Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God

by Bob Kauflin

Noticing how songs begin and end lyrically is another aspect of transitions. A word or thought that’s repeated from one song to the next can build a sense of continuity and minimize the need to say anything. For instance, the last verse of “How Deep the Father’s Love” ends with “his wounds have paid my ransom.” You wouldn’t need to say anything if you followed that with the chorus of “Jesus Paid It All.”

musical goals should serve, not dictate, spiritual goals. When

worship planning is similar to preaching. The greatest effects are cumulative, not tied to what happens on any given Sunday.

A good measure of how we’re doing in long-term planning is what I call the Twenty Year Rule. If someone was born in our church and grew up singing our songs over the course of twenty years, how well would they know God? Would these songs give them a biblical and comprehensive view of God, or would they be exposed only to certain aspects of his nature and works?

Only God can illuminate a worshiper’s heart. But he often uses means to do that. And three important means are my example, my exhortations, and my encouragement.

Do you have a biblical perspective on your meetings? Are you helping people see how they relate to God’s total plan and purpose for his people? In other words, are you attracting an audience, or are you building a worshiping community?

One reason we so often fail to be humbled by worship is that we focus on other things and end up obscuring God’s glory. It would be like visiting the Grand Canyon and foolishly being enthralled with parking signs, souvenir shops, and the railings. We enjoy a picnic lunch, toss a football around, and leave—happy but unaffected by the glory of God’s creation.

commands. 2. Don’t do what God clearly forbids. 3. Use scriptural wisdom for everything else.

churches can have a hard time connecting the knowledge of the mind with the passions of the heart.

Some Christians are simply unaware that physical responsiveness to God in worship is encouraged and modeled throughout Scripture. Various physical actions can bring God glory, including clapping, singing, bowing, kneeling, lifting hands, shouting, playing instruments, dancing, and standing in awe (Psalm 47:1, 6; Exodus 12:27; Psalm 95:6; 134:2; 33:1; 150:3–4; 33:8).

We aren’t having our own little worship experiences independent of each other. As Donald Whitney reminds us: The thought that the Church at worship is an accidental convergence in one place of a number of isolated individuals who practice, in hermetically sealed compartments, their own private devotional exercises, is foreign to the New Testament picture.2

There’s nothing sacred about our plans. We shouldn’t give them divine authority.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones encouraged preachers in such Spirit-directed spontaneity, and his comments can easily be applied to those who lead congregational worship: Do you expect anything to happen to you when you get up to preach in the pulpit? . . . [S]eek His power, expect this power, yearn for this power; and when this power comes, yield to Him. Do not resist. Forget all about your sermon if necessary. Let Him loose you, let him manifest His power in you and through you.1

•Sing Scripture. These Psalms are a good place to start: 23,63,84,95,100,117,121,and 145.

Many traditions began as an earnest attempt to protect the truths of the faith, but over time they became separated from faith, resulting in dead orthodoxy. They now practice a form of godliness but lack true spiritual power.

communication in our culture today has become more image-driven and less text-driven. But an overuse of video imagery in our churches can lessen the impact of the Word and fuel a desire for more images.

I always stress that being on the music team is an opportunity to serve, not a right to protect.

Contrary to the surveys, here’s what we’ve seen affects unbelievers most when we gather. Authentic passion. We have an enthusiastic church. I’ve read the studies that say you can’t sing for any longer than seventeen minutes, that messages shouldn’t go longer than twenty, and that people are put off by expressiveness. That hasn’t been our experience. When unbelievers visit our church, they find people who are awestruck and amazed by the kindness and mercy of God. And we seek to make it clear that God’s grace is what has affected us so deeply. We don’t meet just to talk about God; we’re encountering his gracious presence. And we aren’t reluctant to express outwardly what has so affected us inwardly. People show demonstrative emotion all the time at rock concerts and basketball games and no one ever questions it. Why do we think guests will be surprised to see it in people who claim to have the greatest news the world has ever heard?

If the church is being built with large portions of charm, personality, easy oratory, positive thinking, managerial skills, powerful and emotional experiences, and people smarts, but without the repeated, passionate, Spirit-anointed proclamation of “Jesus Christ and him crucified” we may be winning more adherents than converts.

