Questions to Ask a Worship Team
These questions to ask a worship team are for the worship leader or pastor who wants to hear from the volunteers: the singers, the band, and the people at the soundboard and on the slides. They run from faith and why each person serves, through rehearsals and Sundays, the songs, and workload and rest, to how the team gets along and what it needs from its leader. The last group is for auditioning someone new.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Faith and serving
What first got you onto this team, and what keeps you on it?
Why ask it
People often give a different answer to each part, and the reason they stay is the one to hear. Someone who stays because nobody else plays bass is telling you about a gap in the schedule more than about a calling.
What does worship mean to you on a day with no music in it?
Why ask it
Let the sound and slides volunteers answer first, since they worship every Sunday without a microphone. If every answer stays on the platform, with the set, the band and the feel of the room, read Romans 12:1 together at the next rehearsal and ask it again.
How do you get your heart ready for Sunday, and not only your part?
Why ask it
Asked around the circle, this turns into a swap of small habits: the set list playing on the drive to work, the lyrics read as a prayer on Saturday night, ten quiet minutes in the car before sound check. Someone with nothing to offer is more often short of time than of faith, so ask what the hour before call time is like at their house.
What is the difference between leading people in worship and performing for them?
Why ask it
Put it to the whole team and ask for examples, not definitions: a solo that served the song and one that did not, a Sunday the room sang and one it watched. Where the team cannot agree on the line, you have found what sits under most of its arguments about volume, lighting and who takes the lead.
When did you last sit through a whole service with nothing to play, sing or run?
Why ask it
A volunteer scheduled three Sundays in four may not remember. If it has been months, put a Sunday in the seats on the schedule before the conversation ends, and do the same for the tech crew, who are the easiest to overlook.
How is your own time with God in the weeks you are not on the schedule?
Why ask it
Ask this one-on-one and never around a circle, where everybody says fine. A flat answer is no reason to take someone off the schedule. Ask what would help, and check back in a month.
Which song on our list says something you need to hear right now?
Why ask it
Made for a team night with everyone answering, the booth included. People quote a line and give a reason from their own year, and the team learns more about each other in ten minutes than in a month of sound checks.
Which verse or psalm do you go back to when you think about why we sing?
Why ask it
Collect the answers and you have a year of five-minute rehearsal devotionals, each led by the person who named the passage. If someone cannot think of one, Psalm 96 and Colossians 3:16 are easy places to send them, and nobody should be embarrassed for needing the pointer.
When has serving on this team helped your faith, and when has it gotten in the way?
Why ask it
Most volunteers assume they are not allowed to say that serving has ever cost them anything, so tell them you expect to hear both. Two answers come up often: Sundays that feel like a work shift, and never hearing a whole sermon from the soundboard. Fewer Sundays helps the first, and a seat in the room during the sermon helps the second.
Is anything going on in your life that makes being on the platform hard at the moment?
Why ask it
For a private conversation only. Say first that stepping back for a season is not a punishment here. What you would have to pass on to a pastor, and when, depends on your church's own policy, so know it before you ask and say it before they answer.
What can I pray for you about this month that has nothing to do with music?
Why ask it
Keep a note and ask about that exact thing next time. On a team that only meets to rehearse, this can be the one moment anybody asks about the job interview or the sick parent.
Rehearsals and Sundays
How many days ahead do you need the set list and charts in order to come prepared?
Why ask it
Ask every role, because the answers differ: a vocalist learning a harmony needs longer than a guitarist reading a chart, and whoever builds the lyric slides needs the final order, not a draft. Then hold yourself to the earliest date you hear.
What part of rehearsal feels like a waste of your time?
Why ask it
The usual suspects are a sound check done one instrument at a time while eight people stand waiting, and learning a song from scratch in the room. Singers may ask to arrive half an hour after the band. Try one change for a month, then ask again.
Do our start and finish times hold, and what does it cost you when they slip?
Why ask it
Twenty minutes over costs a parent a babysitter and a shift worker their sleep. If the honest answer is that rehearsal rarely ends on time, cut a song from the run-through before you ask for more of anyone's evening.
What do you work on at home between rehearsals, and what would make that easier?
Why ask it
You find out whether rehearsal is where parts get learned or where they get put together. Easier nearly always means a recording in the right key, a chart that matches the arrangement, or a clear word on which part is theirs.
Can you hear what you need to hear on stage?
