If I’m honest, sometimes I get bored.
I mean, I can lead worship without hardly thinking about it. I know the proper phrases. I know the right songs. I know how to get hands in the air and invite people to sing along.
But deep down, I know something is missing.
And this isn’t just for worship leaders. Anyone on a worship team can fall prey to this.
It becomes less about the truth in the songs, and more about the arrangement.
It becomes more about rocking out than it does bowing our hearts.
It becomes more about a solid, pleasing performance than a humble gaze into glory.
To make matters worse, I can hear about the cross and not get excited.
I can think about the resurrection and relate to it as old news.
My heart isn’t alive – I’m dead, boring, in need of awakening.
The Truth About Boredom
Isn’t that the truth? It’s not the Gospel that is boring. Worship is never boring. It’s that our hearts capacity for love has been wasted on the emptiness of this world.
We have nothing left.
We read the Bible and say, “That’s boring,” rather than “God, awaken my heart to see the beauty of Jesus Christ in this text.”
And maybe it’s less about being bored with worship as it is being excited about the wrong things.
Excited to play music? Check.
Excited to be on stage? Check.
Excited to sing my new song? Check.
Excited to encounter the glory of God? Eh…
Something is wrong with how I’ve prioritized these passions.
How about you?
The Challenge
My challenge to you, worship leader and worship team, is to get your fight on. Don’t allow you a weekend of ministry at your church to pass without fighting to stay amazed by God’s glory.
How, you might ask? Here are a few tips:
1. Create Context – put yourself in places where the revelation of God is easier to receive. Try an occasional media fast. Maybe you want to fast every Saturday before service on Sunday. Get serious. Open the Bible and look for Jesus.
2. Revamp Your Entertainment – One of the greatest revelations I ever received from God was when He challenged me to view my time with him as entertainment.
Rather than filling my leisure time with TV, I learned how to enjoy Bible Study. It became more fun than watching a movie. Nothing wrong with movies, but if you’re serious about keeping your heart alive, you need to get serious about how you seek God.
3. Invite Christ into your conversations – when was the last time you talked about Jesus with a friend? When was the last time your group hangout revolved around sharing stories of Christ’s victory, or reading Scripture, or witnessing together?
Invite Christ into the center of your conversations this week.
So let’s approach Sunday with amazement in our hearts, humility in our steps, and boldness in our desire.
Are you with me?
Question: What are some other ways you keep your heart fresh as a worship leader? How do you avoid boredom? Share your thoughts in the comments. Go ahead, we’ll wait 🙂
[ois skin=”Next Level Optin”]
Finding Quiet daily worship time (just my Lird and I) I give Thanks, I complain but always end our conversation with “Lord fill me up more” ive also noticed that God loves to be sang to, bc Everytime I do I feel uplifted and at Peace.
Cool Article God Bless!
Last year my wife questioned whether a friend we knew was being led by the Spirit. I asked myself, ‘am I being led by the spirit?’
That started a year-long journey of asking every day “God, teach me what it means to be led by your spirit.” It was my thing. My personal character project, if you will. I’d pick up the phone to call someone and voice the simple prayer, “Lord, help me be led by your Spirit.” I can tell you that God answered that prayer over and over. The last year has been the most fruitful spiritual years of the last decade for me.
What I learned is, most of the time, I just don’t pray enough. I don’t trust God enough. I try to do too much in my own strength. God proved himself faithful out of the simple, sincere desire of my heart, wrapped up in a simple prayer.
Chris, I love the practicality of this question. What a great way to go about your day. Thanks for sharing.
I have a confession to make: Sometimes I get bored too.
But I find it is less likely to happen when I soak myself in the word. When I feel close to Jesus, I appreciate all that I have and can fix my eyes on Him
I found this post heartbreaking. You’ve provided some great answers – so I’m thinking this is more a teaching tool. But seriously, if worship is *boring*, I just wonder if the goalposts of the worship time are set in the wrong place. I’ve always seen worship as a socially radical, idol-removing, Jesus-lifting and people-transforming time where music is actually kind of incidental to the relational aspects going on… it was so radical for the early Christians to meet together – rich, poor, Greek, Roman, slave, free… it was electrifying.
I also wonder if we can look for more interesting songs and resources? … we have to sing and lead songs that challenge our consumerism, our suburban realities. I honestly can’t think of anything worse than four songs copied from artists and resource centres that are supposed to be ‘cool’ or ‘do something’…
Anyways, great conversation starter, thanks.
Tanya, thanks for sharing. I love your description of corporate worship: socially radical, idol-removing, Jesus-lifting, and people-transforming. What keeps us from realizing this every time we worship?
I highly recommend worship involvement on a mission team. It completely expands your view of worship and culture. I’ve never seen worship the same since my experiences in Mexico, Kenya, and the Phillipines. It’s just indescribable….amazing and very authentic.
I also think at times it can be ok to come into worship with God and feel “eh”…it’s a part of being real and human and coming to him with our struggles…even as a leader. We all go through these things…. “I fought with my spouse this morning.” “I feel like a terrible parent.” “I’m just so tired and burnt out.” and my own personal challenge in the past, “God, I’m on prednisone, and even though it’s making me ‘feel’ a certain way, I’m still going to go though the ritual of praising you.”
He can handle it as long as we’re honest about it with ourselves.
Anneke, this is refreshing. Thanks for sharing.
Similar to replacing TV time with Bible study, I replaced my music collection with Christian music 10 years ago. It’s been a tremendous blessing to me personally and in ministry. So I totally understand where you’re coming from.
Loved the point about creating context!
This is good stuff.
I agree that having conversations about the things of God is key.
I think the most important thing for me in avoiding a lack of passion on Sunday is making sure that I’m pursuing Him throughout the week. Our entire lives should center on God. And Sunday isn’t a struggle when I’ve been disciplined all week in prayer, worship, and study.
I think a lot of people shy away from conversations about God because there’s a lot of strange people that make it really awkward. So in the name of “not being awkward” we don’t bring it up. I think we need to change that and pursue Christ-centered conversations in a “non-awkward” way, if that makes sense 🙂
Wow, did I need to read this! This has been my story as a worship leader over the last year. It has become too easy as a worship leader to just play the part-a role that comes naturally to me, especially since I am also the daughter of a worship leader. I am just coming back from taking a small sabbatical, and was wondering if my time of rest was going to be enough. After reading this article, I realize that being a worship leader will always have its challenges and times of boredom, but it is my responsibility to to be proactive in finding wonder and amazement in Christ again. As long as I am actively pursuing the depths of His love, grace, and mercy, then I should never be bored again.
Enjoyed reading this article.
One of the most important things I strive to do as a worship leader or even when I am singin along with someone else is to take the words of the song and apply it to my life. It will take you to a different level and you will not get bored, you will be in worship and praise all by yourself.
This is awesome!