Although there are several Greek words in the New Testament that we translate “worship,” none of them mean “singing.” Kind of odd, don’t you think?

But Harold Best suggests we should think of these instead as a call to continue worshiping. There can only be one call to worship, and this comes at conversion, when in complete repentance we admit to worshiping falsely, trapped by the inversion and enslaved to false gods before whom we have been dying sacrifices. This call to true worship comes but once, not every Sunday, in spite of the repeated calls to worship that begin most liturgies and orders of worship. These should not be labeled calls to worship but calls to continuation of worship.2

Godly leaders in the church are a sign of God’s blessing.

I know worship pastors who wouldn’t be in their present church unless they were being paid. That’s not good. Salary shouldn’t be the primary means of determining where we serve. And you shouldn’t work at a church you wouldn’t attend.

The church doesn’t need leaders who love to lead people in worship but don’t love the people they’re serving. Working on musical transitions and flow is secondary in importance to bridging the relational gaps that may exist on our team. We can’t praise God one moment, criticize our pastor the next, and think we’re offering acceptable praise to God through Jesus Christ.

being a worship leader is more about leading people than leading songs.

Prayer opens my eyes to God’s purpose. What I want from a meeting is often different from what God wants. I want everything to go smoothly, all the musicians to show up on time, the bass player and drummer to be in sync, that new song to blow everyone away, and people to tell me what a great job I did. God wants to remind a single mom that he hasn’t deserted her even though her husband has. He wants to show a teenager that Jesus Christ is more dazzling, glorious, and fulfilling than the video game he’s consumed with right now. He wants to free people from legalism and condemnation. He may want to heal someone or comfort a couple who just lost a child. And he wants to do it all by magnifying the greatness of the Savior in their eyes.

When I stand before my church, will I be more conscious of leading them or loving them? Will I think my role is to teach them or serve them? Leading and teaching are the activities; loving and serving are the motivation.

Leading a church through changes is ultimately the pastor’s responsibility. Make sure he’s fully behind any changes you want to make.

Every time we make a change, it’s an opportunity to ground people in biblical principles that will serve them in other contexts as well.

We some-times look for a place in the meeting, such as Communion, to present the song as a meditation that the congregation first listens to, then joins in. Some churches use the prelude or offering as an opportunity to present a new song that they sing congregationally the following week.

When it comes to your team members, you’re just as sensitive to the state of their hearts as you are to the precision of the notes they’re playing.

In the New Testament, those who lead are held to a stricter standard for character (1 Timothy 3:2–12; Titus 1:5–9; James 3:1). Even though musicians aren’t necessarily “elders” or “teachers,” their presence in front of the congregation week after week implies that their life is worthy of emulation—not flawless, but demonstrating the fruit of the gospel. When that’s not true, the church gets the message that worship is more about music than the way we live. Likewise, when non-Christian musicians are used, we’re implying that the art of worship is more important than the heart.

When I first came to my current church, I took time to set clear standards for participation. We revisit that with everyone who joins the team and review it every few years together. It’s better to remind someone of what you’ve already told them than to expect them to follow unspoken expectations.

everyone will know what’s most important by what we bring to their attention most often.

Being part of the team doesn’tmean you’ve arrived. It means now there’s even greater motivation to improve.

Worship leaders serve as those under authority. Our pastors should feel completely free to interrupt or adjust what we’re doing because we’re doing it to serve their priorities, not ours. Our meetings aren’t made up of “my” time and “his” time. It’s all God’s time, and the pastor and I are on the same team.

There are times, though, when disagreement about theological issues, your role and responsibilities, or your assessment of his character makes it difficult to remain at that church. The differences are too significant to ignore. In those instances, after sufficient prayer and counsel, it might be wise to move on. One thing is certain: you need to be in a church where you can fully support your pastor. And if you do leave, do everything you can to leave with his blessing.

If your worship leader isn’t willing to run his plans by you for your evaluation and approval, he won’t be serving you or the church effectively. And the risk is greater that he’ll do things that harm rather than help the church.

You want people to respect your worship leader because of his godly character, not simply because he has musical ability or can sing well.