Worship ministry isn’t what it seems.
The lights, the stage, the celebrity status, the fanfare. It’s just not that…at all. And if we’re making it that, it’s not worth doing.
I guess we’ll cut right to the chase.
Worship ministry is more a pastoral role than a creative one. It’s more about people skills than musical proficiency. It’s less about your voice and more about the voice you unleash in others.
Let me explain.
Sunday morning isn’t about how good you sound or how “anointed” you are. It’s about how well you can give voice to the saints gathered with you.
It could be said that your effectiveness depends on your customer service. Are you great at creating a welcoming environment where people can be disarmed and feast upon the goodness of God?
But it’s also about how you develop others around you. That’s the beauty of local church ministry. It’s about developing and lifting up those around you. It’s not just how many people you can impress with your gift.
You, yes you, can raise up other worship leaders.
Look Around
Remember who gave you your chance? Look behind and see who’s watching you. Teach what you know. Believe in someone.
There comes a moment in ministry when it’s not just about how you are developing, but how you are developing others.
But in our pop culture saturated worship world, it’s hard to know what is important.
What do we value in our local church worship leaders? What kind of character are we forming in the next generation?
Great performers? Songwriters? Incredible musicians?
It’s an important question to ask because if we’re not intentional about it, the culture will inform and direct those who are leading our congregations in worship.
But what kind of worship leaders are we developing?
3 Qualities to Develop in Young Leaders
If I could distill it down to three, memorable points this would be it:
We need worship leaders who have a…
1. Current Faith
Imagine going on a tour of Disney with a guide who had never been there. Or one who hadn’t been there in 20 years. You’re not going to get a complete picture. It will be awkward, confusing, boring.
In the same way, we need worship leaders who know the presence of God. We can’t lead people where we ourselves have never been. We won’t know the way.
I know that can almost sound too simple. Well, of course we need worship leaders who love and know God.
But what can often happen is we thrust people into leading worship because they have passion and talent…but they don’t know the Presence of God. Or knowing the Presence of God isn’t an ongoing value. It takes a backseat to more practical matters.
We don’t need worship leaders who simply make theological observations. We need warriors with an ongoing story.
Warrior who have gone through the fire and seen that God is faithful. Those whose faith is current, alive, and real.
Being cool is not the goal…great performance is not the goal…loads of talent is not the goal. Deep roots in the word of God and a daily fellowship with the Holy Spirit is what we’re after.
2. Compassion For People
Worship leading is more a pastoral responsibility than it is an artistic career. The best worship leader on earth can be completely void of creativity. They don’t have to be a great musician. Sure, those are valuable skills to have. But the point I’m making is that leading worship is more about people skills than musical triumphs.
Leading worship without a heart for people is like poor service in a restaurant. We all know what it’s like to have a waiter or waitress who just doesn’t care.
But a heart for people isn’t the message we’re always sending. The message we’re sending is, “Write amazing songs. Have a smooth voice with a double octave range. Know how to skillfully arrange music.” These are the things we’re learning in worship school but it’s not what’s most important.
And I’ll be the first in line to confess my love-of-all-things-that-make-me-look-good-ism.
This is what I need to hear: be more influenced by the people you lead than the music you listen to.
And finally, great worship leaders have…
3. Commitment to the Right Kingdom
A kingdom centered life is a life of maximum impact and effectiveness. Because you’re not just trying to build a career and advance yourself. You find your place and your greatest joy making others successful.
Let Matthew 6:33 remind you:
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”
A commitment to the right kingdom is about prioritizing the kingdom of God above the kingdom of self. It’s about loving what God loves. It’s about seeing the way God sees. It’s investing your life into what the Bible teaches.
Prayer. Disciple making. Worship. Sharing your faith. Investing in your local church beyond the stage.
I’d love to hear from you on this. If you were to answer the question, “What kind of worship leaders do our churches need?”, what would you say? Let us know in the comments.
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
I’ve put it this way in the past. I want to develop ministers (that is, servants) first, musicians second. Now, I can’t say I’ve done that well. Getting my values and priorities to align with my practice is very difficult.
Operating with the mindset that worship is not about music or performance, but about God and people is a hard thing to adhere to. Especially as the “culture” in modern, western churches can tend to push worship leaders in the opposite direction, making leading worship about developing set lists and programs.
I often feel as though I am swimming against a very strong current that makes me want to just float along with it. Fighting that temptation is hard.
