In a recent study released at the SBC Worship Microconference in June of this year, it was announced that there will be a demand for 20,000 worship leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention alone by 2040. That is a staggering number of worship leaders who will be needed to replace retiring worship leaders and serve new church plants. It should also be noted that this is just the SBC—not all denominations or nondenominational churches, which will also need worship leaders.
This growing demand is occuring at the same time that there is a demographic “cliff”—a decline of about 10% in the number of high school graduates from about 2025-2030, caused in part by the 2008 recession.
When Cedarville University started its worship program, there were about five such programs in the country. I have been told that there are more than 130 now. My concern was that we would saturate the market with worship majors without enough places for them to work. Now, after almost 25 years, that has not been the case—or even close. The demand far exceeds the supply.
If you are a young person who feels called to ministry, give worship ministry serious consideration and prepare for it.
If you are part of a church, help identify and encourage students to consider worship ministry.
If you are a minister, seek to identify, mentor, and empower students who will become the worship leaders of tomorrow.
The need is great, the opportunities are growing, and now is the time to prepare the next generation of worship leaders.
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