Why ask it
Monitor trouble can be blamed on a player's timing or pitch for months before anybody asks. Have the sound engineer present for this one, so a fix can be tried at the next sound check and not passed along secondhand.
From the booth, what do you notice on a Sunday that those of us on the platform miss?
Why ask it
The tech crew watch the whole room for an hour and are seldom asked what they saw. Expect to hear which song the congregation stops singing on, that the lyrics come up late on the bridge, or that the stage looks bored.
When the plan changes on Sunday morning, how do you find out?
Why ask it
Sound and slides volunteers should answer first. If they learn about it when the band starts a different song, name one person whose job is to walk every change to the booth.
When one of us makes a mistake mid-song, what do you want the rest of us to do?
Why ask it
Agreeing this ahead of time takes the panic out of it. Most teams land on keep going, watch the leader, and no faces. Add a promise that nobody gets discussed in the parking lot afterward.
Would you rather be corrected on your part in the moment or quietly afterward?
Why ask it
A drummer may want the tempo fixed on the spot, while a newer singer corrected across the room hears nothing else all evening. Note the preference and keep to it. If they wince at the question, ask whether you have gotten it wrong with them before.
Do you know why each Sunday is planned the way it is, or do you only get the list?
Why ask it
Players who know the sermon passage and why the third song is there make better choices about dynamics and when to drop out. Where all they get is the list, add two lines of reasoning to the message that carries it.
Songs
Which song does the congregation sing best, and which one do they mostly listen to?
Why ask it
The best witnesses are the booth volunteers and whoever had last Sunday off, because they hear the room and not the monitors. A song several people call listening-only needs a lower key, a simpler arrangement or a rest.
Is there a song in our rotation you find hard to sing or play honestly?
Why ask it
Sometimes it is a lyric they doubt, sometimes a line that sits badly with the year they are having. You do not have to drop the song. Hear the reason, and do not ask someone to lead a verse they have told you they cannot mean.
Which keys sit badly for your voice or your instrument?
Why ask it
The key has to suit the congregation first, but a lead singer straining at the top of their range helps nobody join in. Get real notes from each vocalist, the highest and lowest that are comfortable, and file them with the song list.
What song would you bring to this team, and why would it suit our church?
Why ask it
Having to say why it suits the church filters out the songs that are only personal favorites. Give suggestions a route, such as sending the lyrics to you by a set date, and say who has the final word on songs in your church so that a no is not taken personally.
Are we adding new songs too fast, too slowly or at about the right pace for you to learn them?
Why ask it
A volunteer with a day job has an evening or two for a new song, and the leader has lived with it all week. For anyone who says too fast, give a new song two rehearsals before it reaches a Sunday, then repeat it within the month so the work is not wasted.
Which song are you tired of, and do you think the congregation is tired of it too?
Why ask it
Musicians wear out a song long before the room does, since they rehearse it several times for each time the congregation sings it. Asking about the congregation keeps the verdict fair, and a few months off the list usually settles it.
Where in our arrangements are you playing or singing more than the song needs?
Why ask it
Hardly anyone offers to play less, so ask the whole band at once and answer first about your own part. Listening together to a recording of last Sunday lets people hear the crowded bars for themselves.
Workload and rest
How many Sundays a month can you serve and still be glad to?
Why ask it
Get a number, then set it beside what the schedule has asked of them over the last three months. Where the two differ, change the schedule first and recruit second. Ask again after a new job, a new baby or a new school year.
When you need to say no to a Sunday, how easy is that?
Why ask it
This measures the leader more than the volunteer. If people say they feel they are letting you down, look at how your last few requests for cover were worded, and whether anyone has ever been thanked for saying no early.
What does your serving on a Sunday cost the rest of your household?
Why ask it
An early call time can mean a spouse getting three children to church alone. You cannot remove that cost, but you can spread it: a later call for people not needed at sound check, or a couple who both serve given the same Sundays off.
Would a planned break of a month or a season help you right now?
Why ask it
Offer it before anyone has to ask, and name the return date so it does not feel like being let go. The ones who never ask are the long-serving volunteers with no backup, such as the only drummer or the only sound engineer.
Which of the extras, such as Christmas, Easter, weddings and funerals, are more than you can give?
Why ask it
Special services pile onto the same few people. Raise this two or three months before the season, while the Christmas plan can still shrink or borrow players from another church.
Are you doing any job on this team only because nobody else will?
