Every church community has a unique make-up that makes it distinct. Everything from the local culture to the facility shape what worship looks like in your church. It's a good thing; embrace it! It's what brought together this body of worshipers and that unique identity will continue to inform and fuel the church in its mission.
In the quest to be relevant, sometimes we veer off course and chase the ideals that work best in another church, but are in fact, irrelevant in our church community. Don't get me wrong... I'm a big believer in doing what works and learning from churches that do things with excellence! BUT, those other models and resources should inform our worship experience rather than determine it.
Create worship music that is relevant and organic to your own congregation. You don't "need" an electric guitarist or drummer to have a worship experience. Use the best gifts that God has already given to your congregation. As their is growth, the holes you see will be filled by God's design and in His time.
Custom fit songs to your setting. I like to tell my team members that learning the song as it is "on the record" is the baseline. From that point, we have creative freedom to switch chords, alter the structure and create a version of that song that fits the moment, the congregation and the band best. Only once you know the song as its been written and performed (might I add with HOURS of creative and technical refining by EXPERTS) can you reconstruct it tastefully.
Don't be afraid of simplifying. I would dare say that it would be inappropriate to do the 7 minute version of "Mighty to Save" every time your team led it. That makes worship predictable and stale. Have a four minute version that is the standard and pull out the extended version when the worship environment calls for it.
Remind your team and congregation that worship is the meshing of many personal experiences into one corporate experience. It's not a concert; the band isn't there to perform to its devoted followers. It's not Spotify; you don't get to just pick all your favorites. This is worship... the mystical gathering of many believers uniting with one voice to sing to their God.
Make it fit. Make it unite. Make it give God the glory He deserves.
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