So you’ve found a group of really talented musicians for your praise team. Or maybe they are just solid and dependable. Or, as is often the case, you have a few really talented individuals, a few that are barely holding their own, and then a few others who you really have to work with so they keep up. Whatever the case may be, in many churches there is a pressure to present a “professional” front to the congregation on Sunday morning. Is this necessary? Is it Biblical?

Well, first, Biblically speaking, in the Old Testament the priests had many, many regulations concerning their dress and appearance in offering sacrifices. Fortunately for us, under the new covenant we are no longer under the Law. Our acceptance before God is conditioned on Christ’s sacrifice – our dress or appearance has nothing to do with the acceptability of our worship. Even in Revelation, while there is description of the beings worshiping around the throne, the description of them is a vehicle for the Apostle John to describe the worthiness of God for worship, the emphasis being that even creatures this magnificent worship God with all their being.

Paul talks about church services being conducted “decently and in order” (1 Cor 14:40, NASB). And when Paul speaks about appearance, the driving force behind his arguments about specific types of dress is that those in the church should not dress in ways that identify them with people (or types of people) who are rebelling against God (idolaters and prostitutes, specifically).

But where does that leave you and your team? Should they be required to wear a solid colored shirt, black slacks, and (for the guys) a solid colored tie? Or should they just dress as they please? But won’t that look sloppy?

First, let me ask you where the pressure to look very professional is coming from. Is your pastor displeased with the way the team is looking on Sunday mornings? Or are there individuals in the congregation who are continually griping about the way things look on the stage? Or, rather, is it just that you wished the praise team looked more like a band and less like a bunch of “joes” off the street?

Regarding the first two pressures (Pastor or congregation), or even some variation thereof, I would challenge you to consider two things. First, make sure you and your Pastor are on the same page when it comes to the dress code for the team. Your Pastor is the primary safeguard for the mission and vision of your church, and if the two of you are not together on this issue, then it will always be a point of conflict (hint: even if you don’t agree with him, pray about it and I’m sure God will lead you in the direction of submitting to your Pastor’s direction).

Second, there will always be gripers in the congregation. Especially if you’re moving from a more traditional type of setup to a more contemporary, band-style worship service. That doesn’t mean you ignore them, it just means that you take their complaints critiques with a grain of salt. If it is just a few people who are complaining, but who also complain about a lot of other things, the issue might be more than just the appearance of the team, and I would highly doubt that you color coordinating the team would all of a sudden make them perfectly happy.

If you are just wishing the team looked better on stage, let me ask you why. Why does the praise team need to look like a professional group of musicians (whether they are or not)? Personally, I think God, within the revelation of scripture, has given us a lot of “wiggle room” in regards to this issue. Here is how I approach this issue:

My team members are first and foremost brothers (and sisters) in Christ. They are gifted individuals who serve the church through leading worship instrumentally and vocally. But the strength of their leadership in worship lies less in their individual talents and/or abilities musically and primarily in their personal relationship with Christ. In the end, there is nothing “special” about them that sets them apart from any other individual of the congregation – we are all sinners saved by grace. Our function on stage is to enable the congregation to worship God (and not really to notice us).

So, my first reaction to this clothing issue is to teach and encourage the praise team in their role as “distraction eliminators”. They should minimize distractions musically – that is why we practice. But we should also minimize distractions visually as well. Women should attempt to avoid clothes that would overly distract men (so I would encourage against short skirts, low-cut blouses – basically any overly revealing clothes), and men should be as conscious of their dress as well (I would avoid clothing with distracting slogans or artwork, wife-beaters, etc.).

But if my drummer wants to wear a t-shirt and my electric guitarist likes sandals, that’s cool with me. Maybe one of my female vocalists prefers to wear jeans while another always wears a dress to church – that’s fine as well. I like the thought of not being able to tell who’s a musician in the congregation until they pick up their instrument (or mike to sing into).

However you decide to play it (loose or tightly regimented) I would suggest talking it over with your Pastor and make sure you both are on the same page. And at least work through the motivations I touched on above – at least engaging with them will challenge you to think through why you are doing what you’re doing in regards to dress for your praise team.

Here’s a quick thought for Friday:

The goal of a worship team is to be distraction eliminators

This goes for everyone from the drummer to the singer to the sound technician to the lyric display technician. The instrumentalists are not there to jam out (though they might get a chance…), and the singers aren’t there to show off their vocal range. No, the response your congregation should have to the music portion of a service is, “How great is our God?!” not “What an awesome guitarist!”

This should be stated up front to all new praise team members as they are trying out, and it should be continually emphasized and reinforced from week to week and practice to practice.

