Don’t you hate the feeling when nobody worships?
You pour yourself – all your time, passion, and purpose – into leading worship. But the congregation just stares at you. They don’t get it.
You are frustrated.
They seem frustrated.
What can be done?
This isn’t fun…on a number of levels.
- Worship isn’t simply a performance – we want the room engaged.
- Worship isn’t singing – we want people to cry out to God.
- Worship isn’t soothing atmospherics – we want the presence of God.
When that isn’t happening, it’s incredibly frustrating.
We need to be careful not to judge successful worship by people’s response. Sometimes God is working behind the scenes of a stone cold face.
Sometimes non Christians are in the room and they don’t understand worship. We can’t expect them to grab a streamer and begin dancing around with the off-beat tambourine lady. Not going to happen (if it has, please contact me).
At the same time, let’s do all we can to pastor our congregations – all which are very unique. This isn’t cookie cutter. This takes sensitive, pastoral teaching and prodding.
7 Reasons Why Your Congregation Isn’t Worshiping
So before you give up, here are some reasons why your congregation might not be worshiping with you:
1. Your music is too confusing
It’s possible not only for your music to be so bad that it’s confusing, but also for it to be so innovative that it’s confusing. Certain types of music demand you stand and listen. While not always a bad thing, when done too frequently people get in “concert” mode and simply listen to your band.
That’s not our primary goal on Sunday morning. We want people to lift their voice. Declare God’s promises. Encounter God’s purpose for their life. Create music that’s easy to clap to, pleasing, and engaging.
2. Your songs aren’t singable
Worship songs these days are very low and very high. It’s quite possible that people aren’t singing because they can’t.
Your Spirit-anointed, heavenly range is too much for the common congregant. It may work for Chris Tomlin, Israel Houghton, and Leeland, but it doesn’t work for your people. Humble yourself and pick keys that are singable.
3. Your songs aren’t familiar enough
When a song isn’t immediately familiar, people listen. It doesn’t mean they’re not worshiping, it just means they’re watching the screen trying to figure it out. If this happens too often you create a congregation of screen watchers.
Here’s my suggestion: do songs more often than you think. After two weekends of multiple services, sure, you and your band are sick of “Mighty to Save”. But your congregation is just starting to learn it. Keep doing those songs and you’ll see your church respond.
4. Your band is disengaged
How can we expect our congregation to worship with passion when our band seems to be bored out of their minds? I don’t care if your band thinks it’s “inauthentic” to be visually expressive. It’s important.
If you’re on the stage, your role is more about leadership than it is about your preference. Train your team to worship on stage. They don’t have to jump around and do backflips off the drum riser, but they do need to visually worship.
5. You don’t connect with the generations
Your church might not be worshiping because they simply don’t connect with you. Hard to hear, but it’s true. It takes humble, focused effort on your part to connect with the generations.
As a worship leader, you should practice this – invest energy into getting better. As we discussed in this post, it’s not possible to connect with every generation all the time, but it’s important to make an effort. Sit with your pastor and determine who is in your congregation. Who is frustrated? Who isn’t worshiping? How can you engage them?
6. You perform your worship set
I don’t care. Really, I don’t care. It doesn’t impress me that you can blaze through a worship set – that your transitions are silky smooth and your key changes are tight. That your loops are original and you were playing with a click track the whole time.
Excellence is important, but if it’s not balanced with genuine, raw, heartfelt, spontaneous worship, it’s a failure. And your congregation may not be worshiping because of it.
7. They aren’t ready for worship
So far all these points have been about you. But it’s not always your fault 🙂 Sometimes people aren’t ready for worship. They’re unchurched. They come from an uber-traditional background. They don’t get it and they think you’re weird. That’s OK. Actually, I love that.
Want to know why? Because I believe worship is transformative, life-changing. I want people like this in my worship sets because it’s quite possible that God will reveal himself to them in a life-altering way.
Worship leader, do all you can to serve your congregation and engage them in worship. Become a student of who you lead. Pastor them. Love them. Pray for them. Pour into your community.
If they’re not worshiping now, they will soon.
Question: Why else do you think people don’t engage in worship? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Photo credit: C.G.P Grey (creative commons)
I have learned a lot about energy and critical mass over the last two years. I went from serving in and leading a student ministry of almost 500 to planting a new campus and starting from scratch with about 20.
