Thoughts on Worship Leading from Someone Not Like Me

I don't know Joe. Joe appears to be a lot older than me, and probably is in a church a little different than mine. I would also guess that Joe and I have different tastes in music...

But Joe hits the nail on the head with this rambling post on leading worship. I thought about just giving the highlights, but the whole thing is most definitely worth a read.

As one of the worship leaders in my church, I feel a very heavy responsibility to provide our congregation with a service that points them toward the Lord Jesus and helps them to have a personal encounter with our Creator, primarily through the music experience.

Since my responsibilities lie with the "traditional" worship service, I make great use of the great hymns of the church.

I don't allow "funeral dirges" in our worship.

The music we sing is sung with energy and gusto, without becoming a race to the finish.

For instance, whereas it takes many congregations 3 minutes to sing 4 stanzas of "Amazing Grace," when I am leading we do it in about 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

Don't tell my congregation, but I also slip in a more contemporary chorus in nearly every service just because I think they need to express their praise that way.

When I do a contemporary praise song, I try to find a way to do it that does not grab the attention of the people through some instrumental artifact.

We seldom use drums, but when we do, I make very sure that the drummer knows that he/she does not carry the melody.

I justify my selections of music based on Ephesians 5:19-20 "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ."

I take psalms to mean songs made up of or obviously based on Scripture passages.

Examples include: "Rejoice in the Lord Always;" "God of Our Fathers;" or "Immortal, Invisible."

Hymns are the songs that teach a great spiritual truth, doctrine or that are focused on poetic praise.

Examples of hymns would be: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God;" "Softly and Tenderly;" "In the Garden;" "Praise Him! Praise Him!" and the like. They usually have three or more stanzas with or without a chorus or refrain.

Into the category of spiritual songs I would lump most contemporary praise-and-worship songs, as well as many of the older chorus-type songs.

"Come, Now Is the Time to Worship;" "Thank You Lord;" and "There's Something About that Name" would be spiritual songs.

In my humble, but correct, opinion, all three types should be freely used in worship.

One of the complaints often lodged at contemporary praise-and-worship choruses is that they are very repetitious. Sometimes they are called "7-11" songs: seven words (or lines) repeated over and over eleven times.

Well, if repetition is evil, someone is going to have to explain that to G.F. Handel, who wrote the great masterpiece we know as "Messiah," in which he included the chorus, "Hallelujah!", one of the most repetitious pieces ever written.

Coordinating the songs with the message is a good thing, but the song service should never be seen as preparation for worship, when that means nothing more than getting ready for the really important part of the service, the message.

The song service should be considered, in an of itself, worship and praise. It becomes the vehicle whereby the people express themselves to God from their hearts.

Congregationally speaking, it does not matter whether or not you can carry a tune in the proverbial bucket. Nobody in a right related congregation either knows or cares whether you can sing on pitch.

The Bible is replete with admonitions to lift up our voices to God. Indeed, the entire book of Psalms is made up of songs meant to be sung.

If we don't do what God says to do, we sin. Therefore, since God says to sing, if we aren't singing, we must conclude that we are sinning.

I so dearly love leading people to God through music that if I had to do it for nothing, I would.

Come to think of it, I do.