November 20, 2006

How One Worship Leader Helped Teach His Church about Worship

I’ve believed for years that we should do more than just lead the congregation in singing. As worship leaders, we need to also teach worship and praise to the people in the pews. Here’s a worship leader that’s doing that very thing! Not only did he bring us in to teach his choir, he used a very common tool called a church newsletter to get some of those principles to his entire church. Below is what he wrote just last month in the music ministry section of his church’s monthly newsletter.
The following article was written by Ron Rainer:
Recently our worship choir and a number of our worship leadership team members participated in a Next Level Worship Retreat with author and worship leader, Dwayne Moore. Dwayne used many scriptural references to support what, when, where, how and why we should worship.
He showed us five areas of assessment concerning the framework of worship which he pulled from his worship study called Praise More Powerful. Dwayne led the entire group to evaluate these five areas within our church and music ministry. He called them the “5 Necessary Elements for Effective Worship Gatherings”:

  1. The first area is Prayer: How much time do we as a worship leading choir spend prayer for our worship services and for each other? In other words how are we doing in the area of our prayer lives?
  2. The second area is Planned Spontaneity: An explanation of this area would be, “How much, if any at all, are we allowing for the spontaneous moving of the Holy Spirit in our worship planning?”
  3. The third area is Pliableness, which can also be stated as flexibility. Are we flexible enough to change our plans within a reasonable amount of time – or even during the actual service – based on the Spirit’s leading and the needs of others?
  4. The fourth area is Power of the Spirit: Are we attuned as worship leaders to the power of the Holy Spirit, not only in our choir as a worship leading choir, but also as individuals in our daily lives?
  5. The final area is Pastoral Direction: Do we feel – and honor – a sense of pastoral leadership in the direction of our worship gatherings?

How would you as a congregation answer the questions above? Would you say, “Oh, that is just for the staff, worship choir, and other worship leader participants to evaluate and discern”? Since all believers are charged by Jesus in John 4:23 to worship in spirit and in truth, hopefully everyone understands that these five areas of worship renewal include all worshipers.
How about it? Where are you in your private and corporate worship of the living God? Maybe a better question would be: Are you being revived and renewed in your private and public worship? A great place to start is Romans, chapter 12.


 

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