Leading a congregation – Page 18

Small Words That Make a Big Difference

Sometimes all you have to do as a worship leader to make it easier for people to follow you is know when to say some simple words. People will follow a person they can trust, a person who makes them feel at ease, a person who is looking out for them, and a person that is trying to make it easy for them to follow along.

Here are some examples of small words you can say that will make a big difference:

“If you’re able…”
When I’m leading music for a healing service, or a service where I’m aware there are people who can’t stand up and need to remain seated, I’ll say “if you’re able to stand, why don’t we stand together to sing”. You might use this phrase when you’re aware of a person or larger proportion of people who can’t participate with the majority of people. It helps them feel cared for, and it won’t bother the people to whom it doesn’t apply.

“If you’re comfortable…”
Obviously you don’t want to use this one all the time. But used intentionally and sparingly, it can help people if you say things like “if you’re comfortable, perhaps you want to open your hands in a posture of surrender to the Lord” or “if you’re comfortable, let’s clap our hands together as we sing”. You might use this phrase more often when you’re leading a reserved group of people in expressions of worship that might push the envelope a bit.

“We’re going to learn a new song…”
When I was first starting to lead worship, I used to introduce new songs by saying “I want to teach you a new song”. My youth pastor told me this was a bit annoying. It put the congregation in a position of being my students as opposed to my fellow-worshippers. Try phrasing things in a way that puts you all in the same boat.

“Let’s continue in worship…”
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard a worship leader get up after the sermon and say “let’s worship” or “now we’re going to worship”. News flash: the whole service should be seen as an act of corporate worship. The singing is one form – it’s not the only form. Your congregation will be served and your pastor will be honored if you phrase things in such a way that paint the whole service as being worship.

“Let’s sing that first verse again…”
Your congregation/lyrics operator/worship team can’t read your mind. If you know you’re going to go back to the first verse or back to the bridge, tell them that’s what you’re going to do, and give them the first three or four words.

“This song might be new to you…”
If you taught a song three weeks ago and haven’t done it since, you should treat it like it’s 90% new. Consider saying “we’re going to sing a song we learned a few weeks ago. It might be new to you, so we’ll sing the first verse a couple of times, and you can join in as you’re able”. The goal isn’t to baby people or say so much that you get in the way, but just to acknowledge that you know the song is new but that you’d really like them to sing.

“You can be seated”
If you’re the one who wraps up the time of singing and people are supposed to sit, you might as well tell them. If this isn’t an issue for your congregation and they just know when to stand and when to sit, that’s great. But sometimes people do appreciate being told what to do. Few things are more awkward in a service than half the people sitting, half the people standing, then those people sitting, then everyone being asked to stand again, etc.

A good host is mindful of how his guests are doing at all times. A good usher is there when you need him but invisible when you don’t. A good tour guide shows you the amazing sights and keeps you from wandering off, but otherwise gets out of the way. Sometimes being a good worship leader just means doing little things well, and those little things flow from keeping the people that you’re leading in mind.

The Four-Legged Stool of Discernment

Learning how to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit during a time of corporate worship can be challenging. It’s a bit like learning to walk. You start out a bit wobbly, and even after you’ve “gotten it”, you still trip over yourself from time to time.

To lead worship in a Spirit-led way simply means to lead in submission to the sovereign will of God at every turn, as much as we know how. Our planning is good and necessary, but God’s plan is better. And as much as we seek to be led by the Spirit in our planning, we still can’t be arrogant enough to know in advance exactly how God is going to move. Only he does. And so when the service begins we offer our planning up to him and ask him to bless and use it – but also to guide us and lead us by his Spirit to follow his sovereign will.

And this can be hard. So much goes into a service, and so much is going on during a service, that there are all sorts of pressures and competing voices in our head that make it hard to know the Holy Spirit’s leading. He doesn’t usually announce his promptings on a billboard or with a bullhorn. So we doubt whether what we’re hearing is the Holy Spirit or our own preferences. We stick with safety. We wonder what could have been. Or we go the opposite way and follow every whim that comes into our head and we lose all sense of order. How does a worship leader discern the direction of the Holy Spirit during a service? I like to think of it as four-legged stool.

1. What does God’s word have to say?
No matter how strong the urge, how great the song, how many people agree, or how cool an idea, the Holy Spirit won’t lead you to do something that conflicts with the infallible word of God that he inspired. God’s word is authoritative and can be trusted to lead you in the right direction.

This is particularly applicable when you feel prompted to say something, or lead people in a spontaneous song, or some other form of verbal expression. If it doesn’t fit with God’s word, then it’s not God’s leading. The lyrics to the songs, the words you say, the expressions and articulations you encourage, and the atmosphere you cultivate must be in conformity with God’s word or else you’re in conflict with the leading of his Spirit.

