Blog | Letting Worship Team Members Go: How to Handle It

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The people you have on your worship team contribute so much to your church. You know better than anyone that being on a worship team is not just a fun activity – it’s a spiritual leadership responsibility. The worship team members standing on stage carry a responsibility to demonstrate their love and commitment to God on and off stage. In addition to that, performing with musical excellence is important; not for the sake of the music, but out of respect for the congregation, other team members who are coming prepared, and (obviously) to be prepare as if for the Lord himself.

Letting a Worship Team Member Go

It has to be one of the toughest jobs as a worship leader. You obviously care about everyone on your team, but being a part of a worship team is more than an activity. Being a leader comes with responsibilities, and unfortunately, not everyone is equipped to handle those responsibilities.

If you run into a situation where you have to let a team member go, here are a few tips:

What NOT to Do: Scheduling

Before we dive into what you should be doing, let’s get something out of the way. You absolutely do not want to handle the situation by silently pulling them off Sunday rotations. The “oops-I-forgot-to-schedule-you-for-the-next-upcoming-3-months” is a great band-aid fix for approximately 1 week. Volunteers that are being let go deserve to hear about it up front. Don’t play shy with the situation. It can be tough or awkward to think about, but honesty will always be better than being perceived as passive aggressive or uncaring.

Preparation:

Before having the “I’m-letting-you-go” conversation, it’s important to give them a chance to step it up.

Setting Expectations

Volunteers can’t read minds. If you’re frustrated with a particular volunteer’s level of preparedness by Sunday morning, but you haven’t expressed it, don’t expect anything to change.

It’s important to set expectations with volunteers right away. If you haven’t done it before, it is a smart idea to hold a team meeting to brief them on your expectations for their level of preparedness. Remind them of the importance of preparedness – it’s done to respect other prepared team members, the Lord, and the congregation. Once expectations are defined, accountability is actually possible.

Be Specific

If you’re not a fan of a volunteer’s stylistic approach, talk to them about it. If it’s a technique or capability issue, give them resources or recommend teachers. It’s not fair to call out a volunteer based on subjective preferences. But if they aren’t performing at the level you expect on your worship team, that can be a serious problem.

Remind your team members of the importance of learning the actual tracks. If everyone comes with their own unique stylistic preferences and tries to throw them together in a song, it will sound like a train-wreck to the congregation. If a volunteer is incapable of learning the song as it was recorded, they probably have a deeper issue that extends into technical and musical capabilities.

Having the Conversation: Letting a Worship Team Member Go

Alright. So you did everything you could. You laid expectations, had conversations, and got specific regarding what you want from volunteers, and yet there’s still that one volunteer that just doesn’t get it. Maybe they’re consistently not showing up prepared. Maybe it’s an issue of musical ability. Whatever it is, all you know is that it’s time to transition them out of the worship team, and it is important to remind yourself that that’s ok! Sometimes you just need to have the conversation.

So, without further ado, here are a few tips on how you can break the news to a worship team volunteer that you are letting them go:

1) Prayer

Letting a team member go is such a sensitive issue. It should go without saying, but do so only after having prayed a lot about the situation. If you aren’t 100% sure you’re making the right call, you could end up unrightfully hurting someone’s feelings and doing unneeded harm to your friendship.

Take time to carefully consider and pray about the whole situation. Ask God for clarity and an answer for what the right thing is to do. We get that it’s a hard responsibility to have as a worship pastor, and there’s no easy way to call a shot on how to handle the situation without consulting the Lord first.

2) Focus on Their Best Interest

Ultimately, you’re goal should not be to “kick them off the team”, but rather to help them come to a personal realization that maybe the worship team isn’t the best place for their individual giftings. In other words, it’s not a conversation of “why they don’t fit here”, but rather, “where do they feel they’d be a better fit”.

The distinction between those two conversations can be difficult to define, but it’s true – as a leader, it’s not your job to just protect the worship ministry. It’s also your job to lead the people who come through. And even though you may be ushering a team member out of a worship team role, you should also be preparing them for an area that better suits their strengths.

3) Speak to Leadership Beforehand

You and your team members are all mature enough to handle these conversations. But regardless, you don’t want information to be misinterpreted or misread by anyone – either you, other team members, your coworkers, or any members of the congregation.

Be honest and upfront about the situation with your leadership so they understand where your heart is, why you believe transitioning the member out is necessary, and so they can offer any needed advice as you navigate such a sensitive issue. Other leaders will have different perspectives and opinions that may be helpful to consider. It also keeps your conversation with the team member from being misinterpreted by leaders in the unlikely scenario that someone tries to twist your words.

Your heart is with your team and the members of your church. Your leadership knows that and your worship team knows that, but none of that changes the fact that these conversations are sensitive and difficult to have!