St. Paul’s Worship Team: Adoration, Inclusion, Progression - By Louisa Collett

Our Worship Team at St. Paul’s consists of around 40 volunteers—singers, musicians, sound technicians, and projection operators—guided by three core values: Adoration, Inclusion, and Progression.

As I share how these principles shape our approach to worship, I invite you to reflect on how they might influence aspects of your own life.

Adoration

“We want to start from a place of humility, remembering that worship is a response to God and that our role as a team is to help point people toward Him. We seek to make our worship Christ-centred, Holy Spirit-led, and in response to the Father.”

It’s easy to focus on logistics—song choices, musician balance, lyric order—but true worship stems from spiritual connection. As Chris Sayburn reminded us at our recent Worship Team Evening, “The best gift you can give when leading worship is a spiritually alive you.”

With 20 years in church ministry—particularly in worship leadership—Chris encouraged us to pray more than we play and deepen our personal walk with Jesus.

What does my daily walk with Jesus look like in this season?

Inclusion

‘As humans we are created wonderfully unique. We want our team to welcome people from a range of backgrounds, skills and musical preferences. This value of inclusion should also feed into our preparation and leadership on a Sunday – being mindful of the diversity within our current church family, as well as welcoming visitors.’

Our team reflects this diversity—from seasoned musicians to young congregation members stepping into worship leadership. Whether you prefer chord sheets or dots, plugged-in or acoustic, hymns or contemporary praise, inclusivity enriches our worship.

Where can I be more inclusive in my life?

Progression

‘We want to be committed to what we do and continue on a journey. This will look different for each of us and might include aspects of faith, musical and technical skills, collaboration and leadership.’

Seven years ago, when I joined the congregation at St. Paul’s, I was comfortable singing in church choirs or as a backing vocalist, but I never imagined leading worship from a keyboard or coordinating a team of volunteers. Since then, I’ve felt God nudging me out of my comfort zone, offering opportunities to develop my skills and confidence.

Are there areas in my life where God might be revealing new opportunities for progression?

In holding these values, we are not striving for perfection or a particular end goal but rather being open to growth and keeping a love for God and people at the heart of all we do.

Louisa Collett – Worship Team Coordinator