Manifesto of a Worshipping Team

Rock Point Church exists to glorify God by leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and the Rock Point Worship Team serves our church by leading our gathering in singing praise and worship to our God and modeling a lifestyle of worship off the stage. We are lead worshippers of our church, dedicated to leading God’s people in singing His praise and helping people hear and see the Gospel when we gather. We are committed to growing in sanctification, being satisfied by Jesus and His Holy Spirit, and engaging with the body of believers in Crawfordsville. As a team, we commit to these principles in how we will lead our church both on and off the stage. We affirm this “manifesto” to encourage one another in the Word to be satisfied in Christ, and thankful, joyful worship leaders who lead confidently! 

We love and worship Jesus above everything else.

We are a church that is all about worshipping Jesus. We are oriented around the Gospel in everything we do. There is nothing more important than responding to the goodness of God through Christ than to worship Jesus with our whole lives. We worship Jesus as individuals saved by grace and as a church gathered by grace. In a world where everything calls for our attention, we seek to focus the whole of our adoration and obedience on Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We will worship Jesus with joy, thanksgiving, passion, and devotion, and we will be satisfied only by His goodness. 

“Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Philippians 2:9-11

We worship Christ, walk with Christ, work for Christ, and witness for Christ. 

We are fully committed to the discipleship process at Rock Point Church. We worship Christ with the church on Sunday morning, we walk with Christ through small group discipleship, we work for Christ by serving in the church, and we witness for Christ in our community by sharing the Gospel. 

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1

We are gathered by God’s grace to sing, pray, and preach the Word.

We are many parts of the same Body of Christ, not just individuals, and we are gathered by God’s grace to worship Him together. Our Sunday morning gathering is when we come together according to the Word to sing the Word, pray the Word, see the Word, and preach the Word. We gather together to engage our hearts, heads, and hands in the worship of Jesus Christ, to rehearse the Gospel and be saturated in it every week. When we gather, we glorify Jesus alone.

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful! Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:15-17

We are lead worshippers in the church, not just musicians.

Our primary goal as a team is to lead people in worshipping Jesus on and off the stage at Rock Point, especially by singing to Him when we gather. We believe that we are created to sing, commanded to sing, and compelled to sing by God’s goodness because singing orients our hearts, heads, and hands towards adoring Jesus. Everything we do from the stage is about sharing this gift from God together with our church. 

“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” Psalm 33:3

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!” Psalm 150:1-2

We rely on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit rather than our own strength.

We prepare ourselves to lead by walking in step with the Holy Spirit, praying to be filled by Him and used for His purposes instead of our own. We celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit in our church, seeing people saved and becoming more like Jesus. We recognize that without the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. We are sensitive to how the Spirit is leading us both in how we prepare to worship and when we gather to worship. 

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:18-21

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

We focus on character over competence.

The number one qualification for lead worshippers in the church is integrity, so we will always value character before we grow in competence. We represent Christ our heavenly worship leader when we lead the church in worship, so we seek to grow consistently in sanctification to maintain our integrity. We say no to sin by the power of the Holy Spirit and cling to Jesus as our only satisfaction. We affirm that our identity does not come from what we do, but from whom we belong to: Jesus the author and perfector of our faith. Even though we will still fall into sin and temptation, we trust that Jesus will hold us fast and will continue the work of sanctification until we join Him in heaven.

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

“For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also a great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 3:13

We grow in craft to lead with confidence.

We believe that the difference between “excellence” and “perfectionism” is a heart that is secure in its identity in Jesus’ saving work as opposed to a heart trying to earn God’s love for us through good works. Just as we want to grow consistently in sanctification, we want to consistently in our craft as worship leaders and producers so that we are confident and capable leaders in the church. We give our all to everything we do as an act of worship to our King who deserves our best, and we measure ourselves by the Word and by faithfulness, not by outcomes or comparison. 

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

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Updated September 20, 2021 by Rhett Thomas, Danny Kolota, and Jeff Hoenshell

To download a PDF version of our core values as a worshipping team, visit www.myrpchurch.org/rockpointworship.