Why ask it
Think of the guitarist who also builds the slides, or the singer who also fills in the schedule. Each is a role to recruit or train for, and saying them aloud is often the first time the rest of the team hears how thin the cover is.
Team and leader
What was the first song you ever played or sang in front of a church, and how did it go?
Why ask it
An easy opener for a team night, or for the first rehearsal with a new member. The stories are mostly small disasters, which is the point: the newest singer hears that the drummer once counted in the wrong song, and the room relaxes. Tech volunteers can answer with their first Sunday at the board.
Do you feel you know the others on this team beyond the part they play?
Why ask it
People can serve side by side for years as strangers when the only meetings are rehearsals. Where the honest answer is no, the cheap fixes are a meal before one rehearsal a month and ten minutes at the start on a question that has nothing to do with music.
Is the tech crew part of this team, or does it feel like a separate one?
Why ask it
Put the same question to the booth volunteers and to the band, then compare. Signs of two teams are prayer that begins before the soundboard is free, and thanks from the front that name only the band. Both can be fixed in a week.
Is there a tension on the team that I have failed to deal with?
Why ask it
Worded as your omission, it is easier to answer than a question about a teammate. Keep it private. If a name comes up, the next step is a conversation with that person, not a talk to the whole team about unity.
What do I do as a leader that makes serving harder than it needs to be?
Why ask it
Late set lists, Sunday-morning changes and talking too long in rehearsal are the likely replies. Take the answer without explaining yourself, pick one thing, and tell the team at the next rehearsal what you are changing.
Where would you like more direction from me, and where would you like less?
Why ask it
A newer bass player may want to be told exactly what to play, and a pianist of thirty years may want the chart and some trust. Leading both the same way frustrates one of them. The slides operator usually wants cues and gets none.
Is there a part or a role you would like to try that nobody has offered you?
Why ask it
Listen for the background singer who would lead a verse, the guitarist curious about the soundboard, the teenager on slides who also plays keys. Give it a first run at a rehearsal with no Sunday attached, so that trying costs nothing.
What would help you get better at your part this year?
Why ask it
Have suggestions ready, because few volunteers will ask for anything that costs money: a handful of lessons, an hour with a more experienced player, a recording of their own channel from Sunday, a training day for the sound crew. Whether the church can pay for any of it is a question for your pastor, so ask before you offer.
Do you know what is expected of you on this team, on the platform and off it?
Why ask it
Many teams run on unwritten rules about attendance, rehearsal, dress and conduct. If the answers vary from person to person, put the expectations on one page with your pastor and hand it to everyone, not only to the volunteer who prompted it.
Looking back over the past year on the team, what are you glad we did and what would you not do again?
Why ask it
Built for a yearly review. Ask for one of each so nobody gives only the polite half. Gather everyone's answers on one page and bring the three things that came up most to the next team night.
Can you see yourself on this team a year from now?
Why ask it
Say it warmly and be ready for either answer. A hesitant yes opens the conversation about what would have to change. A no gives you months to train a replacement and time to thank them properly before the slot is empty.
Auditions
Tell me about your faith and how you came to this church.
Why ask it
Open an audition here, before a note is played. Whether someone must be a member, be baptized or attend for a set time before serving is your church's decision, so get the rule from your pastor or elders beforehand and state it plainly.
Why do you want to join the worship team, and why now?
Why ask it
Good reasons are ordinary ones: I play, I see a need, somebody asked me. Be gently curious about a recent arrival who wants the platform first, and offer a few months of settling into the church as a normal step and not a rejection.
What do you play or sing, how long have you been at it, and where?
Why ask it
A classical pianist who has never played from a chord chart and a bar-band guitarist who has never followed a singer need different help. Find out whether they read notation, use charts or play by ear, and whether a click track or in-ear monitors would be new to them.
Would you play or sing one song of your own choosing, and then the one I sent you from our list?
Why ask it
Their own choice shows them at their best, and the one you sent shows how they prepare. Send it a week ahead with a recording and the key. Run the second song with one or two team members, since playing with other people is the actual job.
Could you try that again, this time with one change?
Why ask it
The response matters more than the result. Suggest something simple, such as half the volume or leaving out the first verse. Someone who tries it cheerfully can be taught most other things, and someone who argues at the audition will probably argue at rehearsal.
Have you served on a worship team before, and why did that end?
Why ask it
Most answers are a move or a change in family life. If it ended in a falling-out, notice how the other people are described. With the applicant's permission a call to the previous leader is fair, as long as you make it for everyone.
