Petra¶
https://theonize.github.io/petra/
Worship team runbook — policies, procedures, and operating norms for musicians, vocalists, and technical crew.
Named after the rock-cut city: durable structure carved so the team can worship freely inside it.
Purpose¶
Petra holds the mundane framework — the repeatable decisions about how we schedule, rehearse, patch, project lyrics, and care for people and gear — so artists and tech are free to lead worship.
The intent of that leadership is simple and non-negotiable:
Encourage the congregation to sing.
Petra is meant to be:
- Clear — new teammates can find what “good” looks like
- Practical — checklists and templates, not only ideals
- Freeing — process removes friction; it does not replace artistry or the Spirit
- Living — revised when practice teaches us something better
- Pastoral — excellence in service of people and the presence of God, not performance for its own sake
Short on time? Read the playbook on one page.
Start here¶
| If you are… | Read |
|---|---|
| New to the team | Joining the Team → Playbook → your role charter and handout |
| Band / vocals, scheduled this week | Your team’s service plan → Musician Quick Reference → Midweek Rehearsal Runbook |
| Tech, scheduled this week | Your team’s service plan → Tech Quick Reference → your checklist |
| Song Selector | Song Selector Quick Reference → Song Selection Policy |
| Pastor / elder | Petra for Pastors → Scope & Authority → Song Selection Policy |
| Director / adopting Petra for a church | Director → Our Congregation (fill it in before your first Sunday) → Playbook |
Template notice. Petra is a generic skeleton. Blanks and
[TBD]are choices for your church’s leadership to make — not instructions to volunteers. They are collected in one place, Our Congregation; until it is filled in, the Director gives the team the local answer in the planning tool.
How to use¶
| Section | If you need… |
|---|---|
Foundation |
Why we exist and what we value |
Roles |
What your role owns |
Scheduling |
How scheduling & swaps work |
Rehearsal |
Rehearsal expectations |
Service |
Sunday / service flow |
Tech |
Audio, lights, media, stream |
Music Library |
Songs, keys, charts, CCLI |
Onboarding |
Joining the team |
Culture Care |
Culture, conflict, care |
Equipment |
Gear care & inventory |
Templates |
Copy-paste forms & checklists |
Reference |
Glossary, tools, links |
Quick Reference |
Two-page handouts per role + pastor overview |
A living system¶
Petra has no per-page status or review stamps. Every page is the current working standard; history, authorship, and review live in git and the Changelog. Each page names an Owner (a role) who answers for it.
Contributing¶
License¶
Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.
