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Ten Commandments for Worship
Leaders and Worship Team Members
Church Worker Handbook--
What You Didn't Learn in
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Introduction:
Why do we even need a Ten Commandments for Worship Leaders? Here’s why…
·
There
are thousands of tithe-paying worshippers in evangelical congregations across
the country whose taste and preferences in Christian music style are not being
represented or even given serious consideration. These underrepresented
worshippers are the ones who ask merely for a music mix that includes an occasional
song in the Gospel style instead of a steady diet of praise and worship
and contemporary
music.
1. You
shall remember the primary purpose for your being up in front of the congregation
during praise and worship.
As the worship leader, you are responsible
to set the pace for the rest of the team in assuring that
everything should be done in a fitting and
orderly way. 1 Cor. 14:40. Every team member
should be a role model of how to participate
enthusiastically yet reverently in the worship experience.
2. You
shall covenant with your self and the others in your group to do everything
from behind the cross of Christ.
Everything you do, say, and wear should be
designed to render yourselves invisible with Christ and His cross plainly
visible.
3. You
shall consult with the senior pastor regarding how he/she would like the worship
block to fit into the flow of the rest of the service.
Worship services will change from Sunday
to Sunday as a result of various activities and events such as: Communion,
baby dedications, special presentations, and special speakers. Make sure you
know the senior pastor’s thinking regarding how the worship block is to fit
into the total service. All thinking senior pastors will have preferences;
make sure you know what they are. Of course, I am assuming that no thinking
senior pastor would expect the worship to go for a fixed period of time, regardless
of what else is happening in the service.
Learn to back time: You may like to begin
the worship block with a six-minute slow and rather heavy worship chorus with
several repeats and key changes culminating in the congregation standing with
hands raised. Let’s say you have two morning services. After the first service,
the senior pastor may say the worship block ran about six minutes long and
crowded the special speaker’s close with prayer around the altar. He/she may
ask you point blank to cut the worship block short by six minutes.
If you don’t get a direct order to shorten
your block, volunteer to do so and do it by cutting off the opening six minutes.
The easiest way to shorten the worship block may be to cut down on the multitudinous
repetitions of the same worship song.
4. You
shall use a mix of music styles that approximates the preferences of the congregation.
If you are called a worship leader and you
have a group assisting you called a worship team, the chances are very strong
that the style of music is very heavy on the praise and worship side. Just
a few minutes ago, I did an Advanced Google search
on the phrase “praise and worship” and here is the data from that search:
about
1,340,000 for "praise and worship" in 0.18 seconds.
I did a second Advanced Google search
on the phrase “southern Gospel music” and here is the data from that search:
about 87,300 for "southern gospel music" in 0.08 seconds.
I did a third and final Advanced Google search
on the phrase “contemporary Christian music” and here is the data from that
search: about 207,000 for "contemporary christian
music" in .13 seconds.
These three Google searches only prove one
thing: the Christian music audience is comprised of persons with a range of
musical preferences ranging from Gospel songs to Christian rock. There is
no right and wrong regarding styles of Christian music; just differences.
However, these differences can be very important
to members of your congregation. Several years ago, I had a conversation with
a Minister of Music about 75 miles north of the
“Why don’t you use more Gospel music with
the choir selections and special music?”
“I don’t think Southern Gospel would go over
too well in this area.”
I said, “Gospel music has nothing to do with
geography. Bill and Gloria Gaither [the king and queen of Gospel music] are
from
When the Gaithers held one of their Homecoming
concerts in a major nearby arena, the response was so strong they had to add
a second night to the program. Nancy and I were a little lax in buying our
tickets and our seats were up in the nosebleed section, close to the rafters.
The concert was done in the round with plenty of large-screen monitors so
we enjoyed it immensely in spite of the height. [This was one of the last
times Vestal Goodman sang in public before her death.]
In a separate conversation, I asked this
same Minister of Music a similar question. He said, “Any
music that gives glory to God is Gospel music.” This man chose to ignore the
fact that the Gaither Homecoming videos are selling like hotcakes across the
country, and that people drive for hours to attend one of the regional Gaither
Homecoming Concerts.
In radio jargon, a music mix means a play list that consists
of a variety of music styles so your sound will appeal to the widest possible
audience. A member of a radio audience has a powerful tool at his/her fingertips.
