Why a Worship Team Application & Onboarding Process Matters

 

I fully believe in setting people up for success! Two powerful quotes that have inspired me over the years are:

You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. - Zig Ziglar

Begin with the end in mind. - Stephen Covey

As worship leaders our goal isn’t just to “pull off church services” - it’s to develop people - and deeper than that - we should be developing devoted disciples of Jesus.

I have found that having a worship team onboarding process has helped me greatly in developing people. It sets the stage for the discipleship journey before the first note is ever played and creates a partnership between the leader and new team members.

Here’s some reasons why I believe that having a worship team application and a strong on-boarding process will help you win in worship.


1. ✅ Sets Expectations Up Front

An application helps clarify the vision, values, and requirements of your worship ministry before someone even joins. It answers questions like:

  • What kind of time commitment is expected?

  • Are rehearsals mandatory?

  • Do you expect spiritual maturity or just musical talent?

➡️ This avoids confusion or frustration later on.

2. 🎯 Aligns Heart Before Skill

Onboarding creates space to assess not just someone’s musical ability, but their spiritual readiness and heart for worship.

  • Do they view worship as performance or ministry?

  • Are they committed to prayer, unity, and serving?

  • Are they teachable?

➡️ Skill opens the door. Heart keeps them grounded.

3. 🧠 Creates a Path for Growth

A clear onboarding process (training, mentoring, shadowing) shows new members how to:

  • Learn your team’s flow (clicks, cues, culture)

  • Grow in musicianship and confidence

  • Integrate into the relational and spiritual life of the team

➡️ This builds momentum and retention instead of confusion or burnout.

4. 🙌 Protects Team Culture

Your worship team shapes the spiritual atmosphere of your church — and culture is fragile. Without intentional onboarding:

  • Drama and disunity can creep in

  • Entitlement can take root

  • Unhealthy attitudes go unchecked

➡️ A process helps maintain humility, servanthood, and excellence.

5. 📋 Encourages Commitment

When people fill out an application and go through onboarding, it says:

“This matters. I’m all in.” It also shows your church takes the platform seriously and helps separate casual interest from true calling.

6. 🧩 Ensures the Right Fit

Some people may love worship but aren’t a fit for your team yet — or at all. An application helps gently:

  • Redirect them to training or mentoring first

  • Guide them toward other areas where their gifts might flourish

➡️ It’s a loving gate, not a wall.

7. 📖 Creates Consistency Across Campuses or Services

If you’re a multi-service or multi-campus church, a standard onboarding process keeps things unified, scalable, and sustainable.

PRO TIPS

  • Consider having a period of time after a person visits your church before you put them on the platform. This is for their benefit. Allow space for the new person to identify through prayer, church attendance, and community connection if this is the church they are called to be planted in before you put them to work. Also sometimes they need care before you begin asking them to pour out.

  • Develop relationships off the platform (outside of music) before the music starts. I’m a firm believer that the best art is created by people that genuinely care for one another. It can’t be all about music. We are missing the point if it is.

  • Get a sense of the new person’s walk with the Lord. Take them out to lunch or coffee with a few solid members of your team and ask them about their testimony. You’ll probably find that you’ll leave mutually encouraged and fired up to serve Jesus!

  • Have an audition. This isn’t American Idol - but it’s important to get a sense of a person’s skill set. Can they sing harmony, are they more of a lead guitar player or a rhythm, have they ever played with a click track before? Assessing a person’s current level helps you, as the leader, develop next steps for their continued growth. Pick 2 songs that are representative of your current worship culture and have them learn them and play them for you and a few trusted members of your team. Give honest feedback and clear next steps.

  • Include leadership in all that you do! Your Pastor should not be caught off guard on Sunday seeing a new singer on the platform!

  • Clear communication always wins. No one likes not knowing where they stand and what comes next.

  • Download my customizable worship team application below. Tweak it for your church and ministry. May it be a tool that helps your team grow not only musically, but also as devoted disciples of Jesus!

Josh Smith