[This post is part of a series on Tips For Taking Your Worship Team To The Next Level. Check out the rest here.]
Imagine with me. The sound is perfectly mixed. The lighting mood is sublime. The band is grooving. The crowd is enraptured. We all idealize the perfect worship environment.
But how do we pursue excellence in our performance while remaining authentic in our worship?
I’ve been in too many worship services where the worship leader and band performed well, yet their heart for true worship was seriously lacking. Quite a turn off, in my opinion.
First of all, what is authenticity? I define it as the ability to blur the line between WHAT YOU DO and WHO YOU ARE. As worship leaders, we have a lot to do. We need to prepare the band, worship God, engage the congregation, sing on key, play the right chords, stand up straight, sing the right words, brush our teeth, etc.
An authentic worship leader does those things but also displays who they are – a worshiper of God. Singing well is not enough. A tight band is not enough. Their own heart is hungry for God and they long for his glory to be seen, experienced, and cherished in the heart of every person in the room. I crave that sort of authenticity.
I remember experiencing a worship service with Matt Redman for the first time. I think Matt is a very authentic worship leader. He’s anything but flashy, borderline boring to watch. He wept, jumped, knelt, and shouted to God in a way that impressed me and drew me into the presence of God. He practiced what he sang. I left that service thinking about God.
So how can we pursue a deeper authenticity in our worship? I think there are at least 5 things we can implement TODAY:
1. Obey What You Sing – If your songs speak of singing, shouting, dancing, kneeling, and lifting hands, model that. Don’t be afraid to step away from the mic and do what the song says. It speaks volumes to a congregation when their worship leader actually worships and leads the way not just by telling them to worship, but by modeling what that looks like.
2. Speak With Honesty – When the time comes for you to speak to your people, don’t just blabber Christian cliches and trite phrases. It’s a turn-off. People know when you’re reading a script or speaking from your heart. Speak to the struggles people are experiencing. Speak to the confusions they may be feeling. Talk like you would be if you were at Starbucks with a friend. Your congregation will appreciate that.
3. Do All You Can to Avoid Stressful Rehearsals Before Service – It can really be an “authenticity-killer” if you stress yourself out up until the time service starts. I know this from too much experience. At times it just cannot be avoided, but do all you can. Rehearse well on a separate night. Spend the 15-20 minutes before service in prayer and fellowship with your team. Pray out loud. Sing a song together. Remind yourselves why you are there.
4. Engage in the Mission of Your Church – Too often the worship team is viewed as a “gig” for the musicians. We need to capture a sense of “local church mission” within our teams. Challenge your team to listen to the sermon. Talk about it together. Apply it to your personal lives and to your team. Don’t view your team as a separate entity but as an extension of your senior pastor’s vision.
5. Allow Space Between Songs – This requires wisdom because you don’t necessarily need 10 minutes of spontaneous flow between every song. A worship service seems to lack authenticity when it’s a non-stop train ride from song to song to song. When you’re on a date with the person you love, you don’t pull out a script and quickly move through your points. You enjoy the moment. You enjoy spontaneous conversation. You look for adventure. Pursue that in your worship services.
Questions: Do you feel this is important? How have you pursued deeper authenticity in your worship leading? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
These were all great points! One thing that I have been really trying to work on with my group is to not worry about the musical side of things during the worship. A lot of times, we are so concerned about hitting the right notes and everything that we are not truly anf fully worshipping God.
Another thing that I have been trying to work on is transitions from songs. Because we have a very inexperienced band (most everyone playing an instrument for a yr and playign live for 3 months), it is hard to nail transitions and keep things flowing…Sometimes, we have awkward moments where I don’t realize that they are all looking at me to give the sign to go to the next song. I really wish that it can be smooth and non-awkward sometimes. Am I right for feeling this way?
Transitions take time. It also depends a lot on you as a leader to transition songs by what you say. Are you taking time to connect with your congregation in between songs?
Yeah, we usually read a verse, talk about the next song, or pray… but they still wait on me after all of that to turn around and say “go”. I know everyone is pretty new at this so all I do is encourage, but I do want to get over this hurdle.
I especially agree with #1 “live the life” and #3 “make rehearsal a no stress zone”.
I have a greater challenge though for modern worship leaders- how do we make it easy for the congregation to worship authentically, or more to the point – participate wholeheartedly?
Rock band production can get in the way of congregational participation if it’s too sonically dominating. I think we need to create frequent moments of acoustic space where the sound is not our great band but the people of God gathered together. Make sense?
