Worship Mythbusters 4.3: The Role of the Worship Leader

WMB 4.3 -- I am taking WMB and writing a few posts in this series about the ROLE OF THE WORSHIP LEADER. This is part of a series here

MYTH: Worship leading is not performing.

This is a myth! What is better said is that worship leaders lead in the act of performing worship.

Many in our churches like to use the word “performance” and make it another projectile at the worship team. They enjoy the fact that they can say a worship leader should not be performing, but worshiping as he leads as if the two are mutually exclusive. It means that his preparation is devalued and the attempt at beauty and form are discouraged. Worship expression or liturgy to many is simply a means, not and end. Really, it is an act to be performed.

FACT: Worship is an act that is performed. It is not random, it is intentional. It is a choice. So, worship leaders perform an act that leads people into this act. Yes, you are performing when you worship!

FACT: Worship leadership needs preparation. Many think that a good heart, or good intentions means good worship leadership. Wrong. Become good at guitar, sing in tune and work on your craft. Any preacher worth his salt work on communication. He or she does not assume his desire to communicate is enough. The effective preacher prepares.

FACT: Beauty and form help lead people in worship. Yes, the look of your room, the sound of your music and the overall atmosphere matter. You tell a story beyond the lyrics or sermon through everything that touches the senses. Leaders know this and address this. Thank God for good architects who understand how to design a room. Form is important. Without structure, we lose any sense of taking people somewhere in worship. Form has a story, meaning and application.

An entertainer uses his or her skills to intentionally engage people in a performance of music or comedy. A worship leader is similar, even though the performance is worship through music or other forms. The worship leader is like a performer--intentionality, preparation, and execution of form and beauty are all part of leading worship.

by Rich Kirkpatrick

Rich Kirkpatrick's Weblog

Worship Mythbusters 4.4: The Role of the Worship Leader

WMB 4.4 -- I am taking WMB and writing a few posts in this series about the ROLE OF THE WORSHIP LEADER. This is part of a series here

MYTH: The role of the worship leader is to help me the individual worship.

This myth centers around the idea that we as worshippers put a responsibility on a worship team to help us as individuals worship. Really, worship is the responsibility of the individual. The role of the worship leader is to provide an environment for the enitre congregation to worship, not just the individual. I like what I heard worship leader Brian Doerksen say a few years ago to worship leaders: “We provide a safe place for people to meet God intimately.”

Meeting God intimately does not mean it is just me meeting God. It is “us” meeting God. It is my individual choice to worship, but I choose to express that as part of a group at church on the weekend or at my small group. A worship leader’s role is the environment to facilitate that. That really is all we can objectively do for others as worship leaders.

FACT: Worship is my responsibility, not the worship teams

Really, my job as a worship leader is to not worship for you as a vicarious expression of worship. Watching the worship team go at it and feeling something from that does not mean I have offered anything at all. Really, I have to consider that the time I am there for “worship” is to give something, not watch something. That is more up to me than what is up on the platform stage.

I cannot give to any other person the responsibility of my heart. My heart needs to be offered by my will as well as my sincere devotion. Otherwise, it is not me worshipping. It is me watching someone else do it.

FACT: Feeling personally moved in worship services does not mean I am worshipping.

We can experience inspiration in a worship service without ever offering worship. We can tear up, and feel moved yet never decide to give our heart. Just like going to a movie or concert may impact us deeply, it may not be part of us making actual life choices. When we come to a worship service the hope of the worship leader needs to be to facilitate life-changing decisions rather than simply being effective offering an experience.

As a worship leader, it is easy to feel great by the engagement people have with what you are doing and that indeed is important. However, if people engage it does not always mean what we think. We need to hope to see that we are leading people in that experience to focus on following Jesus completely.

FACT: Worship leading involves me worshipping as part of the community.

If I put my individual wants over offering something as part of a community I am asking the worship leader to make the service only about me. That is just silly. The more mature you are, the more you realize that you come to gatherings for the gathering to offer a worship expression. It is not just about you having an opportunity, it is about “us” having an opportunity.

In this age of mass customization, no worship team can really succeed with pleasing your needs exactly as you see them. Even with churches that offer multiple styles or times to worship physics demands limitations on options. I need to give up my entitlement and realize that Jesus is entitled.

What is better is to see how you and I can contribute to the group’s worship expression. The better a worship leader actually aids a person in contributing as part of a group, the better leader he or she is of a worship service. How that happens is not easy.

by Rich Kirkpatrick

Rich Kirkpatrick's Weblog