Some Warnings

In addition to his advice to focus on the metrics you have set to evaluate a worship service, Pastor Jolicoeur also mentions some pitfalls to avoid. Here are the five that he mentions specifically.

1. Don’t do it immediately after the service or even on the same day. Your emotions may cloud your judgment. You may be hungry, for example. Pastor Jolicoeur suggests you review the service one or two days later. Do it close enough to the service that you remember but not so close that you can’t be objective.

   In his own practice, he does a personal reflection on Monday. Then he does a group reflection on Tuesday, which leads to his second piece of advice.

2. Don’t do it alone. For one thing, you may have blind spots that others can see more clearly. Collectively, all your blind spots will hopefully cancel each other out. The same goes for the other extreme. If you are being too critical of the service, others will hopefully balance the assessment out.

   Galatians 6:2 says that we should “bear one another’s burdens.” This dynamic should be true of a worship team as well. Pastor Jolicoeur also admonishes you not to be buried under your church’s burdens.

   The ideal review team is open, objective, and constructive in its criticism while also being gracious. If you are building a worship team, these are the kinds of individuals that you will want to have on the team. As Patrick Lencioni has put it, a good team member is “humble, hungry, and smart.”

3. Don’t believe the hype. You will quite possibly have some adoring fans who will tell you that every worship service was the most spectacular worship ever and that you are a superstar. But as they say, there’s always room for improvement. “Don’t believe your own press.” If you want to improve, make sure that you have some voices who will make an objective assessment.

   At the same time, be thankful for praise. Don’t deflect the kind words that others give you. Accept it with thanksgiving despite any self-critique you might have. Although it is more blessed to give than to receive, receiving is also a blessing that we should, well, receive.

4. Don’t internalize criticism. At some point, you will receive criticism. Consider criticism as a matter of the work, not of you. There is the leading that happened, and then there is the person of the leader. Consider criticism (no matter how it is worded) as a critique of the leading, not you as a leader.

   If, as they say, it is not about you, then the goal of receiving critique should be to progress in facilitating the worship of the One it is really about, God. So look for critique, but don’t internalize it. Instead, use it as a tool to grow and for your worship services to improve.

5. Finally, don’t become disenchanted with worship. Just because you know the mechanics of worship, don’t get so focused on them that you cannot worship yourself. Don’t get to where all you see in a worship service is the decibel level or the theological accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the songs and sermon.

Pastor Jolicoeur suggests that you make the time to go to worship services other than the ones you are leading. Go to a service whose “innards” you are not intimately involved with. Detach from the analytics and experience God yourself. Even if you have to slip away to another church, find time to be enchanted by God so that worship is a living and jumping frog, not a dissected one.