Worship may be incredible at place “A” but you can’t always just pick that up and plop it down somewhere else and it work. You have to sensitive to your particular congregation and be sensitive to that dynamic in creating their worship experience.
Absolutely! There’s no cookie cutter worship experience. Study your people, get to know them, pray for them. That’s some of the best advice I’ve heard.
Wow…it’s raining cold hard facts up in here.
David, I think you pretty much hit every square inch of this thing.
Number 5 is a big one for me…connecting with a generation…for me, it’s not just a generation but a different culture…
My mom invited my aunt who went to our church a long time ago before she strayed…she wasn’t as engaged, not that i was suprise. she hadn’t been to church in a while…but
“then she mentions to my mom….Oh, why don’t yall sing the songs of old anymore, those great hymns?”
I got what she meant.
and it’s funny because, i regret not paying more attention as a teenager worshiping to those old spiritual folk songs, looking back now they are GREAT! Some of today’s “worship” songs can be so bland compare to the great hymns.
And we don’t have to play them with just an organ….be creative and bring them back….i seriously doubt that the congregation cares what type of music it is…well, maybe not hip hop. lol…but just to let those words flow again…
Some people don’t like redone hymns. Certain people can be impossible to please. If you can connect with them on an emotional level, it goes a long way. Respect their feelings, you know?
I was speaking with my housemates about this particular subject just an hour ago! It’s amazing how we, as worshipers who worship and pray as a way of life expect people to be fully engaged in worship, when, they might not actually have a clue of why we do what we do. It’s about discipling our congregations into that life changing, God-focused dynamic relationship with God that comes in His presence.
I also think that it’s important how we are led into worship. For example, if we are leading worship after a pretty heavy teaching, people might be looking very ‘inward’. They are spending time, contemplating, checking for stuff they need to deal with, so not surprising when you are giving your ‘all’ worshiping God, and they are tight lipped, eyes closed and just receiving. That is all well and good, but the tension for a worship leader is to know when to bring it back and lead people to focus back on God. Because ultimately, it’s in that place that He will do the transforming.
On the other hand, if we go in to Worship from a place of proclaiming and prayer, focused on who God is, and how amazing He is, it’s easier for people to engage, because we’ve just fixed our eyes on Jesus.
Worshiping in a corporate setting requires engaged people, but that is first and foremost a heart posture. What are the motivations of my heart, and are people willing to set aside the stuff they are worrying about and say ‘praise the Lord O my soul’?
Just some thoughts from me, there are PLENTY more where they came from! Keep up the good work with these discussions!
BLESS!!!
Good thoughts! Do you think people are too dependent on worship leaders? I’m just wondering how we can lead people to lead themselves, you know what I mean?
I do think that they are too dependent on worship leaders. Especially if they are particularly talented or gifted. It depends on which context the culture is in.
I was at an awesome Church in northern California this year, and I was so blessed because even though the worship was amazing, people weren’t looking to the worship leaders to take them anywhere, they were looking to God.
When we put our expectations on God instead of people, then people feel free to worship in the way that they want. And when you come into such a freeing atmosphere, you don’t care about the people around you, and you can only end up engaging! So good.
That’s my main learning this year: Expectations are on God. That also means that I have to expect that God will meet the congregation when I lead worship. I just pray that they are expecting from God, and less from me. 🙂
God is good, and SO worthy to be praised!
MissDavage: I loved this part of your response: “Expectations are on God. That also means that I have to expect that God will meet the congregation when I lead worship. I just pray that they are expecting from God, and less from me.” That comment is worth a billion! 🙂
I am not a worship leader, but I am one of those in the congregation who longs to feel the Spirit move. I love worshiping with my spiritual family on Sundays, and I long for not only myself to be moved by God but for each and everyone of those who are in the room with me to be moved.
That being said, Dave, your seven points are perfect. I am sure that most of us have had an experience where one or more of these points have shown themselves to be true. Not knowing the song can be tough, feeling like the music is being played at me and not drawing me in is even worse.
I am not sure whether people are too dependent on their worship leaders or not, but I do think that there are a lot of people who don’t know how to quite go beyond just singing the song on the screen. There are so many Christians out there who have not grown up in an environment where personal worship is a driving force in their walk with God.
That being said I think that as worship leaders part of your job is teaching the congregation how to worship. Prompting them to talk to God or sing to God their own words (Dave you do a great job of this by the way.)