Therefore the joy in our service is not in praise for what we have done, but in the glory that God recieves from our doing it.

As a slight continuation of the thought from my last post, I wanted to touch specifically on building a praise team from scratch, something I have done several times in my varied career as a worship leader. Everyone in the position of having to do this feels the same level of helplessness and has the echoing cry of, “How?”. Well, here’s my two-cents worth. I hope it can encourage and challenge anyone who finds themselves in such a situation.

First, there are a couple of standards or commitments that must be set forth before you even begin to actively seek people on your praise team. You should discuss these with your pastor(s) to get their input as well as blessing, and you should also pray over these as well.

(please note that when I use the word “musician” I am also referring to singers/vocalists)

1. Spiritual Excellence: You should commit build your team around mature christians who’s primary motive in playing is service – utilizing their gifts for the glory of God.
2. Musical Excellence: There must be a standard of excellence among those who are brought onto the praise team – you are not looking for perfect  or professional musicians, but ones who have an adequate amount of talent, skill, discipline and motivation to not be a distraction during a service.

I’ve already touched on the first some in my last post, so I’m going to mention a few things about the second commitment here. The primary reason for this standard of excellence is a simple principle: “Excellence attracts excellence.” And this principle is double-edged, it cuts both in the direction of musicianship as well as spirituality. Just realize that if you are going to accept a “fresh” (read: untrained/unlearned) talent onto the team, it will be your responsibility to train and equip them. Sometimes to get a program “off the ground” you will have to literally invest time training and teaching people about their instruments. In that you must teach them excellence, so that when more talented individuals come on the team they won’t be left too far in the dust.

In setting these commitments to spiritual and musical excellence before you now you can take your first active step in acquiring the praise team members you need: pray. That’s the key ingredient. Pray every day, multiple times each day for each specific instrumentalist you desire God to draw to the music ministry. I’d suggest first praying for a few vocalists and an acoustic guitarist (or three – they come in handy!), a keyboardist (with a decent keyboard you can synthesize most missing instruments), and a percussionist (until you get a full band, you may want to limit percussion to a djembe or cajon for a more intimate acoustic feel). Next on your list will probably be a bassist and an electric guitarist – and a drum set!

Once you have a set of vocalists (3-4 plus you), two guitarists (one acoustic, one electric), a basist, a drummer (percusionist), and a keyboardist you can play most any of the praise music out there. You will want to seek to double and triple your resources on each instrument, for backups as well as the possibility of splitting into multiple teams assigned specific Sundays/services. Always be on the alert for God to bring you different instruments. In my last church I had barely gotten our praise team off the ground when I was blessed with a young lady who played the Cello as well as a saxophone player – that definitely made arranging our songs a blast!

Always pray for God to shape your vision for your team. The goal is not for you to have a band, but for your church to be able to worship God without distraction. Therefore sometimes you will end up with quite interesting combinations of instruments along the way. And don’t be discouraged by meager beginnings. It is better for you to lead worship with yourself on guitar (or piano) with a drum machine and maybe a vocalist or two than for you to have a full band of questionable spiritual maturity. Stay the path and wait for God to provide – he always does, and he always throws in a few surprises along the way to keep you on your toes!

If you will uphold these dual goals of excellence in spirituality as well as musicianship from the very beginning of the development of your praise team, then that excellence will be in the very DNA of your team. Trust God and then set out to do what he’s called you to do in leading worship, having faith that where he has called you he will provide all you need to accomplish his will.

Here is a simple concept, but one which is overlooked in many churches: that all those who are on stage, in front of the congregation, are worship leaders to some degree. This is especially true of your praise team. Your drummer is a worship leader. Your guitarist is a worship leader.

This is something which must be continually reinforced in their minds. Though you (as the Worship Leader) lead them as a team, as a team each of them lead the congregation. If they are not entering and worshipping then the congregation will find it difficult to do so as well.

Having this understanding in mind as you build your team is also essential. This is why the praise team is not a “missionary endeavor”, so to speak. How can someone who doesn’t know Christ help lead a congregation in his praise? And if the only reason someone is coming to church is to play their instrument or sing (or serve on the technical staff…), then they may not be at a spiritual place where they should be leading others in worship. Therefore the first qualifier of whether or not someone can be on the team should not be in their level of talent or skill but in their spiritual maturity.

Having a team of individuals who are focused on bringing God glory and encouraging/challenging others to do the same is essential for every body of believers. And that team can be made of one, two, three or forty people. But their focus is on worshipping and glorifying God – and helping others do the same!