At Harmony, everything is pregnant. Our church is pregnant with a new baby church that will come out soon. Each Home Group is pregnant with another baby Home Group that will come out soon. Every believer at Harmony is pregnant with reproducing themselves. And we see bands as no different.
Our God is in the business of growth by multiplication, not just swelling. The way this applies to worship is the way we approach the band. Many times, when musicians come into the church, we incorporate them on a rotation. While this is inclusive of everyone, we feel that there may be another way to do this that will result in a better environment of worship during our gatherings. We see multiple bands leading us in worship; this is different than a “worship team”.
The primary difference is that in a worship team, the thing in rotation is the individual musician. One Sunday, the leader will have one set of musicians, and the next Sunday there may be a couple different musicians. In a multiple band scenario, the thing in rotation is the community of musicians. The same 4/5/6/7 musicians are playing together every single time they play, including the worship leader. This leads to greater band cohesion, and therefore, greater musical quality. It also allows for a varying of styles, which allows for an appeal to a larger audience over time. I believe that there should be one “pastor”/elder over the many different bands to ensure theological, ecclesiological, and missiological continuity. Every band should be worshiping the same God, focusing on the same mission, and together on church issues. But style and liturgy are open-handed issues.
We’re still trying to work out the details, but the end goal is somewhat less blurry: we want to see multiple bands, each with a different style and same mission, playing in a rotation that lead the Harmony community in worship of a Holy God.
Thoughts? Questions?
Help me wrestle this out.