Worship leaders have one of the toughest jobs out there when it comes to ministry. You are on the stage in front of everyone but if you are doing your job right the people aren’t seeing you or the band they are in God’s presence.
As an aside, I have a question for you Dave. What do you do, or do you do anything, or can you do anything when you notice that there is an individual in the congregation who is distracting from others from the presence of God? I have been in services where an individual has begun to be so demonstrative that their worship seemed more about themselves rather than the Spirit and these actions have drawn those around them away from worshiping rather than in to worshiping.
Good question, Peter. I would try and block it out and focus on God. I’m sure that’s what you do. If someone is being weird in worship, I’ll typically try and shift my focus from being distracted to being inspired by their passion for God. Sometimes all it takes is a mental shift.
If someone is so distracting that the whole room is focusing on them, they probably need a nice pastoral escort or a private conversation. That is a great question, though. You got me thinking.
Does that help?
That’s normally how I handle it, but I thought it would be good to get the worship leaders view point as well. Thanks so much.
This is a great post!
They are all good points, and I know that not everyone will agree with me, but I find that when a worship song is over played within a church, that people seem to disengage from it, I know that I do.
I also find that I personally disengage when the musicians don’t appear to be a cohesive group playing together, or don’t sound rehearsed enough. I know that the band aren’t paid performers and get lots of time to practice together, but I think people can tell when a band hasn’t practiced.
Once & Awhile I am in a service where the music is cranked up too loud and I cant worship because my ears “hurt” and I cant seem to concentrate on worshiping. I just feel annoyed because if it were less loud and distorted, the content & melody of the songs would make it easy to worship. This doesn’t happen very often at apc. Thanks.
I think most churches that have it loud have the mentality that if it’s loud, people will sing… because a lot of times those who can’t really carry a tune don’t sing out because they don’t want others to hear them. Try going to another place in the sanctuary… if you sit right in the middle or in front of the speakers, it will be too loud for you.
They could be like me sometimes, crying ’cause of something I just found out that concerns a loved one. Or, they could be in a trial themselves, afraid if they move they will just bust out in a totally wet rainstorm. In other words, they could be too choked up inside.
Or, they haven’t had enough coffee yet….LOL
How do you know those stone faces are not praising and worshipping? Does worship have to be demonstrative to be authentic? I love the Lord, but I have never felt comfortable raising my hands and praising in a loud voice in church. This does not mean that I won’t raise my hands and sing before God in private which I certainly do. I do not find it weird that other people can be so moved, not at all. Sometimes I wish I could be moved to dance in the aisles and sing out loud, but it’s just not me. Every other person in the church can be wailing with hands held high, but I just can’t. I even prefer to pray silently when around others. Tell me, am I wrong?
I don’t think you are wrong, Nick. I do think there needs to some sort of emotional connection for it to be worship. That’s hard to do if you don’t engage your physical body in some way. That being said, not everyone needs to look the same. Thanks for challenging!
Great practical suggestions. The worship planner should “make it easy for the average person to worship.”
It’s also important to cultivate a culture of participatory worship, modeled and encouraged by the lead pastor and other leaders.
That’s huge, Rob. It’s really easy for leaders to just check in and observe from the back. I’m to blame at times. But when they lead from the front, it makes a huge difference in the atmosphere.
“I do think there needs to some sort of emotional connection for it to be worship. That’s hard to do if you don’t engage your physical body in some way…”
Thanks for understanding David. Many times I do have an emotional response during worship. My eyes will well up and there is definitely a connection. I admit that I try my best to fight any outward emotional reaction, especially if tears are involved, but sometimes it’s just too tiring and I’ll allow it to happen to a degree. I’m interested to know if you have encountered anyone else who is uncomfortable engaging their physical bodies during worship. Me…I didn’t even dance at my own wedding. Public displays of of this kind make me feel naked and embarrased, even if I’m the only one not so engaged. I once had a pastor describe the style of worship I am comfortable with, i.e. silent, as an indication of a person who is spiritually asleep. That kind of bothered me. I’m curious to know if you would agree that silent worship is a sign of spiritual slumber.
Nick, there are many people like you. I don’t think you’re spiritually asleep in the least bit. I think that was a misguided, overly-general statement. If I were you, I would challenge myself to try being more expressive, though. There’s something that happens in your spiritual life when you really go for it in worship. Do you think it’s worth trying?
