In the realm of worship and music ministry in the church, we come to many crossings where it is unclear just who is in charge.
Many of us are lay leaders or part time staff members, and sometimes our authority or leadership status is questionable or ambiguous. Sometimes it’s disappointingly obvious that we haven’t much status. Sometimes people question the little authority we have.
Possibly, the structure of the church staff creates ambiguity about our status or authority to lead. For instance, many, if not most of the time, the senior pastor is considered the ultimate authority over worship; yet the music minister or worship leader bears most, if not all, of the responsibility for leading the volunteers as well as the congregation. It’s always weird when one person has the authority and a different person carries the responsibility. Do you know what I mean?
Anyway. For as long as I’ve been in ministry I have thought about these confusions and the burden they create for those who lead arts ministries in the church. When I have had occasion to encourage either myself or a friend in ministry, I often say, “Leadership is influence.” We don’t always get to choose our: title, salary, status, schedule or supervisor; but we do get to choose how we will lead with the responsibility and authority we have been given.
Millie Lungren in the the Cov Resource Center just passed this excellent article to me. I hope you find it helpful: Leadership as More than Being in Charge.
There is good news for worship leaders: The leadership ethos in much of the church and world is changing these days– becoming less hierarchical and depending less on singular authorities. This is good for the health of our churches, not to mention, our own health and sanity.
God’s best this week. Katie
