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Worship Leader or Lead Worshipper? SIBmetro Leadership
Training Session 2 on Thursday night at 8, on 17th April, 2008 “Be diligent to present yourself approved
to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.” 2 Tim 2:14-15 (NKJV) All ministers are workers or servants of the Lord
in His House, serving His people, His Body, His Church. Those involved in the Worship
ministry are workers in His House. What is the standard required of the workers in His
House? Diligent workers approved of the Lord, unashamed
and abiding in the truth in the Word of God. What is the purpose of the Worship ministry? It is for the purpose of serving the Lord. But be careful, “serving the
Lord” means nothing if it is not related to and transformed into actual
physical service to His people, the church (by comparison, see 1 John 4:20) How do we serve in the Worship ministry? It is not trying to get people to sing, neither is
it trying to lead to people to sing.
Most important of all, it is not a performance,
it is not demonstrating how good the worship team is or how best a worship
leader can sing, or how professional a worship leader can lead. Who is the object of our worship? We worship the one and only Almighty God, our
Heavenly Father and our worship is reserved exclusively to Him and not others. But we do hear of people ascribing
greatness to this and that anointed worship leader or song leader. Take heed of
the story in Revelation 19:10 and in 22:9; the Apostle John, twice, wanted to
worship the Angel because he was overwhelmed with the goodness and the
greatness of the Angel who guided Him through the Revelation of the Heavens to
him, but the Angel said to him, “I am your fellow servant, and of your
brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God !”
“For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book.
Worship God ." Each
one of us is in our own right in the Kingdom of God, in His House, a fellow
servant to one another!
Neither should we ascribe any greatness to another fellow servant now
should we allow people to ascribe greatness to us. The truth is this, every believer is a
worshipper and no one else is a more superior worshipper than the others, not
even the Angels. What do you call the person leading the worship? In John 10:27, Jesus talked about His sheep
following Him. John 12:26, Jesus
said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me ;
and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” Here is a truth many
“leaders” missed. The
leadership Jesus portrayed is a person leading the way at the front. This is the characteristic of a shepherd
in Israel who walks in front while the flock of sheep would follow from
behind. Carve this picture into our
mindset and you will see the importance of a person leading worship to stop
concentrating on leading the worship, but concentrate in being a “lead
worshiper”. What does a lead worshiper do? Neither concentrating on keeping your eyebrows up to
show that you are really in love with Jesus, nor become so solemn as if you are
fully focusing your thoughts and heart on Christ. The truth is this, the lead worshiper
worships and the congregation will follow. Who is qualified to be a lead worshipper? As the lead worshipper involves
“leadership”, a member of the congregation who understand “leadership”
can be called upon to be the lead worshipper for a service. Many of our members are in their own
right “leaders” in their work, profession or even school or college
or university. What prevented them
from being called to be the lead worshipper? It is because we have the wrong
conception that a worship leader is a higher class of servanthood
in the House rather than acknowledging as “fellow servants of the
Lord”. Who is a worshipper? Isn’t anyone who is born again in the Lord, a
believer, a worshipper? Every
believer is a worshipper in the Spirit who worships God and rejoices in Jesus
Christ and has no confidence in the flesh (see Phil 3:3-4). Thus worship is of the spirit and not of
the flesh. This is the key,
everyone in the congregation is a worshipper if he or she subscripted to Phil
3:3-4. Therefore when we worship
God, we are free to be who we are before Him, there is
no respect to the flesh, but in the Spirit of God. The person called out to be
the lead worshiper must see himself or herself nothing more than a
“fellow worshiper” with the congregation. What is the true purpose of the worship ministry? In revealing the truth to the disciples that He
must die and be lifted up, Jesus said in John 12:32 ,
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to
Myself." (NKJV) In 1
Corinthians 11:26, Apostle Paul said, concerning the institution of the
Lord’s Supper, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.” (NKJV) The worship ministry primarily centred in lifting up the Name of the Lord, Giving Glory to
the Lord and proclaiming the great redemptive work of the Lord, His death and
salvation, with the ultimate obedience to the truth that as we do so, He (not
us) will draw all men to Himself.
