Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Your Church Music Ministry (2024)

Discover Worship was created to help every church music ministry be excellent—regardless of size or budget.

We were the first to offer a totally online library whose members can search, download, and make unlimited copies for one low, annual price. And instead of shipping cumbersome music review boxes to you several times a year, Discover Worship emails you every week with our latest releases and hand-picked recommendations. Additionally, we offer more than 300 on-line blogs on subjects critical to the success of your worship ministry. We’ve selected some of the best ones and organized them by theme. Think of this page as your ultimate guide to maximizing your church music ministry.Here are the 12 topic clusters you can explore by clicking on the links below:

1. Developing a Theology of Worship
2. Spiritual Development
3. Leadership Begins with Me
4. Building an Effective Team
5. The Issue of Musical Style
7. Worship Service Planning
8. Optimizing Your Choir
9. Resources for Worship Teams
10. Kids Worship Resources
11. Key Seasonal Resources
12. Online Church Music Resources

Practical tips and techniques are only effective in the context of a strong, biblical theology of worship. While there is no substitute for years of prayerful study under godly mentorship, the following short articles offer foundational principles about the kind of worship that honors God and blesses his children.

• Is Our Worship Sacred?
• Look There vs. Look Here
• Five Phases of the Heart for Worshipers
• The Motives Behind our Music
• Our Posture in Worship Comes from our Theology of Worship
• 40 Things the Psalms Tell Us About Biblical Worship
• “Good” Worship
• Praise Goes Before the Battle
• Inhabited or Inhibited?
• Don’t Go to Church To Worship
• Misplaced Charisma: Has Contemporary Worship Lost It's Way?

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Music ministry is not just a technical exercise, it's also a spiritual one. In this set of blogs, we explore the spiritual dimension of worship leadership with an emphasis on personal spiritual development.

• Mind(of Christ)fulness
• The Most Important Question a Worship Leader Can Ask
• Transformational Worship Leading
• 5 Ways to Help Keep the Ministry in Worship Ministry
• Addicted to Anxiety?
• You Are What You Are
• The Importance of Verse 3
• What If?[Return to Top]

Although thousands of books have been written about effective leadership, great leadership is still desparately needed in ministry settings. The challenge may be that the secular model for leading is manifestly different from the model offered in scripture. This set of blogs offers insight about God's model for leadership and how we can mentor others to become effective stewards of people, resources, and time

• Being a Leader vs. Being in Charge
• The 3 "What's" of Leadership
• The Job Description of a Worship Leader
• Great Music AND Transformative Leadership
• The 5 Most Important People in Your Music Ministry
• 4 Steps in Dealing with Contentious People
• The Art of Failing Forward
• 5 Tools to Help With Ministry Management
• The 7 Deadly Habits of Highly Ineffective Worship Leaders
• A Prayer for Lead Worshippers[Return to Top]

Just as Jesus poured himself into the lives of 12 disciples; so we are called to identify, equip, and inspire other men and women to build on the foundation we have laid. But it's challenging to see team development as an end in itself, rather than solely as a means to accomplish our agenda. Here are some thoughts on how good leaders can leave a legacy of even greater leaders.

• How Big is Your Worship Team?
• Thoughts on Mentoring
• Mentoring Worship Leaders: Extending the Invitation to Lead
• Be-Attitudes of Effective Mentoring
• 5 Keys to Effectively Mentor Worship Leaders
• Digging In
• 3 Tips for Recruiting Music Volunteers
• 5 Words for Our Beloved Sound Techs
• 10 Weekday Tips for Your Worship Team
• Are You Bored with Your Rehearsals?[Return to Top]

It's telling that the one thing that should unite us in God's presence--his worship--has become a focal point for division and discord. Discover Worship believes that the issue of style can become a stepping stone to unity rather than a stumbling block. Here are some short articles on transcending the issue of musical style.

• The Non-Issue of Style (It's Just Worth It!)
• Arguing the Merits of a Blended Worship Service
• How Can We Add Musical Diversity to Our Services?
• Can Too Much New Get Old?
• Variety for Variety's Sake
• 5 Compelling Reasons to Do More A Cappella Singing
• Worship on the Radio
• Expanding Our Worship "Playlist"
• Misplaced Charisma: Has Contemporary Worship Lost It's Way?
• The Age of the Top 25 Worship Songs
• The "Both/And" of Worship[Return to Top]

We are created in the image of our Creator...to create! This set of blogs offers specific suggestions to help you nurture the seeds of songwriting and artistry in your ministry setting.