It’s called a tuning knob or a preset button. However, a worshipper sitting
in the pews of your church has no such luxury and is limited to one of the
following options:
·
Sing when told to sing, clap when told to
clap, stand when told to stand, smile when told to smile; be good sheep.
·
Time their arrival at the house of worship
to coincide with the end of the praise and worship block.
·
Find another church with a music mix that
includes some Gospel music.
Here’s a novel idea. Why not conduct a church-wide
survey of music tastes and preferences. Let the people speak through a form.
You may be amazed at the results. If the people don’t get a chance to vote
with their pencil, they may vote with their wallet or their feet!
5. You
shall not rehearse the worship block to the extent that spontaneity and flexibility
are lost because you are following a rehearsed worship routine.
This is a touchy one. Above, I say everything should be done decently and in order.
Now, I’m saying don’t rehearse.
You are thinking, how can the worship block can be
done decently and in order if we don’t rehearse. In You Can Be a Teacher, Too I talk
about Lesson Plans. Teachers should always do lesson plans but that is not
to say they should rehearse. I’ll copy this section here for your convenience:
Prepare
a lesson plan.
The plan should be in outline format so it can be used for quick reference
during the lesson. During your preparation time, learn the lesson so well
that while you are teaching, a quick glance at your lesson plan can trigger
the next sequence of thoughts or events. Your lesson plan shouldn't be a script
that is read word for word. In fact, you already know you should seldom read
anything to students unless it has lasting literary value. Lesson plans
seldom do.
All good teachers
rehearse their lessons. Beginners may need to do this with an audience (from
within the family or friends). Or, teach to a tape recorder and then play
it back as you listen critically. As you get more experienced, you may do
your rehearsing mentally. When I know I am going to speak before a group,
I always do a mental rehearsal. Some of this activity involves actual mental
word-for-word dialogue between the group and me.
Let me extrapolate from the Lesson Plan segment
above and apply it to the worship plan:
·
Select the songs, their keys, and any key
modulations [changing to another key, usually higher.]
·
Do a dry run by yourself to get an idea of
the time to be consumed. Replicate the tempo and repeats that will be used
in live worship.
·
Make sure the instrumentalists know the worship
plan and are well prepared to musically support the singing, smoothly and
effortlessly.
6. You
shall not use strange arrangements of well-know hymns with unusual chord progressions
and rhythm patterns.
Many churches with worship teams and leaders
project the words to the songs onto a screen. When such churches do mix in
a number found in the hymnal, they sometimes use a strange arrangement with
unfamiliar chords and tempos. If your worshippers are looking at the words
only [no notes] and the chords are unfamiliar, you are forcing them to sing
in unison. One of the most beautiful segments of
evangelical worship is thereby lost: singing in harmony.
My wife, Nancy, is a lifelong alto. She has
both read and harmonized alto as long as she has been able to carry a tune.
When a worship team presents her with a familiar hymn, nothing but words,
and unfamiliar chords, she is forced to give up and drop out of active participation
in the praise and worship block. The melody [soprano] of most humans are out
of her vocal range, there are no notes to read, and she can’t harmonize because
she the chords are unfamiliar. This is an especially bitter pill because the
occasional hymn is usually one of the few songs in the praise and worship
block that she recognizes.
7. You
shall not ask the congregation to remain standing for more than two successive
music selections.
Prayerfully seek the mind of the Holy Spirit
regarding why you are asking the people to stand in the first place, and for
how long.
·
Out of reverence for God?
·
To make it easier for them to sing?
·
To make it easier for them to move into the
aisles and dance in the spirit or come forward for prayer?
·
To measure the limits of their physical endurance?
·
To demonstrate your authority over them?
8. You
shall not permit the amplified voices of the worship team nor the drums and
brass of the worship band to drown out the vocal participation of the congregation.
If you want the congregation to sing with you, don’t overpower them
with amplification and drums.
9. You
shall covenant to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in terms of the songs
that are sung and especially the number of times each song is repeated.
While I was in college, I learned that teachers
should always stop a physical activity while the students were still enjoying
it.
This summer, Nancy and I make our annual
visit to the camp meeting where
we met back in 1952. After a year of praise and worship music, we were
looking forward with great anticipation to some of the old-time camp meeting
music on which we were raised.
Guess what? The worship leader had us stand
to sing [you guessed it] praise and worship songs! I sadly placed the Spirit-Filled Songs paperback hymnal [©1956
John T. Benson] back down on the wooden bench. Maybe next
year.
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