5 Last Minute Ideas to Improve the Music’s Ministry for THIS Sunday

Sunday, you will have the opportunity to worship God and serve people with music.  You just have a couple of days before the service.

Most likely, you don’t have a lot of time left to rehearse.  What are some small things you can do to improve your ministry to people on Sunday?

What can you do today that will make a difference in how the music leads in worship and serves the people?

Here are a few last minute ideas to improve the ministry of the music for this Sunday:

1. Pray.  I’ll be honest, I typed out the other four first, then added this one.  I put it up here at the top because it should be first, but I didn’t think of it first.  Don’t we do that a lot?  We work and plan, but forget prayer.  But nothing can replace prayer in preparing us to lead worship.
2. Think about the words to your instrumental song.  Pull out the hymnal, and look at the words.  Meditate on what they mean.  Pray through the text.  Are you communicating it accurately? Have you internalized the message (instrumentalists should do this just as much as vocalists)?
3. Simplify a complex section.  In church music, it’s not necessarily the most elaborate pieces that serve people.  Quite often, it’s the simple music done effectively that makes the most impact.
4. Plan for a transition between two hymns sung one right after the other. Is there a key change?  Are they both in the same key?  Just a few moments of planning can add a lot of continuity.
5. Relax.  Stress is counterproductive.  Instead of obsessing over that difficult section, simplify it so you can play it with confidence.  Relax, and enjoy playing it for God and so you can help people.  If you are leading the singing, don’t stress over every detail (I’m one to say that, right?  Those who know me know I can be pretty OCD.)  I am the most effective when I simply ask God to help me lead the people to worship.  Take care of the details that you can, then simply focus on leading worship.

What’s one thing that you can do this weekend, before Sunday, to make your playing better?

[bctt tweet=”Stress is counterproductive. Instead of obsessing over that difficult section, simplify it so you can play it with confidence.”]

Ok, I just raised the bar for myself.  I’m accompanying a small group on Sunday morning, and I plan to do numbers 1 and 2 for the song the group will sing.

So, what’s one thing you can do before Sunday to more effectively serve people?

To share your plans, or to add your ideas, comment here.

Bonus thought:  One of the pianists at our church is awesome about always creating a powerpoint with the lyrics and pictures that support the text.  It’s extra work, but it makes a difference for the people listening.  It focuses them on the words, and makes the offering time another opportunity for worship (as it should be, right?).