Great point, Rob. So true. I try to always leave space where we sing a capella or with a simple acoustic guitar. Hearing a roomful of voices singing at the top of their lungs is so great. I think every worship set needs to have this element. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for these simple points – such a breath of fresh air for me. As worship pastor/leader I often feel whipped around by the latest/greatest tech expectations and performance standards. Authenticity is the key. We are trying hard not to get in God’s way. 🙂
No problem, Paula. Introduce new things slowly. Authenticity is always the most important.
As a worship leader, ditch the music stand. It creates an unnecessary barrier between you and the congregation.mA stand almost causes a karaoke vibe, which is pretty much the opposite of authentic. This means the song must be buried in your head first, then your heart. Then you are free to lead not only the band but the congregation.
“I left that service thinking about God” – these words seem to jump right at me while reading this..awesome..just awesome!
by the way, do you have video link where i can watch Matt Redman leading worship service..not really the concert scene but at a regular church worship service?
You could probably search on youtube for something, but this is one of my favorites:
Thanks for the good points on worship. I kinda adhere to these things, but it was good to hear someone else say it was a good thing.
Awesome. Thanks for commenting Tim!
Relating to #1, there is a quote that a guest blogger put both on http://www.musicademy.com and Facebook, that went like this: Christians don’t tell lies, they just go to church and sing them.
The quote was by A.W. Tozer. It made me think that we need to really “vet” the songs we choose to sing on the quality of the lyrics. Do they line up with scripture? Do the lyrics make us think of God in a truthful way?
Convicting!
Just stumbled across this while looking for some Biblical content to discuss my frustration with the praise team I’m part of with our worship leader. Great points. I have been a worship leader for a brief time in the past with a church that placed high priority on prayer. The worship was such a breath of fresh air because we were all unified in prayer from the beginning – including the congregation. That’s just not the case where I am currently serving as a praise team member (singer). I’m irritated and frustrated that the focus seems to be on performance way more than the God we are worshiping. I would ask for your prayers as I discuss this with my worship leader. I wish to humbly approach him with love and I pray that he hears me with the common goal of glorifying the Lord in mind. We’re way too shiny in our appearance 🙂
Kim, I don’t know your unique situation, but shiny appearances aren’t always bad. It’s wonderful to offer God excellence in your creative output. The kicker is that you need to be authentic in your worship as well.
Nope, shiny isn’t always bad. Just when it seems to become the focus. Which is what I see starting to happen. I want to have an open, loving, God-glorifying conversation with him BEFORE we get there. Sometimes, we must ask ourselves if we are truly trying to offer God excellence or if we are hiding behind that excuse. I’m not at all saying that technology or polish is bad. On the contrary, they can be very good things. But they can’t be THE thing, ya know? Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I truly want to offer a pure heart and clean hands in my worship. And I desire deeply to be part of a group that has the same common goal. I don’t think we’re too far gone. No one wants to be ‘the one’ that delivers a message that seems negative. I wholeheartedly want to be constructive and loving, not negative, judgmental or condemning. I cherish your prayers on this. I will try to remind my feeble memory to update you when I know more 🙂
Kim, I’ve been on both sides of your situation. The question is what is your pastor’s vision? Are you a missional church that focuses strategically on the unreached? Or is it a place to drill down and go deep. Though I personally don’t believe in separating the two or operating in either of those models, the reality is pastors are being taught to pick. Without opening a whole can of theological worms, observe and ask yourself if that is what it is. Then decide if you are going to be able to sustain serving that vision in humility and weakness.
My pastor’s mission is definitely a balance between the ‘unreached’ and the ‘go deep’. It’s one of the many reasons I LOVE my local church. We aren’t perfect and at times we’re downright ugly, but we love God first and foremost and we love others. And I completely believe that God has me in my church body to be one that prays over these issues and gets brokenhearted for the things that break God’s heart. Leaving this local body isn’t even a consideration at this point. I just have a ‘danger’ alarm going off in my spirit that tells me our music focus is headed in the wrong direction. It’s not about style or taste of music or anything of that sort of inconsequential nature. I have prayed over this quite a bit. I will only approach my music director when I know God has given me permission, clarity, direction and peace. Thanks for your input. I appreciate all the comments 🙂
Loving step #1 Obey What You Sing. I can be in the midst of authentic worship and then I want to raise my hands or raise my voice a little bit more, but then my focus breaks because I am afraid to “offend” anyone. I needed a little encouragement in this area….thank you!!