Hiring the right worship pastor for your church is crucial to the success and impact of your congregation. Worship is highly visible and communicates your church’s culture. The people on your stage express what your church is all about. This is why you should never rush the hiring process when you’re hiring a worship pastor. With this in mind, here are 7 must-have traits to include in a worship pastor job description:
1. A Relationship With Jesus
Even though a relationship with Jesus may seem obvious, it’s important to include this as a must-have trait. Having a worship pastor who loves Jesus gives you the peace of mind that this individual will lead your worship team and church with character, integrity, and honesty.
When someone has a real relationship with Jesus, they are going to constantly grow, change, and conform to be more like Jesus. This means they will be more kind, loving, and patient, and will grow in their passion for people.
2. Music Experience
You will want someone who has skills in the area of music and musical arrangements. Finding good vocalists can be hard, but finding good musicians is even more challenging. Your worship pastor needs to be a team builder who knows how to unite musicians and singers to lead worship. Having a musician with musical experience is essential if you want a worship pastor who will lead your church into worship with passion and excellence.
3. Pastoral Experience
Pastoral experience is essential when it comes to building a healthy worship team and worship culture within your church. You don’t want a worship pastor who only focuses on the art of music. You need a worship pastor with a passion and heart for people.
Your worship pastor should know how to care for people and help them grow in their relationship with Jesus. As the members of your church worship team grow in their relationship with Jesus, the spiritual standard and atmosphere of your church will be elevated. Your church and congregation will notice the difference.
Having someone with pastoral experience will also remind your team that they are seen, heard, and cared for. Don’t underestimate the importance of having someone with pastoral experience in this position.
4. Experience Leading Volunteers
Worship pastors need to know how to bring musicians together but they also need to know how to lead a team. Your worship pastor will need to know how to recruit, audition, and create a team dynamic. This means your worship leader needs to be a good people-person who loves people bringing people together.
A good leader knows how to unite their team. They know how to set proper expectations so that the team and volunteers are clear on what they need to do. Remember, volunteers are different from staff members. Including this experience in your worship pastor job description is essential so that your worship pastor helps build your church and worship team.
5. Church Management Software Knowledge
Every church uses some type of church management software to schedule volunteers and plan services. The worship pastor typically arranges the order of the service and song selection. All of this gets planned and managed in your church management software.
On top of service planning, these systems are also used to schedule and communicate with your volunteers. Though these systems aren’t too complicated, you will want to have a worship pastor who has hands-on experience with church management software. Whether it’s Planning Center Online, Church Community Builder, or Breeze, make sure your next worship pastor has experience with some of these tools.
6. Budget Management Skills
The worship and production team budgets can be rather large and complicated. Purchasing instruments, sound equipment, software, and computers are all very expensive. This is why you need someone with experience managing a budget. Technology is constantly evolving and updates and upgrades are only a few years away. Having a worship pastor who understands this will help you be prepared financially when large expenses are around the corner.
Make sure your ideal worship pastor has budget management experience so that you can handle the stress and pressure that come with overseeing and tracking major expenses.
7. Alignment With Your Church’s Beliefs
Worship pastors need to be in full alignment in the areas of theology, church vision, and culture. Worship pastors are visible and will be someone of influence. Your worship pastor needs to be fully onboard with your church’s theological beliefs so that you have unity within your pastoral team.
The ideal worship pastor is also in alignment with your church’s vision. If they do not agree with the direction of the church, you may have frustration and division. This is also why your worship pastor also needs to be aligned with your church culture. They should not only agree with the expression of your culture but love it and be a fan of it. Alignment is essential for the longevity and success of your worship pastor.
Find the Right Candidates With Your Worship Pastor Job Description
Having the right worship pastor can elevate your church to the next level. This is an important role and should be handled as such. Including these 7 must-have qualities within your worship pastor job description will help weed out poor candidates in favor of ones who fit your needs.