I’m struggling with co-leading worship with another leader who is very influenced by IHOP and the prayer furnace. I completely understand the place of that venue and am not saying or implying anything derogatory about it in any way. However, it doesn’t seem to translate well on Sunday mornings in a group of people that are in a “seeker” service. Every other week, I’ll lead in more familiar songs and melodies and sometimes take a hymn and add a celtic or rock beat and the engaged congregation are confirmation that they encounter God, (along with verbal confirmation and prayers) Then a week of “sponaneous” worship without words or songs that are not melodic and arrangements that leave them wondering where to go next, they stand confused. It should be obvious but it continues. I don’t know what to do. I know worship styles are subjective and I CAN worship, because I am in a place that I’m comfortable with those expressions personally, but I don’t feel the church is being served. Any suggestions? I’m meeting with my paster later today and am considering taking this blog post as part of my conversation.
One thing that really breaks my heart as a worship leader is to see spiritual apathy amongst the people or when people just refuse to surrender out of a stubborn religious heart. When people look at worship as a bore, or a religious ritual that needs to be ‘ticked off’ on Sunday morning so they can get home and back to their ‘regular’ un-christian lifestyles. All the while entertaining a mindset that God was somehow fooled by their ‘lip service’ or ‘going through the motions’. I see people get more excited and enthusiastic over sports results (even at church!) I think we as worship leaders need to not only lead people into the presence of God, but sometimes have to go back to basics and recap or teach people what real worship is. It doesn’t start and stop with the music or just Sundays. Its a lifestyle that never ends!
Jesus told us we MUST worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH. That’s the only way. If it breaks my heart as a leader, how much more must it break the Lords? We need to be praying as leaders for a spirit of zeal and revival to flood our congregations. That the chains of apathy be broken in Jesus name that he may be worshipped and glorified as He deserves. We also need to as leaders be constantly checking ourselves that we are spiritually in the ‘right place’ with the right heart and motives. We cannot lead others where we are not at ourselves. Glory be to God!!!!!!
Good thoughts, Marty. I think all of this needs to be approached with a pastoral, shepherding heart. Otherwise, we may push people away in our “rebuke-like” zeal. But I agree, spiritual apathy is such an issue and we should be asking God to awaken us!
So solid, bro! Yes!!!
Thanks Justin!
Cause the person can’t sing. It’s just that simple.
Because the Leader can’t sing.
Question – I have observed over the years that some people who have been a part of a worship team and then step down for a season (for whatever reason) do not sing the songs or show any kind of expression of worship when they are a part of the congregation. It seems as though the only way they can worship is if they have a guitar in theirs hands or if they are with the music team. Thoughts?
i think 1 of the reason why ppl dnt get active during worship is becuz they feel that they r up there n we r down here. they can do better n dats where they rely cant. in other words theyre jus jealous
nice points nywayz n theyre true thnks u jus made me realize y CERTAIN PPL dnt wrship wit me a 14 yr old singer n leader yep da nex withney houston lololol no serious trus me bt nyways still lololololololol
it is true and love to worship to but get lost sometimes.
one thing also is that worship is not about us but the Lord.
I agree with all of the above but I would like to add another.
I have found that it is not necessarily a generational thing because even the younger generation are not singing.
Prior to the reformation, people were not engaging because the singing was in Latin. At the time of the reformation, songs with a simple melody and rhymns, combined with rhyming words that were easy to remember, were written. They also introduced instruments that gave a good lead to the singer. This is important because the average (non singer) cannot pick up a melody line just from chords played on a guitar.
I didn’t read all the comments, but no one said anything about learning how to please God in worship. He has very specific ways to worship Him, all in the Bible. We worship a Living God that is pleased to hear our worship, if we worship in Spirit and in truth. It is not about the mechanics, it’s about connecting with God. When we come together in this way, the Holy Spirit moves through the coongregation and things begin to happen, like healing and repentance. This is something Christians have lost over the years. Time to revive worship God’s way.
I didn’t read all the comments, but no one said anything about learning how to please God in worship. He has very specific ways to worship Him, all in the Bible. We worship a Living God that is pleased to hear our worship, if we worship in Spirit and in truth. It is not about the mechanics, it’s about connecting with God. When we come together in this way, the Holy Spirit moves through the coongregation and things begin to happen, like healing and repentance. This is something Christians have lost over the years. Time to revive worship God’s way. Praise the Lord!