Tag: Leading a congregation

Sermonizing Harmonizing

One of the ways worship leaders can better serve their congregation and their pastor is by choosing songs intentionally and purposefully to underline and respond to the preaching of God’s word. Not every song has to line up perfectly with the theme of the sermon, or be based on the same passage of Scripture, but when all of the songs during a service are completely unrelated to each other and the message, it can result in no single message standing out at the end of the day.

In most of the weekend services at my church, the sermon comes toward the end of the service. Because of this, I’m usually most concerned that the closing song, which comes directly after the sermon, is carefully chosen.

For years I tried to do this mostly by guessing. If the pastor thought to mention something to me about what kind of song would work, then that would be great. But most weeks I was just hoping I got it right. Sometimes I would. But other times I would find myself sitting in the service thinking, “I wish I knew he was going to say that!”

So in recent years I’ve become more diligent about hounding the preacher in the week leading up to his sermon, to get as much information as I can to help me pick songs, particularly the closing song, that both underline and help people respond to the message.

Here are some ways you might be able to do the same:

If he writes it out word-for-word, get a full transcript
Whenever John Yates, our senior pastor, is preaching on a weekend, I will get a word-for-word transcript of his sermon on the Thursday leading up to it. This is invaluable. I take time to read it, chew on it, and then prayerfully discern what songs would help people respond to this most effectively.

If he preaches from an outline, ask to see that outline
Some of the other pastors at my church don’t write their sermons out word-for-word. So I’ll just ask for their outline, or any notes they have. Sometimes I get a lot, and sometimes I get a little. Either way, it’s still something.

If he hasn’t yet finished either a transcript or outline, ask him what he’s thinking
I’ll oftentimes email whatever pastor is preaching and say something like: “I’d love to have any crumbs you can throw my way to help me pick a closing song that works well with your sermon. Any ideas? Specific songs? Themes? Anything?” I’ll almost always get a helpful response. I don’t need an awful lot of information – just some sort of indication of the direction of the sermon.

The key question to ask yourself and the preacher is: how would you envision people responding to this message through a song?

Don’t try to summarize the entire message in a song. You probably won’t be able to, and even if you are, it might be information overload. Just help them respond. It will look different every Sunday, but by asking yourself this question, you’re helping to avoid a mishmash of messages. Say that five times fast.

Stay On the Melody (Please)

One simple thing that many worship leaders could do that would immediately increase their effectiveness by leaps and bounds would be to stay on the melody. By resisting the urge to break off of the melody and sing higher, or sing harmony, or sing a cool little blues run, they would instantaneously be easier to follow, less distracting, less annoying, and more confidence-building.

The average person in the congregation is an average singer. You have some who are really good and some who are really bad, but most people are just average. They can carry a tune, enjoy singing, and while they wouldn’t want to sing in front of people with a microphone in front of their face, are generally willing to give most songs a try.

If you’re leading worship it means that, for the most part, you’re somewhat comfortable singing in front of people. You might have a great voice, you might have an average voice, and you might have a below average voice. But that doesn’t matter. Whatever kind of voice you have – you should be singing as averagely as possible. Nothing exciting, nothing special, and nothing noteworthy except for it’s averageness. Sing the melody, sing it confidently, sing it clearly, and sing it only.

I know, I know. There are occasions when it works to go off the melody a little bit. But those occasions are (or at least, should be) so rare, that your general rule of thumb should be to sing the melody and only deviate from it when it won’t throw anybody off. Anybody.

Most of the time when a worship leader sings anything other than the melody, it throws people off. Maybe not everyone – but someone. This is why it’s usually (always?) a bad idea. Control yourself, keep it together, and sing so Felix the dishwasher repairman can follow you.

I think there are several worship-leading vocal myths that can get into our head and make us distracting singers. See if you recognize any of these:

  • The higher you sing the harder you worship
  • The more you emote the more they’ll emote
  • You should sound like the guy/girl on the recording
  • You should be able to sing as high as Chris Tomlin
  • The level of your anointing directly corresponds to the highest note you can hit. If you can break an E – you’re really anointed
  • You can make people get into it if you sing really intensely (and maybe even growl)

None of these are true. But we can start to believe them and before we realize it we’ve developed some bad habits.

Really – worship leaders should be singing the melody 99% of the time. If this isn’t a big problem for you, that’s great. If this sounds impossible, then I’ve got a fun challenge for you: the next time you lead worship – sing only the melody on every single song. Your congregation will thank you – probably quietly – but trust me, they’ll be thanking you. They’re the ones who asked me to say something to you about this. I’m kidding. Or am I?

The Importance of Your Example in Worship

Whether you realize it or not, you are being studied by your congregation during the course of the entire worship service. Not just during the music – but during the sermon, the prayers, and the announcements.

And you’re not only being studied during the entire worship service – but before and after.

No pressure.

You might not think you’re all that interesting. You look at yourself in the mirror every day and are quite aware that you’re not a perfect person. Certainly there must be other, more interesting, more important people that are worth studying.

Maybe so. But the worship leader, however average he or she may be in real life, is one of the most-studied people in leadership at a church. Yes, I’m talking about you.

You are leading worship long before and long after the four or five songs during a service. Fair or not, and whether they realize it or not, people in the congregation have their eyes on you to see if you’re genuine, if you’re consistent, if you’re someone they can trust, and if you practice what you preach. If you’re expressive and engaged during the songs – but then doing a crossword puzzle during the sermon – people will notice the disconnect.