Very well said, Andrew. That is really the purpose of this post – to draw attention to that “current” and to help worship leaders navigate it. I don’t think we need to completely resist the current. Musical skill, talent, songwriting, artistry – all of those things can be good when the main, foundational elements are in their proper place. They are terrible places to start though.
Audrey i hear what you are saying we must not please people we just need to please the Lord i spent to much time pleasing man but no more .its all for his glory and i will not apologise sometimes that means saying no if the Lord doesnt want me to do what people would want me to do I am in the music ministry for two churchs and made the decision not to lead the worship though people wanted me to to said no.So i can be supportive to the other members of the worship groups i am involved with.i feel i am more effective that way and it frees up my time to encourage other friends in other churtchs also in the worship teams.The lesson the Lord taught me is that its not about gifts or talents its all about our personal relationship with him serving him walking by his word 24/7 being obedient and dying to self when we do that we are successful in everything we do .brentnz
Great article and spot on! I wish all worship leaders – particularly young ones – could read this and understand your message. I’ve been a drummer / percussionist since I was 11 years old, I’m mid-50’s now. I’ve played in secular bands and have gigged in nightclubs and other venues. I’ve played in praise and worship bands with good amateur and semi-pro musicians. Some leaders I have adored and have the utmost respect for; not because they were excellent musicians, although some were, but they all knew how to lead worship and make the message the main part of the service, instead of focusing the spotlight on themselves and their talent.
It’s not just some of the young ones who “don’t get it”. Middles aged rock star worship leaders are out there as well. I’ve played for both – young and old – who fully believe in their own greatness and are totally consumed with believing the congregation is there to see them perform.
The common factor running through these “rock star” wannabes is 1) arrogance, and 2) egotism. They are so fully of themselves I am surprised they can even fit their massive egos inside a sanctuary.
For me, playing with someone like this totally ruins the message we are trying to project. Instead of using music as a way to minister, it all of a sudden becomes “all about THEM” and what THEY can do and “look at me up here on stage, don’t I look cool up here?!!”
The universe-sized ego, the arrogance, the cockiness…none of this belongs on a worship team. And sadly, that is what I am seeing about 80% of the time nowadays in Worship Leaders.
Thanks so much for sharing, David. I’ll be the first to admit my fault in this arena. It takes guys like you and me to model what we want to see happen and help train the next generation in a more Biblical, God-centered way.
A continued alliteration.
4. CALL IT WHAT IT IS.
The fact that anyone would allow themselves to be called a “Worship Leader”
is tell-tale to the root of our problems and challenges today with public worship.
We have created a title that is offensive on two fronts.
1-“Worship Leader” implies that worship can actually be led by a human being.
2- The words, “Worship Leader” offers a pseudo title that actually attracts the people who are looking for everything that worship is not. (Hence all the complaints)
There is no biblical support for such a title, much less an office.
A continued sermon
Worship planning and worship service needs leadership.
–Who gets to plan the service of worship and why are they qualified?
–Who gets to lead other people within a worship service and why are these certain people allowed to do so when others are not?
–Are these qualifications in any way related to Titus and I Timothy passages of leadership/servant hood service?
–Are they written down anywhere and understood before they guy plugs in his Strat and wows everyone?
–Who vets these musicians and does the background checks?
Back to the Bible (something rarely seen in Millennial writings/blogs) means we do away with some things tossed in the mix as of late:
1-The title “Worship Leader”
2-The title “Worship Pastor”
3-“Worship services” that turn would be worshipers into adoring fans
and “audience” members. And this is by design, not by happen chance. MONEY!
Where there are true biblical leaders in worship within a congregation,
most of what we see going on today in the name of “worship” will be done away with.
Anyone led to plan for the corporate worship service must have as a basic calling:
—Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)
They need to know the scriptures better than chord structures and the circle of fourths and fifths.
—All the requirements for Deacon-servant leadership are strictly about personal character and moral uprightness. “As I told you, they must have a good reputation and be faithful in marriage.” (Titus 1:6) Nothing about “good with a hammer and saw. Able to shear sheep well or construct beautiful dwelling places.” (same as “play music well”)
—Mature to the masses. Not children playing with their latest gadget, stomp box and digital modeler. “My friends, when you meet for worship, you must do everything for the good of everyone there.” I Corinthians 14:26)
Fellow Ministers, I will leave it at that.
