Inter-generational Worship

I love the church. I love it in all its forms, shapes, sizes, colors, strengths, and weaknesses. The church is the beautiful Bride of Christ.  But one of the greatest frustrations I have with the church-at-large is our penchant for splitting the family. Oh, I get it - every age/grade has its own Sunday school class so you can customize a lesson to give it more impact. From a learning perspective, it's quite logical. But from a family perspective, it's tough to split everyone up, especially when there are SO MANY church events to be a part of - worship services, Bible studies, VBS, etc. I don't get to see my kids when I'm at work or they're at school, so it makes it that much harder to head out for a church event knowing we are going to be divided. I would love to see a different paradigm be incorporated into our worship services. I'm talking about inter-generational worship services, or multi-generational worship services. Rather than having Children's Church, a Youth Service, a Young Adult Service, what if we just had a family service?

Oh, I believe that most churches would absolutely say that children are welcome to sit in the service, but perhaps those same people have never felt the eyes burning into the back of your head as your child with extra needs is (a little too loudly) asking questions about the lights, the bulletins, the song, the pastor, and everything else that distracts him. What if we could come up with a worship setting that was as comfortable for kids as it is for adults (wait, are those hard pews actually comfortable?). What if the sermon was written in such a way that children found it interesting, too (adults, are you listening to the sermons, I mean really listening? You should be!), and the music was singable and enjoyable by all ages? What if we truly created a worship setting where everyone was truly welcomed - and not just those that can comfortable sit and listen for an hour to an hour and a half? What would that look like?

Musically, the words would need to be simpler, with easier, more memorable melodies and less complex rhythm, but the style could be anything that suits the community. Seating arrangements might be better served as a table and chairs so children and adults could take notes or doodle while they are listening (adults learn by doodling just as much as kids!). Chairs that are made with a little bit of give for rocking would go along way to help wiggly ones enjoy staying in their seats. Maybe having several smaller sets of speakers throughout the room, putting out less volume, would be more listenable than one large set of speakers blasting from the front. Perhaps some comfy seating as well, a couple of toys on a blanket on the floor. And of course, coffee. Everyone is always more comfortable with coffee.

I don't know how we got to our current evangelical worship format, but I don't think it necessarily looks like the New Testament church did, where they met together, ate together, worked together, shared together. But I think we can do a little better to create multi-generational worship services with our current formats without a radical shift that would upset the proverbial or perhaps rotten, apple cart. What could we do differently this week to make our service, our music, and our time together more accessible to families? How would your planning change if you knew you were focused on families rather than adults? What would your music sound like? How can we bring all of the generations together to do worship as a community united?

I would love to hear your stories of how you made your church worship setting more family friendly... Please share in the comments and feel free to link to your church or worship center.

What do you know about your church's musical identity?

Every church has its own culture, it's own genetic makeup. Musical style is just one of those factors. It also includes age ranges, professions, meal preferences, activity levels, family size, church location, median income, etc. It might also involve attitudes, theology, genealogy, clothing choices, and lifestyle. These statistics and descriptors come together to make up the overall culture of your church. Think about it - how is the culture of an urban neighborhood different from a more suburban neighborhood and a rural neighborhood? 

For example, people who live in an urban area have little parking but easy access to public transportation. On the other hand, people who live in a rural area may have plenty of places to park but no access to public transportation. This in turn will affect the activities that a church plans or the things that a church might do together. One church may have room for lots of picnics but little indoor space for group meals, so church dinners only happen when the weather is nice. Other churches may have little outdoor space but plenty of room in the basement for potluck so church dinners are pretty routine. 

The music of a church works much the same way. Think about what style of music you use during your worship services. Do you have a worship band, an orchestra, a piano, or an organ? Do you typically use music that is fast and loud, slow and mournful, or a combination? Do you sing strictly traditional music, Gregorian chant, or modern? Or do you use all kinds of music? Is your church trying to copy the music of famous worship musicians? Say, Chris Tomlin, Hillsongs, the Gaither band, or perhaps Bach himself? Does your church have it's own unique musical sound, based upon the strengths of the musicians on your team? 

Now think about what music the people of the church listen to when they are not in a worship service. Guess what - if your church is primarily made up of Baby Boomers - do you think that they will they be listening to the music of the 60s and 70s? Do they like top 40? What if your church is largely Gen Xers, does this make your worship team sound like Depeche Mode or Bon Jovi? Does the music of your church people match the music style or styles that you use on Sunday morning? Why or why not? What's the current music trend and are you using that style in church? 

