If you are a leader of a worship ministry, you have a shepherding responsibility. Sometimes shepherding people who are creative can be very challenging. If you have the responsibility of administrating a worship ministry, you are trying to structure people whose bent is not to structure, it’s to creativity. So, how do you shepherd creative people?
1. Be a consistent model.
Articulate why the ministry is doing what it is doing. Consistently model the purpose. Look for and call out values that are not just musical, but also spiritual.
2. Give creative people an opportunity to be creative.
Put creatives in a room and allow them to talk about and dream about what worship could look like at your church. Give them the opportunity to be creative, think outside the box, and color different colors of an idea.
3. Come alongside and lead the execution of ideas.
Anytime a great idea happens, it is important that you make sure the idea is crystallized into something that is repeatable and easily understood. Then follow that idea with an execution strategy or an action step.
4. Establish deadlines.
Provide a specific deadline and then allow the creative to be creative in the process of how they respond to the specifics and complete the task.
5. Give feedback.
Creatives long for feedback. They need to hear words of response to what they do creatively. And they need to hear words that are not only coaching, but also affirming. Most importantly, remind me them that the feedback that ultimately matters is the feedback and accountability they have to the word of God.
A shepherd of creatives creates an atmosphere of expectation, allowance for creativity, an action plan for following up on ideas, and a cadence of feedback. These are things you can do to create a culture where people aren’t afraid to take risks and express ideas.
This video is from our Worship Ministry Training Pathway on Ministry Grid. Check out more Ministry Grid training videos here.
