When was the last time you sat alone in a room and said nothing?
When was the last time you were surrounded by complete silence?
I know, it makes me nervous just thinking about it. Life is loud, and it may be hindering our ability to experience God.
If you stop and think about it, our worship services are jam-packed with noise from start to finish. Rarely is there a time for us to stop and experience the holiness of God through silence.
We walk into church talking to people.
We begin our services singing songs.
We sing more songs.
We pray prayers.
We project high energy videos.
We hear sermons.
We say many words to God, but avoid the stillness that enables us to hear from Him.
Isn’t that what’s most important about our worship services? That we hear Him?
Awkward Silence
I can understand why we avoid silence.
We don’t know what to do.
Sure, the spiritual giants among us would know how to encounter God through silence but the majority of our congregation would either be bored, confused, or uncomfortable, right?
Silence is scary. What happens when you’re hanging out with a group of people and you don’t have anything to say? You say, “Awkward silence”.
Silence may be awkward, but when it comes to worshiping Jesus, it’s an awkwardness we need to get comfortable with.
We need to step away from the heavy currents of day to day noise and tune into God.
Why We Need Silence
I can’t help but contrast our loud, high-energy worship services with Scriptures like this:
“Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).
“Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).
What if the secret to your breakthrough wasn’t saying the right words or phrases but saying less – saying nothing at all? To simply stand in awe of God and listen?
I’m not opposed to high-energy, loud worship services. I create them.
At the same time, our houses of worship should be a sanctuary of rest from the noise we experience every day.
Our worship shouldn’t contribute to the noise, but assist us in hearing the voice of our Maker.
Sometimes God speaks in the dynamic, but oftentimes it’s a whisper.
Let’s discuss.
Do you agree or disagree that we need more silence in corporate worship? How do we creatively incorporate silence into our services? Join in the comments.
For further reading, check out Ian Cron’s article in the most recent Worship Leader Magazine.
First, I have to say it’s beyond ironic, considering the topic of the blog, that when I scrolled down to view the comments I was faced with a site-generated statement that said, “Wow. It’s Quiet Here…Be the first to start the conversation!”
There have been times when I was part of the congregation and not leading worship where silence has broken out, and it was powerful. I think the only thing to add to your encouragement is that it needs to come under the leading of the Spirit. I’m not saying it’s not appropriate to schedule a moment of silence, or a time when I might instruct the congregation to listen with their heart to what God is saying, that’s not the case at all. But as I was sitting here putting my words together to write my comment I was struck with the thought, “How would you execute this in a real world scenario”? Then I started playing them out in my head. “Pastor, right after the second song…I’m just going to not sing”….hahaha. Granted, it wouldn’t go down EXACTLY like that, but my head was arriving where my heart was, and that is at the necessity of having that moment of “be still and know that I am God” be brought on by the Holy Spirit when He does have something to minister to everyone.
The other side to this is perhaps to not be discouraged when not everyone is standing up, or getting involved in crazy worship. Perhaps, on a single personal level, they are simply “being still” because the Lord has something to minister to them.
Good word!!! Thank you for bringing up the topic!
Great ideas, Bryce. I agree, silence should be initiated by the Spirit, but I also don’t have a problem with it being “scheduled”. I’m thinking of the Psalms and the many “selah” moments where readers are encouraged to be silent and process what they’ve read.
WORD! (unspoken of course!)
Typing is still a form of noise, Paul 😉
True. I always tell my team not to create awkward silence…to always have transitions in between songs. Rather than creating awkward transitions, I might just try having a time of silence of prayer during a worship set. I think that it could be cool. If God leads me to do it, then I am all for it.
Aside from corporate worship settings, this is a must for private worship. Some of the best times of worship that I have experienced is when it is just me and God. It is at these times when we can really listen to God.
Great post.
I agree, Brandon. Being alone with God in silence is so necessary for me.
suggestions on how to facilitate this during corporate worship? if your church community isn’t used to doing it, then just stopping can be like dropping anchor!
any advice what wording can be used to gently invite them into a moment of stillness would be greatly appreciated 🙂
This is a great topic. As an individual worshipper I’ve always strived for that silent moment with God, but wasn’t sure how to go about it as a worship leader. In the last 2 months or so I think I figured it out; obedience. When the Spirit tells me to be quiet and take in the silence, I do and the congregation takes it in as well. I don’t think its something that can be planned, I think it just happens.
A couple people have said this – silence needs to be Spirit lead. Do you think it loses its power if it’s planned?
I don’t think it loses its powe when planned. I think it may put me in a weird situation if I plan silence and it becomes that awkward silence because nothing happens. I’ve always been taught that God comes and goes as He pleases and the Spirit moves when it pleases so I think trying to plan silence may put the WL in a tough situation. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, I just think its a high risk high reward kind of thing.
I agree. I think silence can be both planned or spontaneous, but when you plan it you take the risk of the congregation not being prepared or centered.
At a youth staff retreat a speaker shared how he makes a plan for each youth group. Some people asked if that limits the Spirit’s movement, and he responded, “The Holy Spirit is capable of moving ahead of time”.
I love the idea of silence in worship gatherings. I get distracted if there is music playing during prayer. (Why yes, I am a musician, and yes, I do have to analyze every chord progression I hear.)
I also find prayer meetings difficult if there is little silence between spoken prayers. My brain needs time to transition between prayer topics, especially if I’m expected to participate in the spoken prayers.
When you lead worship, do you incorporate silence into the mix?
Well, I’ve never actually led worship before, but the teams I’ve been on have done it rarely, if ever.
So cool that you blogged on this today. Just yesterday morning after our 3rd song, I felt the holy spirit just say “rest,” so I told the congregation that we were just going to rest in His presence for a moment. I attempted to assuage any fears by just telling them we had another song we were gong to do but that nothing was expected of them during this time – just connect with Him. I encouraged them to just throw all of their attention and focus in his direction. The pad was the last thing to fade out and while in a moment of sheer glory with my eyes closed I thought “oh man, I bet they’re getting antsy.” Thankfully, as I peeked at the congregation through squinted eyes I saw they were fully engaged. Really cool.
I think what made that work – in addition to obeying the promptings of the spirit – was that its important to just do something different. We contemporary worshipers tend to think of things like reciting responsive reading as “religious” but anything done in repetition to re-create a past moment is religious. Evidently I had begun to rely on music a little too much so God just gently corrected me during that moment. While I won’t prop this up as an all-the-time thing (making it, too, religious), I will definitely be more aware of using silence in worship now.
Wow, Jamie, that’s awesome. How fitting! I like the idea of doing something different. It’s easy for us to get locked into our worship service systems because it’s easier than being creative. Doing “something different” can really breathe freshness into the worship experience. Well said.
1. You CAN plan times of silence. If the planning is done thoughtfully and prayerfully, then I believe the Holy Spirit IS leading you right there and then.
It’s about giving the congregation an opportunity to slow down and to hear God’s Word. That can be done with silence, or with a soft instrument (or pad).
2. Are we encouraging the congregation to seek God’s word in private as well? TO hear His gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13).
Some of these comments are just as insightful as the post!
Thanks! These are some great thoughts as well.