• The Motives Behind Our Music
• 3 Things That Inspire and Energize Great Christian Songwriters
• 7 Proven Strategies to Write Better Songs
• 3 Essential Tools for Your Songwriter's Tool Kit
• How Can I Find a Worship Music Publisher for My Songs?
• 10 Things to Consider When Submitting Your Worship Song to a Publisher
• A Spiritual I.V.
• How Worship Culture Has Been Shaped by American Idol
• A Blank Piece of Paper[Return to Top]

Planning a worship service involves a lot more than simply making a list of songs. Discover Worship offers these effective tools to help you imagine and implement an effective worship service.

• 3 Ways to Cultivate Spirit-Led Worship
• Is There One Best Way to Format a Worship Set?
• How Often Should We Introduce New Congregational Worship Songs?
• Pace Yourself
• Leading Worship Through Song List Curation
• The Wrong Key
• Is It Too Loud? (Accompaniment vs. Worship Emersion Culture)
• Unraveling the Announcement Enigma
• 8 Simple Hacks to Prevent Last Choir Music Minute Panic
• 10 Things Jack Bauer Taught Me About Church Programming
• Moment of Silence Before God[Return to Top]

The vast majority of Discover Worship member churches have a choir AND worship team. If you lead a choir, here are some terrific blogs to give you some fresh ideas or to confirm the direction you're already pursuing.

• The Critical Importance of Church Choirs
• 3 Steps Every Choir Director Should Take Now
• Building the Blend
• No "Normal" Singing
• 3 Powers of "Downbeat Time"
• 5 Things to Remember for Your Choir Rehearsal
• 5 Tips to Grow Your Church Choir
• The WOW! Factor
• Outside the Walls
• 10 Steps to Launching Your Own Singing School[Return to Top]

"Worship Team" is a term that requires some definition. In one sense, your worship team is anyone and everyone who assists in the preparation, presentation, and production of your worship service. But in modern parliance, a "worship team" often means a small group of musicians and singers who lead congregational worship with or without a choir. Here are some helpful blogs for those of either ilk (but especially the latter).

• What's Better: Traditional Church Choir or Worship Team?
• How Can We Bring Energy and Engagement to an Acoustic Set?
• 4 Ways to Foster Health in Your Worship Team
• Who's Driving?
• Keeping Solid Time
• Assessing the Room Volume
• 10 Helpful Reminders for Singers on a Worship Team
• 10 Best Practices for Worship Vocalists
• Talk Is Cheap (But It Doesn't Have to Be)

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Although Discover Worship doesn't specialize in children's choir resources, we still offer more than 175 downloadable pieces for kids, including several seasonal musicals with tracks. Developing a kids choir program is an important strategy for teaching children to worship and for training the next generation of choir members. Check out these blogs on the subject.

• 8 Great Reasons to Have a Children's Choir
• Teaching Theology to Children Through Hymns
• So You're Starting a Kids Worship Ministry part 1
• So You're Starting a Kids Worship Ministry part 2
• So You're Starting a Kids Worship Ministry part 3
• So You're Starting a Kids Worship Ministry part 4
• Show 'Em How It's Done
• Predictable Ain't Half Bad
• 15 Tools for Parents of 3 to 12 Year-Olds
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One of the main reasons that thousands of churches have become Unlimited Members of Discover Worship through the years are the dozens of seasonal musicals available for full preview, instant download, and unlimited copying for musicians and singers. All of them come with parts, charts, and accompaniment tracks--and many have full or limited orchestrations. Here are some overviews of recent seasonal works.

• New for Easter 2018: Lamb of Calvary
• New for Easter 2018: We Have Seen the Lord
• New for Easter 2018: Crown Him with Many Crowns--Easter Suite with Brass
• New for Easter 2018: The King of Glory Lives--a Gospel-Flavored Mini-Musical
• New Easter Choir Musicals for 2017
• New Christmas Choir Musicals for 2017
• New Easter Choir Musicals for 2016
• New Christmas Choir Musicals for 2016
• 7 Top Thanksgiving Choral Anthems
• Start Planning Next Year's Easter Musical Today[Return to Top]

Technology has changed the way music ministers find, purchase, and practice church music. Here are some thoughts in the emerging technology and how its transforming things.

• Is the Choral Subscription Service the Future for Sheet Music?
• How a Church Music Subscription Service Can Save Your Sanity (and Your Pocketbook)
• What Ever Happened to "Worship Today" Music Service?
• The Story of Discover Worship
• The Best Deal in Town
• 7 Terrific 2-Part Arrangements of Small Choir Hymns

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