The solution isn’t to put on an act, to perfect the art of putting on a church face, or pretend to be someone you’re not. Rather, it’s to be aware that when you’re a worship leader, you don’t have the luxury of taking on and off that hat as you wish. Being aware of this will (or should) change how you view your role.

This isn’t something to be anxious about. Saying that people are “studying you” is different than saying people are coming to church solely to watch you. (If that is the case, you have another set of concerns…) People are coming, by and large, to worship God. When you stand to lead them, they’re understandably curious about whether or not that’s why you’re there too.

Anticipating How Your Congregation Might Respond

You can never really know for sure – until the service is actually underway – how your congregation will respond during a time of corporate worship. Try as we may to predict what songs will really “work”, or when we might need to say something, or how the Holy Spirit might be prompting us in unplanned directions, we can’t be 100% certain until we’re in the middle of it. And even then it’s not always so clear!

But while it’s unrealistic (and unwise) to assume we know how people will respond to certain songs or at certain points, worship leaders can (and should) anticipate how the congregation might respond. Let me give you a couple examples.

The beginning of a service
When I start off a service with an upbeat, celebratory, loud song, it’s a relatively safe prediction that the congregation – having just come in from a stressful morning, family dynamics, parking the car, dropping the kids off at Sunday school, finding a seat, and devoting little (if any) time to preparing for worship – might need some encouragement.

If this prediction is wrong, and from the very first beat most people seemed engaged and enthusiastic, then I’ll just be grateful to God for a miracle! But since there seems to be a pattern of the congregation displaying a bit of that deer-in-the-headlights look at this point in the service most Sundays, I should plan ahead and think through how we can arrange the song, what I could say, or what Psalm we could read to help people respond with more understanding. I’m anticipating how the congregation might respond, so that I’m ready in case I’m right.

Singing a hymn (or an older song)
It’s always a temptation for us to tune-out at certain point when we’re singing on Sunday mornings – especially on songs we’ve sung for years and years. Whether it’s a hymn or just a song we’ve sung for a long time, it’s a safe bet that when you launch into “Amazing Grace”, a good number of people will be singing on auto-pilot. Maybe not, but probably so. When I’m planning a service and preparing to lead an old song or a hymn, I’m going to anticipate that this might happen, and think through what the best way to help keep people engaged would be.

The longer you serve a particular congregation, the more accurately you’ll be able to anticipate how they might respond. But with experience and, most importantly, the help of the Holy Spirit, as you plan services and choose songs, you’ll be able to prepare for teachable moments, transitions, words of encouragement, instruction, and specific arrangements that will serve the congregation more effectively. 

Every Sunday presents different dynamics (late-Summer or mid-snowstorm), every church is different (formal/liturgical or charismatic), and every group responds in different ways (a small group in a living room or a thousand people in an auditorium). No worship leader, regardless of how long he or she has been leading, can ever know in advance exactly how all these different dynamics will come together.

But the same Holy Spirit who is at work in the midst of corporate worship is also at work in your planning and preparation. He will often give you a hunch about what’s coming up – and it’s usually a good idea to prepare for those hunches just in case. 

The Miserable Life of the If-Only Worship Leader

It’s hard to be happy in church ministry when you keep a never-ending, never-satisfied list of “if-onlys”. This applies to people in all sorts of roles, but particularly to worship leaders.

If only I was at a bigger church with more money and more musicians.

If only I got to lead ALL the songs at a service – not just a measly four.

If only we had better equipment.

If only my pastor was more with-it.

If only people would let me do it the way I want to do it.

If only my congregation worshipped better.

If only my drummers were good.

If only I got paid a better salary and had a more impressive-sounding title.

THEN I’d be happy.

THEN my ministry would explode!

THEN my church would finally see my giftedness they’ve been missing all along!

THEN I would be satisfied.

No you wouldn’t.

The problem with jealousy is that it’s dangerous. It can’t be satisfied. It always wants more. Even if your list of if-onlys gets completely checked-off, you’ll find fifteen more things you “need”. You end up spinning your wheels in ministry – always waiting for that one missing thing – that one missing musician – that one missing pay raise – that one great worship set – and never really thrive.

Proverbs 27:4 says: “Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” Jealously is uniquely destructive and paralyzing, and a never-ending list of if-onlys is a symptom of that paralysis.

It’s one thing to have God-birthed dreams and hopes and longings for your ministry and the church you serve. These are good and important and helpful. I know that I have clung to these – and prayed fervently for these dreams to finally come true. I still have dreams and still pray for needs to be met and struggle with growing in wisdom regarding how and how long to wait.

But it’s another thing altogether to either wait until every single thing is in place to finally be able to minister effectively – or to stoke prideful jealousy by always wanting more – or to mask symptoms of your real need for growth by blaming them on something you need that you don’t have.

To each and every worship leader reading this post: let me encourage you and challenge you.

You have been placed exactly where you are by God. He is faithful. He knows your needs. He knows your desires. His timing is perfect. Trust in and wait on him.

So get your eyes off of other churches and other worship leaders and what cool gear they have and how much farther along they are and how much more their congregation really gets it. Stop waiting for that one elusive missing thing that will make you happy.

Churches need worship leaders who will love them, stick around for the long haul, have a high tolerance for drudgery, and faithfully serve them through easy and difficult seasons. We do our congregations a disservice if we’re always waiting for one last thing to fall into place or looking for a better gig.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

If only we would do that more! Then we’d be happy. Then we’d be satisfied.