The 3 Purposes of Worship Ministry

By Dwayne Moore

 

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3).

In this one simple verse, David has given us three distinct purposes of worship ministry. These purposes apply whether we’re in a church of 100, 1000, or 10,000. The purposes do not change. We may have different ways of reaching these purposes, but reach them we must. As worship pastors and leaders, we are tasked with leading our church’s worship ministry toward these three all-important goals. These three goals can be summed up in three simple words: Lord, leader and laity…

1. Lord. “Magnify the LORD.” Any worship ministry worth its salt will first and foremost seek to magnify the Lord to the best of its ability. Therefore, we must prioritize developing quality worship services week in and week out.

2. Leader. David said, “O magnify the Lord with me” (italics added). The second purpose of worship ministry is found in the word, “me.” “Me” represents those involved with the worship ministry, who are helping lead the times of praise during worship services. Any public appeal to magnify the Lord must include “me.” We can’t ask people to go where we’re not willing or able to go ourselves. (Imagine the lack of sincerity if David had said, “O magnify the Lord with them”!) “Me” is out front leading the challenge to praise the Lord. “Me” must understand the importance of worship and should be skilled in leading others to worship. Therefore, a successful worship ministry will prioritize developing quality worship leaders.

3. Laity. “Let us exalt His name together” (italics added). Our job is to help our congregations worship God more deeply and consistently. David didn’t want to be the only one experiencing true worship of our holy God, and neither should we. We can’t be satisfied with just letting them watch us worship. We must strive to lead them to live lives of worship themselves. Therefore, worship ministries should prioritize developing quality worshipers within the congregation. We must work closely with our lead pastor and discipleship leaders to help teach our churches about whole-life worship.

Developing leaders and the laity is much more difficult in the short run than just focusing on getting the music right in the services. But it’s oh so necessary. As we say at Valley View Church, “Our end goal is not to produce quality worship services. That’s secondary. Our bigger priority is to develop quality worshipers, who will in turn help us to produce quality worship services.”

MUCH more to come on these purposes and how to accomplish them. In fact, I’m currently working on a book on this topic! Please participate in our worship ministry survey for the new book.