What is Happening Right Now?

Last night I had the joy of leading the music for our men’s ministry meeting. This happens once a month in our church’s fellowship hall, and includes some good food (Italian subs!), some announcements, a time of singing, teaching, prayer ministry, and fellowship.

Last night we sang “Blessed Be Your Name”, “It is Well with My Soul”, read Psalm 130:1-6 together, and then sang “Everlasting God” and “Be Thou My Vision”. I led from guitar and had a piano player from the worship team lead with me. There was a tangible sense of the Holy Spirit being at work as we sang, and after the last song we just spent several minutes being still before the Lord together.

Before we went into those few minutes of stillness, a few moments after “Be Thou My Vision” ended, I just said something very simple like “what we’re doing right now is just leaving some space for God to speak to each one of us individually. This is a chance for us either to listen to him speaking to us, or to articulate our own words of prayer or praise to God. Let’s wait on the Lord together and commune with him.”

It took about 15 seconds to say all of that. It wasn’t the most articulate explanation in the world, and for some men there, it might not have been totally necessary. But once in a while it can be helpful to simply explain what’s going on.

Try to be aware, as you lead worship, of points during corporate worship that might need some explanation. Pick one area every once in a while, and explain “here’s what is happening right now”.

Worship leaders can wrongly assume that, because they know what’s happening, everyone else does too. While we don’t need to go overboard and explain every little thing every single time we lead  – (and oftentimes the best thing we can do is just be quiet!)  – if we are to be effective worship “leaders”, we need to make it as easy as possible for people to follow along.