Another church needs someone to lead worship. Should I leave my church to serve there?

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Question:

A local Church of Christ is bucking tradition. They typically don't use any instruments, and they've decided to start a worship team. Their pastor heard me lead worship at a local Bible study and asked me to be the worship leader. That particular study group dissolved when the pastor moved, and the Baptist Church I attend is happy with the guitar/piano duet they currently have leading. So, I'm not using my gifts to serve the Lord at the moment.

Question is, is helping the Church of Christ congregation worship with music a good reason to switch churches, or should I wait for opportunities to serve with music if they come along where I'm at?

Thanks for your wisdom, Lara.

Answer:

Understanding Church Transitions

So, how do you know if you should leave one church and go to another church?

This is an interesting situation because it's not like there's anything wrong at the current church. It's just, "I see the need at another church, and so I'm going to go serve them." From that perspective, let me give my wisdom, as you called it. Apparently, I have wisdom. I don't know.

From that perspective, I view the church as the capital "C" Church. There is one Church of Jesus Christ—the Universal Church of Jesus Christ. So, if there is a need somewhere else in the capital "C" Church, I think that it is well within the boundaries of acceptability to go meet that need if you aren't currently serving at your church and there legitimately isn't an opportunity to.

Assessing Current Opportunities

That's something I want to ask you about in this question. You said that your church is fine with just guitar and piano leading. Have you just assumed that, or have people told you that? Have you gone up to the people who lead worship on Sunday and said, "Hey, you know, I've been coming here for a while, and I play guitar and I sing, and I'd love to be on the worship team?"

Have you had that conversation, or are you just assuming that the need is already met? Because I know in most churches, people would love to have somebody come up to them and say, "I play guitar, I sing, I believe that God has gifted me in those areas. Would you be interested in me trying out for the worship team?"

So, don't assume that you can't be used at your current church if you haven't asked yet.

The Big Picture View: Serving the Universal Church

Now, let's say that you have asked and you're not being used there. From the capital "C" Church perspective, I would happily send forth someone to go serve at another church if there wasn't a need at my church. So, that's big picture view.

The Little Picture View: Careful Consideration

Little picture view: don't just go to a church because they need somebody to play music there. Have you looked into what this church is all about? I don't know much about the, what was it, the Church of Christ. Apparently, it's typical there to not use instruments in worship. That sort of mindset, for me personally, is a little bit of a red flag.

I find that an interesting thought to be dogmatic about, where we are never going to use instruments in worship. And obviously, this church doesn't believe that fully because they're going to have instruments in worship, but just that history would make me question other things in the church, and I would want to be careful about going to that church.

I'm not just going to a church because I get to lead worship. That is never the right move. Saying, "I get to use my gifts here, so I'm going to go here," we should pick a church first that we would attend and be a part of because we think that it is a strong biblical church, a good place for us to be a part of to grow in our faith, not just because we get to lead worship.

Important Theological Considerations

So, think about those things. Am I just going to this church because I want to lead worship on Sundays, or is this a church that I can actually see myself being a part of? Look into their beliefs on salvation. I'm pretty sure the Church of Christ believes that you need to be baptized to be saved. Baptism is a necessary part of salvation.

I don't know what you believe about that, but that's something good to know because that seems like kind of a big deal when I personally don't believe that that's true. I believe that baptism is a mark of a salvation that has already happened and that we are saved through Christ alone.

For me, that's a problem, and there's probably other beliefs in that church that I might not agree with that flow from that. So, that's just like my thought process if I was considering going to a new church to lead worship. Those are some things to think about.

I can't give you the answer. I don't think it's wrong if you decide to go there. Just make sure that you're going there for the right reason.