2. What do you hear?
God gave you ears for a reason. You’ve got to use them when you’re leading worship to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading.

Listen for the sound of unified, enthusiastic singing to provide a confirmation that you’re on the right track. Conversely, listen for the sound of distracted talking, confused melodies, or ho-hum singing to tip you off that the Holy Spirit might be nudging you to adjust your leading.

See, this isn’t all rocket science. The Holy Spirit might not declare his promptings on a billboard, but he’s also not trying to make things difficult for you. Listen. Your ears won’t tell you everything – as sometimes even what you hear can deceive you. But your ears are one very important leg of the stool.

3. What do you see?
Likewise, God has given you eyes. Look at the people you’re leading. Open your eyes. Turn the house lights on. Look around the room. What do you see?

You can’t tell everything from what you see. There will be people who stand there like statues who are actually deeply engaged with God. And there will be people who dance in the aisles and wave their arms around who have no idea what’s going on and whose hearts are far from God.

But you can tell a lot from what you see. If people just aren’t that into it, you might need to move on to the next song. If people are enthusiastically engaged, you might need to linger a bit longer before moving on. You’ll learn to read the room the more time you spend with them, and you’ll often find the Holy Spirit giving you cues based on what’s happening before your very eyes.

4. What do you sense?
When God wants to get my attention during a service, I’ll often sense it in my stomach. I’ll have an uneasy butterflies-in-my-stomach sensation that won’t go away and is an indication that the Holy Spirit is trying to get something across to me. Then I’ll try to focus as clearly as I can on what he might be saying. This comes in the form of a word, a phrase, an idea, a song, etc. It’s different every time.

And God speaks to us all in different ways. For some people it’s more of an intellectual thing. For others, like me, it’s more of a physical sensation. Don’t discount something you’re “sensing” and assume it’s just nerves. Maybe it is – but maybe it isn’t. Chew on it, think on it, and pray on it for a moment. Maybe even add a few empty measures into the song while you listen and discern.

Just seek to be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. It really is like learning to walk. You’ll get more confident as you go along, and even though you’ll still trip over yourself from time to time, you can move forward again once you’ve gotten your balance.

When People Keep Coming to Church Late

Yesterday I received a very kind email from a worship team member at a church who asked how I would address this situation at their church:

We are trying to address an increasing issue of late arrival. We are a large church with two Sunday morning services and one Sunday evening service.

We start on time and our worship is near the begining of our service. We are finding that the sanctuary is not often filled until 20 minutes after the service starts. The worship time has finished by then.

Addressing tardiness is, in my view, 100% the responsibility of the pastor. He is the shepherd of the flock, and it’s his duty to cultivate sheep who see corporate worship as something that is crucial, and who see God’s greatness and glory in Jesus Christ as being reason enough for our getting to church on time. You should feel free, as a layperson or as a worship leader, to communicate your concern to your pastor, and tell him that you think he needs to address this issue with the congregation. Love, support, and submit to him, but don’t be afraid to tell him what you think. If your congregation is regularly very late to a service, he needs to say something and you’re right to encourage him to do so.

The worship leader should never address tardiness from the platform. I’ve seen worship leaders do this and it always creates a very tense dynamic. It feels like you show up late to someone’s house for dinner, and instead of welcoming you in and being a good host, they berate you for being late. Would you want to eat with that person? Would you even want to take your coat off and go inside? I wouldn’t. I’d rather get back in the car and go home. Same principle applies to latecomers and church. The worship leader has reason to be frustrated, but he has to keep trucking and be as good a host as he can be. Leave it to the pastor to address tardiness.

Some people are late because they’re just really bad at being on time. They’re late to everything: dentist appointments, their own wedding, work, and movies. I don’t know if there’s any hope for these people.

Some are late because of genuine hindrances like traffic, parking problems, getting four kids dressed, in their car seats, and in their Sunday school rooms, or newcomers who don’t really know where they’re going. Churches have a responsibility to think through every possible hindrance, and make their campus, schedule, and signage as conducive to moving a mass of people (and visitors especially) to their destinations with ease. If your church is laid out like a maze, don’t be surprised when tons of people come in late.

But some are late because they want to skip the worship. They don’t want to have to stand there and sing the songs. They’d rather take their time getting to church and get there after the singing is over, and be in time for the sermon. They see the time of singing together as being optional and unimportant. Again, I go back to the pastor. If your pastor agrees with this view, then I don’t think you’ll see a change in your congregation. For example, I know that in many churches the pastor isn’t even in the room during the singing. He shows up 30 minutes later when he appears on stage to preach. This sends a message to the congregation that the singing is something that can be skipped.

