Q&A With Kelli Hobbs From Trinity Church Tonsley
By Liz Fong
My family joined Trinity Church Colonel Gardens nine years ago, where I became part of the music team and eventually started helping to pick songs for services. A few years later, our church sent out a plant and the person leading music left to join the launch team. That led to an opportunity for me to step up more formally into overseeing music, planning the gathering and leading a team. About three years ago, our church planted again (Trinity Church Tonsley) where I’m currently the Magnification Leader.
We’re a newish church plant, so it’s been exciting to watch people step up and flourish in serving. I’ve enjoyed watching people take on ownership of their ministry and start thinking about how to do things better. Recently, one of our music teams planned some new arrangements for songs without me. By the time Sunday rolled around, they’d made all these beautiful plans to do things a bit differently. They’d planned and collaborated amongst themselves, and really lifted in their responsibilities. I try not to squash enthusiasm, but give the chance to be creative. I get so encouraged by giving people the opportunity and freedom to know they can step into greater responsibility.
We’ve been wrestling with the perpetual challenge of prioritising training and development of our church members in their roles. All of us are time poor. One thing we’re trialling is a podcast for our teams to listen to. There’s a saying in Adelaide that nowhere is more than 20 minutes away, so we thought we’d try 20 minute episodes. Our hope is that people don’t feel bombarded with information, like they may do in a two hour training session.
We cover the skills of being a team member, and have specific content for people who lead music, read the Bible and pray at church. We unpack a Bible passage and explain why we do ministry the way we do it. People can listen in their own time, and then we’ll gather together and reflect face to face in teams. So far we’ve recorded six short episodes.
I often think about ways to help equip our people to process the stresses and pressures in life. What will come to the forefront of their minds at times of great pressure, struggles and difficulties? I pray that it’s God’s steadfast love, kindness and grace. I trust that His Word, but also lyrics of songs can provide that assurance. I’m thankful for tools like CCLI SongSelect. The website organises songs into different themes, so you can search a category like ‘lament’ when you’re looking for a song with a particular theme. I always think about which songs will be useful to incorporate into our diet of music, that will help people develop all godly affections including joy, thankfulness and sorrow.
When you’re planning services and choosing songs, really value the hearts of your people. Your desire is for them to be growing as passionate adorers and worshipers of God. That might sound obvious, but when I started my role, too often I would pick songs that I thought just sounded great. I would focus on whether the band would be able to pull off a great version of it or if it was suited to my vocal range. As I’ve sat under teachers like Trevor Hodge at EV Church, Liv Chapman at Emu Music and Bob Kauflin at Sovereign Grace, I’ve realised how critical a biblically rich and ‘healthy’ diet of songs is, to grow our hearts and our affections for God. What we sing helps inform our theology and how we sing reveals our affections towards God. As you craft services and choose songs with the gospel in mind, keep caring for your people’s hearts, trusting that God will always do his part.
It’s confidence – that inner critic voice. It gets way too loud at times, so I second guess my abilities and qualifications for my role. The voice says things like, ‘I bet there are men who would be better at this role than you’. It suggests I’m being too fluffy or emotional – leaning into ‘feminine’ things. The voice tells me I’m being too needy when I’m asking for feedback from people or my senior pastor.
Finding ways to dampen and quieten those critical voices in your head is a big challenge for me being a woman in ministry. I go to the word, reminding myself of who I am in Christ. I’m loved, I’m forgiven. I’m a daughter of God. I depend on God’s word, to have his voice be the loudest in my head, rather than my annoying little inner critic.
One of my greatest blessings I’ve received in ministry is a relationship with pastors and staff that’s safe and built upon trust. We know each other’s strengths and we chat about how our different ministry areas cross over, but I feel very respectfully allowed to lead in my area. I feel like I’m released and permitted to be creative and lead in accordance with my strengths, with the great benefit of support when I need it. I think this is really important for women thinking about going into ministry- ask God for a great, trusting, collaborative relationship with your pastors.
