Village Hymns Cohort Develops Worship Leaders

Amber Harrison Village Hymns, Administrative Coordinator

Village Hymns started about five years ago as worship leaders all over South Florida gathered together to write songs for the local church. In those gatherings, worship leaders from different churches began to form new friendships and bonded over sharing the common struggles of ministry. The realization that they weren’t alone in ministry gave them encouragement and worship leaders began to support each other in new ways.

Cohorts and Leaders

As Village Hymns moved forward as an organization, we began to see the need for serving these worship leaders in our community. Our heart was not just for new songs to be written and sung, but for worship leaders to have personal revival in their hearts and thriving ministries. So in the Fall of 2020, we launched the Village Hymns Cohort. This Cohort is a program focused on the development of local worship leaders. We equip worship leaders to grow spiritually, creatively and organizationally, so that their souls, their teams and their ministries can thrive. Within the context of a community of peers, we focus our growth in three key areas: spiritual health, creativity and organizational leadership.

 

Spiritual vitality

cohort
The VH Cohort is a development program focused on the holistic health and growth of local worship leaders. We equip worship leaders to grow personally, creatively, and organizationally, so that their souls, their teams, and their ministries can thrive.

We believe that rest-fueled ministry is not only possible, but most effective. When working from rest rather than hurry, worship leaders have the time and space to nurture the relationships in their life, establish patterns of creativity, and lead their churches from a healthy soul. Working from rest allows the worship leader to bring forth a refreshed, renewed joy to their work. And when ministry gets difficult, being in a spiritually and emotionally healthy place allows worship leaders to be the leader their church needs. They have the emotional intelligence to face their weaknesses, navigate through tense situations, all while exhibiting the love of Jesus in their work.

 

Creativity

We believe that creativity fuels passion and is essential for a thriving worship ministry. In the middle of the business of life and ministry, creativity often starts to drop off and worship leaders get stuck in the same patterns of music making and Sunday morning planning. There is little time for inspiration and implementing new ideas that would breathe new life into the Church. In the VH Cohort, we provide worship leaders with the tools they need to re-discover creativity and challenge them to put it into practice in their Churches. We encourage worship leaders to stoke their passion for music and keep their creativity alive through the outlet of personal and corporate songwriting. 

 

Leadership

We believe that worship leaders should never have to figure out ministry alone. Many challenges arise in the everyday workflow of planning, decision making and team building. Learning within a close circle of people that share the same weekly tasks is so beneficial for the worship leader. In the Village Hymns Cohort, worship leaders learn how to increase their organization and productivity in their everyday administrative tasks. They also learn important aspects of leading their teams as well, such as working with volunteers, managing conflict and loving their teams through organization and preparedness.

 

Community of peers

We believe that growth happens within a safe community of peers. When asked to give their thoughts on their experience in the VH Cohort, many worship leaders said that their favorite part was the Triads group. This consists of three worship leaders journeying together throughout the cohort year as an accountability group. Within their triad, worship leaders have a safe space to be transparent about every struggle and every victory they face in ministry, knowing that they have the prayers and support of the others around them. Engaging with other worship leaders that have experienced trials in their ministry helps the worship leader walk through hard seasons in a healthy way.

 

Revival begins in me

Our key phrase is “Revival begins in me.” We want to develop worship leaders who don’t just worship on the stage, but worship in their everyday lives and in their ministries. We challenge worship leaders with these questions: “How is my soul loving Jesus, and how am I living and leading out of that love?” Our desire is to see the Church revived to worship Jesus with passion. This is the purpose of the VH Cohort, to help worship leaders thrive in their worship ministries so that the Church is encouraged to worship and adore Jesus.

 

Amber Harrison is the administrative coordinator for Village Hymns. If you’re a worship leader interested in getting involved with Village Hymns please email [email protected] or visit our website at villagehymns.com/get-involved. For more articles from Village Hymns, visit https://www.goodnewsfl.org/

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