But hopefully, your pastor would be grieved by a congregation who sees corporate (sung) worship as being unimportant. The responsibility of changing this culture falls to him, and he’ll need your help and prayers as he seeks to change it.

To this end, I’d encourage you and your pastor to watch and seek to emulate this exhortation from Joshua Harris, the senior pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, as he seeks to shepherd his sheep to come to church eager, expectant and early.

Oops

A few Saturdays ago we began our Saturday service with the Stuart Townend/Keith Getty song “Creation Sings the Father’s Song”. If you don’t know this one you can read a post I did about it a while ago or just watch the YouTube clip here.

After an opening prayer and bit of liturgy we did a Stuart Townend/Aaron Keyes song based off of Psalm 62 called “My Soul Finds Rest”. It’s a great song. You can see it here.

Both songs are strong, congregational, truth-filled songs.

They also sound a lot alike.

So after the second verse of “My Soul Finds Rest” I was so caught up in the moment that I launched into the chorus of “Creation Sings”.

Oops.

Here’s how it sounded in all of its splendor.

OK, so a few lessons learned:

1. Don’t do two songs back-to-back, even if there is a pause between them, that sound exactly the same. And are in the same key. And have the same time signature. And both have three verses and a chorus. And both choruses have similar lyrics.

2. If you happen to mess up royally like this, there’s no way to hide it. Just keep trucking, laugh, and correct yourself.

3. Definitely don’t post the recording of this royal mess up on the internet.

But I just couldn’t resist letting you hear this moment of loveliness.

We changed one of the songs the next morning. That’s lesson #4: rehearsals and run-throughs (our Saturday service is always a good “run-through” for us) are always a good idea.

The Perseverance of the Worship Leader

A few nights ago our bathroom sink got clogged. Really badly. Some food accidentally went down the drain and nothing – I mean nothing – would unclog it. I tried, in this order: the cheap plastic “snake” you buy from the grocery store to go deep into the pipe, two bottles of Draino, a plunger (well, my Dad actually tried this one), and super-duper-high-powered drain cleaner that is “guaranteed” to break through the clog. Well, I should ask for my money back because it didn’t work. Nothing worked.

So yesterday I broke down and called the plumber. He said he’d be happy to come by today and fix it. I asked how much it would cost. He said $150.

I don’t particularly enjoy flushing $150 down the drain (literally and figuratively), so I endeavored to persevere and fix this stupid clog myself. You have to understand that I’m about as handy as a three-week-old baby, but when we’re talking $150 I’ll give it a try.

So I went to Home Depot and bought a $20 manual drain snake. And this morning I spent an hour on the bathroom floor doing everything I could to fix this problem myself and impress my wife with how handy I’ve become. An hour had passed and it wasn’t looking promising.

So I prayed: “God, you know I don’t have $150 to just give away to a plumber. I’m here on the bathroom floor, breathing in a deadly combination of three different kinds of toxic drain cleaners, wearing grocery bags and gloves over my hands to protect my flesh from melting off, I bought a manual snake drain from Home Depot, and all I need you to do is help me fix this stupid clog.”

I tried one last time to jam all fifteen feet of the manual drain snake all the way into the pipe, not allowing the resistance of the clog to sway me. Sure I was making a ton of noise and our daughter was taking her nap just one room away. I didn’t care. I had $150 on the line.

Soon the clog broke and I beheld the most glorious sight: water pouring down the sink and not backing up. I called the plumber and canceled the appointment in triumph. And yes, my wife was very impressed. After all, she’s due to have a baby any day now and it’s awfully nice to not be breathing in toxic fumes.

This all made me think about those “clogs” we face in ministry. The difficult people who never seem to change. The rut we can’t seem to get our services out of. The attendance number that just won’t budge. The congregation that doesn’t seem to ever grow in worship. Bad equipment. Low morale. Small repertoire. Repeated disappointment.

Whatever the clog is for you, the temptation for all of us is to, at some point, call the plumber. To give up. To let someone else do it. This might mean just giving up or it might mean looking for another job.

And sometimes you do just have to break down and call the plumber. But most of the time, and as was the case with me this morning, I had been given all the tools I needed to do the job if I just stuck with it long enough.

God has placed you where you are. He has given you the gifts (i.e. tools) that you have. Those clogs that you’re encountering might seem impossible to break. But what’s really the problem – the clog or your commitment to persevere?

Let me paraphrase (roughly but I hope faithfully) James 1:2-3: “Count it all joy, my worship leaders, whenever you meet clogs of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

Too often we’ve got all the tools we need to do the job. But we don’t persevere. I think God clogged my bathroom sink for a reason: to encourage me and to encourage you. Get your hands dirty. You’ve been given good tools and God wants to use you to break through some stuff.