That’s should be the mission of the worship team. What if there is a non-believer in the midst? This relates to the most controversial issue concerning
worshipping in tongue in Church services. Sometimes, we overlook the importance of
1 (one) non-believer in our midst. James 5:20, the Bible says, “…he
who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and
cover a multitude of sins.” (NKJV). In Matt
18:14, “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that
one of these little ones should perish.” Jesus told of the story of a shepherd
leaving his 99 but to find his one (1) lost sheep. In Luke 15:10, Jesus said,
“Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner who repents ." (NKJV) How
dare we therefore ignore one (1) non-believer in our midst! In 1 Cor
14:22-25, the Apostle Paul said, “Therefore if the whole church comes
together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who
are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is
convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are
revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that
God is truly among you.” (NKJV)
Likewise, if there is a non-believer in our midst, we must not worship
in tongue, but sing praise and worship songs that lift up the Name of Jesus,
proclaims His mighty works and glorify our Father God. However, when we are in a congregational
meeting where there is no unbeliever in our midst, we are free to worship in
tongue. Why don't people sing? Here are some things to consider: They don't know the music well enough. Don't expect
the congregation to sing until they have heard the song at least a few times. The music is too soft. If your sound system is not
turned up enough, then people may feel a little exposed and won’t sing.
Also, if you notice a certain section of your congregation consistently not
participating, then you may have poor sound coverage. Work on your system to
try to improve it. Take a walk around your whole worship center while you play
some music and listen to the music levels. If your system seems loud enough,
but just too thin, then you may want to look into adding a sub-woofer speaker,
to add some low end. Check with the people who installed your sound system. Your music is too loud. Usually this is self
evident by people holding their ears. Your congregation doesn't like your music. You must
know your congregation; what they like and what they don't like. Not part of the congregation, but the
whole congregation. Sometimes it is
not that the song by itself is bad, but that it is placed poorly or
inappropriately in the service. Pay close attention to your congregation's
response to your song selections. Poor or inconsiderate selection of the “right
songs". For example, a lady is serving as the lead worshipper, the songs selected usually suit ladies and not
men. The lyrics of the song may be
a powerful one, but when a lady is the lead worshipper, it would be a case of
ladies sing and men hum, it really dampens the spirit. And for further example,
some songs are for “performance singer only” some are for the
“congregational singing only”. Worship leader's Blunders & Common mistakes. Not spiritually prepared. We admit that we do sin daily and 1 John
1:8-10, the Bible says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (NKJV).
Now, we all acknowledge that when we come into the House of the Lord, we come
into the Holy presence of the Lord.
But many of us, knowing that we have sinned, we walked into the House of
the Lord, feeling guilty, but did not deal with sin, we serve with a deadly
sense of guilt. This is tremendous
effect on the congregation. So, I
advise that we should all come to the House of the Lord early, before the
service begins, run through the guilt and the sin in your life, one by one,
believing in 1 John 1:8-10, ask God for forgive you those sins and believe that
you have been forgiven, you then come into the Holy Presence of the Lord to
serve Him and His people in His house.
Does He really forgives so easily? Listen, In Luke 17:4, didn’t the
Lord Jesus Himself teach us to forgive a person who sins against us seven times
in a day, and seven times in a day returns to us,
saying, 'I repent”? He who teaches us to forgive in such many,
wouldn’t He in like manner forgives us whenever we confess our sin and
repent and ask for His forgiveness?
Why should we live in guilt for any time longer than necessary? Failure to worship yourself with the people,
largely due to not appreciating the difference between “worship
leader” and “lead worshipper”. Failure to give reason for the various actions of
worship - from time to time we need to remind the people why we clap; why we
shout; why we raise our hands. If we don't, we are in danger of having these
things become no more than a tradition or mimic, rather than a dynamic
expression of worship to God. Worshipping too long - It is usually better to stop
earlier and leave your congregation wanting more, than to drag out the service
and have them regret coming back. Teaching too many new choruses all at once. Talking too much in-between each song. Improper key selection - If a worship leader
chooses to lead a chorus in a key that is too low or too high for the average
singer, the congregation will tend to stop singing because of frustration and
inadequacy to reach their notes. Unusually repetition of a chorus. – should be just enough to put their heart into the song and
worship. Conclusion It's always important to include the congregation.
Worship is not a performance before an audience, but unity before God. Two things to remember: 1. Congregational Focus. As the lead worshippers, we need to identify where
and what God has for us, His people as a congregation, not ourselves. Obviously
this requires preparation, however, it can be very
spontaneously. One of the common mistakes I see in worship leaders is the
inability to separate out what is personally for them, and what should be for
the congregation resulting in "missing it" completely because of the
lack of spontaneity and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. 2. Smile Please! It’s a simple thing, however something that
we miss easily. The problem is that we concentrate so hard on leading the
worship rather than being the lead worshippers. In trying hard to lead the worship, we
become too serious and succumb to the demanding pressure of leading the
congregation, such a daunting task. But if we know that we are mere lead
worshippers and we just begin to worship the Lord ourselves, the Glory of God
radiates through a truly smiling face, it is not a put on, it
is not an act of mere smiling for the sake of smiling. Ronny Cham |
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