The Worship Leader’s Guide
Worship leading is a ministry that is far more than leading songs, although leading songs is part of worship. How you express yourself is a vital part of worship leading
1. BE PERSUASIVE:
You want what you say to impact your gathering. This requires being persuasive. Your role is to point people to God the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
Be persuasive as you quote the Bible. The Holy Spirit promises to honor his Word. It will not return empty. When you are using God's Word, quoting God's Word, praying God's Word, singing God's word,
you have the Almighty Holy Spirit energizing that, because His purpose is to honor the Word of God. Your part is to communicate persuasively.
2. BE EMOTIONAL:
Become intentional about letting God use your emotions in worship. We must utilize emotion for God's glory, despite your personality. Let yourself become emotional in public in the way you admire God. Just as you would not want to be shy in expressing your love to your spouse, use your emotions in expressing your love to the Lord.
3. THINK LIKE A POET:
A poet uses words to make something familiar have new meaning. The role of the worship leader is to help people hear from God in refreshing ways.
4 .THINK LIKE A PASTOR:
Your purpose is not to preach the sermon, but to help people reach out to God, and commune with him. The best way for this to happen is to connect people to God through song, through prayers, and through the reading of God's words. Hearing God's Word is more important than hearing our own words.
We expect pastors to prepare sermons through studying, writing out thoughts, revising their thoughts, praying over their thoughts, letting God show them where a story or illustration is needed. The worship planner has a similar role.
5. THINK LIKE A COOK:
A cook is a servant. Worship leaders are servants, not performers.
A cook's desire is to have people experience a great meal and be satisfied. Having a great time of food and fellowship is a fulfilling experience. Life is good.
In a spiritual sense, we act as cooks in worship planning. In a meal you don't serve the ice cream or the cummin seeds first. You don't tell people to start eating fruit before the second curry dish arrives. There is a progression through the meal. The question we ask ourselves in worship planning is: how will this song, or this Scripture, or this prayer fit? Should I sing this song before this other song? Will the order of worship planning help people engage with the Living God?"
6. READ THE WORD DRAMATICALLY:
Our calling as worship leaders is to both sing well, and to speak well. The way that you read Scripture can help people have an encounter with the Word of God
Listening to the Bible being read is a human inviting people to hear God's Word that comes through the words of Scripture being read. The Holy Spirit illuminates the hearers to experience words as the living Word of God. We should ask God to help not only the presentation of the sermon, but the presentation of the reading of the Word.
Memorizing a passage to be read will add impact. You are free to look at the people, free to gesture with your hands and your body. This adds drama to the reading
There are many hymn texts that are powerful prayers and reflections on God's Word. Even if you don't know the melody of the song, you can use it as a reading as part of worship and it can be a powerful experience.
What is implied here is that the reading of Scriptures, the reading of songs, the reading of prepared prayers, that are read and communicated with drama, emotion, and persuasion, can all be acts of worship. We need to learn to do this. Very few churches apart from the mainline and liturgical churches have kept a connection to the reading of God's Word….
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