Here is what the team asks in a normal month. Can you commit to it?
Why ask it
Read out the real figures: rehearsal night and length, call time, Sundays a month, preparation at home. Decide beforehand whether missing rehearsal rules someone out of that Sunday, so the rule is the same for the newcomer as for the veteran.
Would you be willing to start at rehearsals only, or in the booth, before serving on a Sunday?
Why ask it
A trial period protects both sides and gives a nervous newcomer room to learn the songs. Say how long it lasts and what happens when it ends. An applicant who will accept no starting point but the microphone has told you something about why they came.
Is there anything in our beliefs or the team's expectations that you want to talk through before joining?
Why ask it
Hand over the statement of faith and the written expectations first, or the question has nothing to work on. If the role brings contact with children or teenagers, your church may require checks or training. Which ones depends on where you are, so ask your pastor or denominational office.
What do you want to know about the team that I have not told you?
Why ask it
End every audition here and write down what gets asked. Questions about who else plays their instrument, how feedback is given or why the last person left come from someone picturing the real job. If nothing comes, describe an ordinary rehearsal night and invite them to sit in on one before either of you decides.
Getting useful answers from a volunteer team
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Four settings, four kinds of question
At rehearsal
One question, five minutes, before anyone plugs in. Pick from Rehearsals and Sundays or Songs, where a short answer from each person is enough, and wait until the sound and slides volunteers are in the circle before you start.
On a team night
This is the place for the questions everybody answers: the first song anyone played in church, what worship means away from the music, the song that is helping them, where the arrangements are too busy. Feed people first, answer each question yourself before asking anyone else, and stop after three. A team night that turns into a survey will be the last one people come to.
One-on-one
The questions about a person's own faith, a tension on the team, a break or the year ahead need privacy and time. Set up a coffee or a walk, because the hallway after the second service is the wrong place. Twice a year for each volunteer is a pace the leader of a small team can keep.
The yearly review
Choose five or six questions and send them a week ahead, the same ones to every member, so the answers can be laid side by side. Some people think better on paper, so offer to take written answers and then talk them through.
Why volunteers say everything is fine
They are answering the person who writes the schedule
A volunteer who complains may wonder whether they will be asked back. Say out loud that nothing said here changes who serves, and prove it the first time somebody tells you something uncomfortable.
Ask about last Sunday
"How are rehearsals going?" gets "good." "What happened at Thursday's rehearsal that you would change?" gets an answer. Tie each question to a date, a song or a service and the replies turn specific.
Do not explain
When someone says the set list comes too late, the pull is to describe your week. Thank them, write it down and ask whether there is more. The explanation can wait for the day you announce the fix.
Say what stays private
Before any personal question, say who else will hear the answer. Most of it goes no further. A few things a leader may have to take to a pastor or to whoever handles safety concerns in the church, and which things those are is set by your church and by where you live. Find out, and tell people the limits before they speak.
Keeping the tech crew in it
Same questions, their words
Nearly every question on this page works for the sound, slides, lighting and livestream volunteers once set list becomes cue sheet and part becomes cue. Ask the Faith and serving group unchanged. They are worshipers who happen to serve from the back of the room.
Go to them
A conversation at the soundboard during setup, when they can point at the thing that keeps going wrong, beats one in the green room. Ask to be shown the problem and you will usually be shown two.
Their workload hides
A band member gets a Sunday off whenever another player is scheduled. A church with one trained sound engineer may have had that person at the board every week for years. When you reach the Workload and rest questions, read the booth schedule as closely as the band's.
After the conversation
Write down what you heard
Make notes the same day, by person and by date. In six months you will want to know who asked for a break and who said the keys were too high, and memory will have merged the two.
Change one thing and say so
Choose a single change the team can see, such as charts by Monday or a fixed finish time, and announce it at the next rehearsal along with where the idea came from. Volunteers answer the second round of questions according to what became of the first.
Go back
Where someone told you about a hard month or an unanswered prayer, raise it again without being prompted. Being remembered is a large part of what a volunteer hopes for from a leader.
After an audition
Tell every applicant before they play that the answer might be not yet, so the possibility is already in the room. Give the answer within a week, by voice and not by text. A yes comes with the start date and the length of the trial period. A not yet comes with one or two specific things to work on and a date to try again, because a vague no is the part people remember for years. For someone joining the tech crew, the audition is a Sunday spent shadowing in the booth, and they are owed the same prompt answer.