Drama Ministry Challenges

If your drama ministry is like most others, you started out with great expectations, participation, and performances, then something happened…things started to slow down, people stopped participating, and stress and frustration began to appear. Here are some of the reasons drama ministries begin to weaken after about 2 years.

Lack of Organization
Running a Drama Ministry is not a one-man show. You may start out with one or two persons handling most of the responsibilities, but over time you will need to spread the duties around. You lead by example, but you grow by delegation. At the outset of your ministry, or soon afterwards, you will want to define clear roles and responsibilities for the administrative team (President, Treasurer, Secretary, etc.) and the production team (Writer, Director, Producer, Stage Manager, Costumes, etc.). Once you define roles and responsibilities it is easier to assign duties, track progress, and ensure the work is being covered. Members of your ministry also will appreciate knowing what they are expected to do and what they don’t have to worry about doing.

Personal Egos
We’ve all heard the phrase “A Star is born”. Unfortunately, some members who are excellent actors/actresses may become disillusioned and believe they are the “star” of the ministry when in fact Jesus Christ is the only one who is to receive the praises and accolades for our performance. We should never treat one member better than others. Also one member should not demand preferential treatment…always assigned the main character, best costume, able to miss rehearsals with no chastisement (in love), etc. Now take a personal assessment… are you the person with the ego? If everything must be your way or take the highway, then you need to take a ministry-reassessment. An important aspect of ministry is growing others even at the expense of a less-than-perfect performance.

No Vision or Mission
If you were asked, “Why are you ministering through drama?” how would you respond? Everyone member should be able to answer this question. Drama Ministry is very demanding; planning, coordinating, memorizing, rehearsing, etc. When the going gets tough, the tough will get going if they don’t understand why they are making these personal sacrifices. Drama is more than entertainment, it’s also used to educate and encourage people to live for Christ. If you have a Christ-centered, mission-focused ministry then your members will feel a sense of service through their participation.

Let us know what you think about this article.

Terry Stanley
Founder, Gospel Scripts