Mar
16
Worship in Church Planting
Posted in: Teaching, Church Planting, CultureI’ve been talking a lot with a couple of close friends, one of whom is a worship leader at a local church, about the role of worship, specifically within a church plant. There’ve been a lot of questions, such as : What is it’s purpose? Is it different than in an established church, does it manifest differently, does it have a different focus? Along the way there have been many questions raised to worship in general, such as the balance between excellence and heart, as well as creativity in modern “worship” (which is really just praise, read previous post here). It’s been an interesting conversation, but I’d like to share some thoughts here.
- Worship is meant for God, not for people. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that leading worship is different from worship itself. Sometimes those leading worship can worship in truth, but often times, they are responsible for making sure others are worshipping in truth. Therefore, leading worship often has an evangelistic twist to it, involving songs not necessarily meant to worship God, but that set the stage for leading others into worshipping the One True God.
- In a church plant, authentic worship of God will always draw people to Him. But the music still has influence as far as evangelism. It’s primary purpose is to lead people into worship, but some take longer than others. Some people have to be drawn to Him before they can bow before Him. A worship leader must take this into account, especially when intentionally reaching unchurched people and Christ-explorers.
- Excellence matters. It’s Biblical, no matter what some say. When Jesus teaches that we should love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and body, He’s teaching on holistic excellence when it comes to the worship of God. Malachi talks about excellence in reference to worship. Numbers refers often to “skilled” musicians. David was an excellent worship leader, and not only worshipped God, but drew others to worship God. (So excellent, in fact, that modern writers are remixing his songs still today) That being said, however, the heart matters just as much. It is a 100-100 proportion. Excellence and heart should both be present in leading worship fully and equally. Jesus also taught us to worship in Spirit and in truth. Malachi speaks also of empty worship, as does Amos and many letters of Paul. Revelation, even, speaks of churches that don’t fully embrace God in worship. Heart matters, but excellence does as well, especially when leading others into worship.
- Diversity should be present in worship. Not just ethnically, but musically as well. It glorifies Christ. Creativity creates diversity, so it should be present in our songwriting, presentation, and arrangement. It’s for the Kingdom.
Derek,
Being a “worship leader” (not my primary calling) for over four years now in various places I have seen first hand what worship can do, and I have seen what bad worship leading can do. I agree that the music should be to utmost excellence and that heart must also be there to effectively be a worship leader. However I truly believe, because I have seen first hand and have experienced first hand, that if the worship leader is not worshiping then the people won’t worship. It’s like leading an army. The general is the leading his dispatch from the front lines. Where he goes the others follow and they won’t go into battle without him first leading them into battle. The same goes for the worship leader, in more than one way. If the worship leader isn’t worshiping then he can’t expect the others to enter into worship. Just my thoughts on the topic… Take it for what it’s worth…
Later!
Donald,
That’s a great point. A worship leader, especially the “frontman”, if you will, has to be worshipping to lead. And he should be. But like you said, the heart and excellence must be there as well. Otherwise, you have a great general, but the army doesn’t know how to fight and they really don’t want to. Great analogy. Thanks for the comment.
I launch into this fully admitting that I will be viewed as a Lone Ranger. So be it. I challenge the comments made that seem to indicate there is no way around the fact that the Bible teaches the need for “excellence” - assuming, based on how this term is being used here - that “excellence” is related to HOW we present the music we offer in our churches.
My challenge is simple - first, I wonder if you have done an actual word study on “yadah” - which is the word used for “skill” in your example (and a couple of others in scripture that you did not mention.) If not, I would love for you to do that and then re-post your findings… You will discover something quite interesting about how vastly different man’s concept of “skill” is vs. what the Bible (God’s) view of “skill” is…
I am 100% convinced that the Bible NEVER teaches that HOW we present our music is to be at “professional” or “production” levels - based on years of study as well as first-hand experience (good and bad). And it saddens me that so many churches today have fallen into the trap of thinking that the better “performed” their worship music is - the better “worshiped” God is. This is not true and - in fact - often times, if not guarded, such a mindset leads to idolotry.
Which is not high on God’s list of “likes.”
Thanks for listening.
Dan: I’d like to thank you for your comment and concern about a topic that is essential not only to ecclesiology and church planting, but to the worship of our Savior as well. But I believe your Hebrew may be a little mistaken. I think, unless I’m confused as to what exactly you are talking about, that you are confusing yadah with yada’. Yadah, as written in transliterated Hebrew, refers to worship by the heart. It refers to the worshipping of God with an extended hand, as the word is a primitive from the word that means to cast out. However, yada’ is different. It is a primitive of the word “to know”, or to “understand”. It occurs in 1 Samuel 16:16-18 in reference to David, along with the priests and craftsmen and musicians associated with the Temple in the Torah. The closeness in Hebrew underlines my point that excellence and heart are both essential to fruitful worship leading.
Do not, however, get it twisted: I don’t acknowledge that more “professional” music worships God better. But excellently performed music instead better leads other people into worship of God.
I’m sorry if you misunderstood my post and comments.
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