Great article. My prayer every Sunday for myself and our team is that people don’t care how well we sang or played, but that they recognize that His presence was in the room and we got out of the way. Thank you for continuing to share and encourage us worship leaders!
Here’s the problem I have. I attend a church of about 500 and play bass in the worship band. Two years ago, our worship leader quit…he was a phenomenal musician, but had no interest in being a ‘minister’. So the leadership decided we needed a ‘minister’ in the position, not someone who could just ‘put on a show’. So they indeed hired someone who met that requirement. He is indeed an excellent minister. Kind heart, patience, caring, concerned, etc. What he isn’t is a musician. Several of us have musical training, including degrees in music. His musical ability is playing chords on an acoustic guitar and a voice that would be better at a country/western bar on a Friday night. There’s never any working of the music during rehearsal. It’s just going over a song 2-3 times, with an occasional ‘repeat this part’ or ‘ do this part accapella’. No ideas of the sound to use for keyboard, or what the lead guitar should do at any point. The flow of the set is basically non-existent. It’s as if ‘pick 5 songs that have Jesus in it and we’ll do those’ is the only guideline. I realize he’s doing the best he can, but it drives me up the wall. I took a 2 month break and prayed about it, but after being back a couple of months, my negative attitude is coming back. And I don’t even blame him. Several of us made our concerns known to our senior minister when this guy led worship on a trial basis when they interviewed him, but we were told that no, this is the guy we need. As a friend recently said, ‘well, no one will come here because of the music, but no one will probably leave either’. Is that the best we can do? He’s had occasional meetings with a group of us and we’ve given him ideas, and he says ‘Yeah’ and takes notes, but nothing comes from it, even though he says he’s open to them. What can I do?
Have a heartfelt prayer to God. I did this past month and now God had my pastor minister to me about the changes that are coming forth in the music ministry. One door open, another door shuts in Jesus’ name.
Keep praying and recognizing you are to be in submission to him. We had this happen at our church and after 5 years of failthfully serving our worship director (with one small break to pray for God’s direction), we won favor with our pastors and they appointed my husband and myself as worship directors. I understand that frustration all too well. And so does God. All I can say is winning favour and showing your servant’s heart in everything you do is amazing.
I think, this is pretty full of insights. The fact is the rule applies to every minister of the Gospel, including Worship Leaders, Pastors or Ministers. Our goal should be Christ at all times. And we want people to see Christ, and want to love him. Hence we must lead people to Christ.
To Randy, I would say, try and speak to the Worship Minister and find out what his goal is for the team. You may find out that his drive is probably to build a team of people loving on Jesus, whether they get the music right or not. Again, he may just be following the directives of the Pastorate.
In Nigeria, I have enjoyed ministrations from both sides, highly skilled and not skilled. For me, what now matters is, whether it is spirit filled or not? Good sound is good for the ears, and good music is enjoyable. However, the Spirit weighs worship slightly differently, the heart is what matters and if your Pastor feels time should be spent on preparing our hearts to be able to take in more. Lets enjoy the ride.
As a personal exercise, you can try private practices or your own secret worship service where you minister to the Lord and trust God that your team will eventually get to the place where the Spirit and Skill can work in sync together.
Wonderful message and challenge for all leaders in the “worship ministry”! I fell into the pit many years ago of putting more emphasis on the band, rehearsals, sound and tech and the Lord in his discipline has brought me to the place where I want people (including myself) to be able to shed their “religious skin” and worship unashamedly more than I want the band to get it all right or sound perfect. Make a joyful noise worshipers!
I can appreciate the comments in general for this topic, as well as the responses specific to my original post. I don’t doubt for a minute the sincerity and good heart of our worship minister. And I’m aware that God can use anything for His glory. But as my wife and I have discussed, that’s no reason to just throw out anything and say ‘yeah, God will be glorified in this’.
I think that after a while, it can lead to an attitude of just doing ‘enough’ without doing our best. And by ‘enough’, I don’t mean having a blase ‘ attitude, but more of a ‘it will all work out’ attitude. Our worship minister is, in his own words, a ‘people pleaser’, so he doesn’t do anything to set a standard in what we do, as he doesn’t want to hold us accountable and possibly offend someone. And with that attitude, it’s just.really.hard sometimes to ignore that approach and try and remember that we aren’t playing for ourselves or an audience.
I believe the Church needs authentic, selfless, leaders honoring others above themselves ( Philip 2:1-5) Worship leaders with a Pastoral heart. Rc
A word for thought