinced that the mini teams approach would do more to cause division than unity among the musicians. The split between the U city and South city has not created greater unity; it has created necessary division.

In a church with so much diversity of age, class, race, culture, and language, I would hate to see us sectioned off from each other as musicians. I like the interplay and dynamics that are created when such different people play together. Dividing up into cells would mean something like Jim Payne and Tony Carvalho are in one team, and Josh and Jeremy Henning are in another. The result would be that Jim and Josh would never play together and Jeremy and Tony would never play together. Playing with different people every week forces us to be open to the diversity of styles and interpretations in each individual. It is a glorious picture of what it is like to be in fellowship in a church together, loving one another, and serving one another.

If the church is like a family, then the inevitable truth is that as a family progresses through the years it starts to expand. People get married, move out of their parent’s house, have kids, and get involved in the world outside the family. New City Fellowship is growing out of what it used to be. The changes in the music team have happened quickly kind of like a teenager’s growth spurt so it might feel a little shocking, but it is a natural process that every church goes through if it is growing in a healthy way.

This has nothing to do with the current entry, but I thought you might read your comments from top down. They just opened a Guitar Center at Hamilton Place. Ugh!

I'm still buying my guitar cords at Picker's Exchange on Brainerd Rd.