How about your church's neighborhood? What is the cultural identity of the people who live near your church? Do people walk to your church or do they drive long distances to get there? What do the people of your church's community like to listen to? If you don't know, try visiting the local shops and listen to what people are playing on the radio. Is there any common ground? What language or languages do you hear? Big box (I.e. Walmart and chain grocery stores) stores are more likely to play top 40 tunes, but be sure to listen to the music being played for the customers in the local small businesses. What do you hear on people's radios in their cars, and as you pass by them listening to their iPods? Does the music in your worship service match the style of music that is being enjoyed in your church's neighborhood? 

Lastly, as the pastor or worship leader, what are your musical tastes? And how do they affect the music that is happening in the church? 

Why is this at all important? Like Paul, are being all things to all people? Are we able to meet people where they are musically, or are we doing or own thing to cater to the people behind church doors? Are we reaching out or reaching in? Some would argue that the church's music should be different, set apart from the culture. That's a valid point, but sometimes it seems to be made by folks who resonate with more traditional styles of music. Those traditional styles are born out of a time period when they were considered the 'popular music' of the day.  

The Bible doesn't tell us what musical style to use in our churches. It doesn't say that one instrument is more holy than another, or one type of song is more Christian than another. It doesn't tell us how many songs to sing or when we've praised God enough. There is no magical music formula that will call down God's blessing on us!  It does tell us, over and over, to sing praise to God! The Bible tells us to sing new songs, and psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. And the Bible tells us often to love others, serve others, and put others' needs before our own. 

If you're dependent on a certain style, type, or series of music to get you to worship God, then my guess is that something is missing in your personal time with Jesus. If you can't get in the mood to praise because the music is too fast, too slow, not good enough, or the wrong style, than you're probably missing the point. The point is that we come together to worship God as a community - as a family - for who He is and what He has done - and musically we will need to find some kind of common ground to do so. Why don't we take this opportunity to use our common ground music to also reach out to the community around us? To help our church's neighbors feel welcome and comfortable and part of the family, too. 

What do you think? 

There's no such thing as worship leaders...

Real or not real? 

There is no such thing as a worship leader. That title, Worship Leader, is a misnomer, even though it's what we are. 

My title is Worship Leader, but I cannot make a single person worship God. 

Perhaps I could coerce a person to sing, or threaten them to the point that they comply with liturgical expression, but I cannot make them worship. I do not bring anyone into the throne room of God. I  do not have that superpower. I cannot control people's hearts. Nobody has that kind of power. That's why I think there really is no such thing as a worship leader. We are always in the presence of God. And it is the Holy Spirit's job to soften hearts and lead people in responding to God in worship. As someone who is called a worship leader, my job is simply to create the opportunity for a corporate worship experience. 

And to be completely honest, it is not the job of the Contemporary Christian music movement to provide worship songs for congregations to sing. Oh, it's great when there are songs that easily cross over from CCM to worship service.It makes teaching the congregation a new song that much easeir when they've already heard it on the radio. But not every song can serve both purposes well, and it is the worship leader's responsibility to know the difference. 

I get it, Worship Leader. Like me, you're busy. Like me, you work more than one job. Like me, you have a family that needs a lot of attention. Like me, you love music, you love your congregation, you love Jesus, and you strive to do an awesome job at helping others to worship. But you can't just pick any old song onthe radio that falls under CCM, can you? 

You need songs that are theologically correct. Oh, I love having a local Christian music station. But sometimes I just shut it off, because  musicians aren't necessarily theologians, and the poetic license they employ sometimes clouds the truth of who God is. This isn't always a black and white area, because every denomination has its own theological bent, and a song that works in the Methodist Church on one end of town might not really fit the Pentecostal Church at the other end. Sometimes, I hear a song on the radio and know that it's a great fit for our church. Other times, I cringe inwardly, because I can't get on board with what that song is really saying about God. It's even harder when a member of the worship team requests a song that you can't agree with theologically. It is not legal to change the words of a song that is not in the Public Domain without permission, so you won't be able to get away with using a song by just changing a word or two. Worship Leader, it is your job to know if this song will fit.  If you don't know, ask for help. 

You need songs that are singable. There are some amazing CCM artists on the radio whose voices are pretty, and they have great big ranges, and amazing vocal agility. But the average church attender can't sing like Mandisa or Chris Tomlin. Listen for songs that keep most of their melodies between middle C and the C above so that most voices can sing them. If the rhythms are too complex, the range is too wide, or the verses too different from each other, the congregation won't be able to pick them up. However, if you choose songs that are too repetitive, your folks might start getting bored. This is your job, Worship Leader - to find those songs that are the most singable. 

You need songs that your band can play. If you work with a team of instrumentalists, you need to know their skill level and ability. That awesome song you just heard might be perfect for the team of professionals that spent months rehearsing it, but maybe your volunteers can't play in the key of F sharp minor. Or maybe they don't have the chops to carry out that insanely cool guitar lick. Let it go, Worship Leader. Let it go. 

You need songs that touch hearts. That might be the hottest song in all of CCM, but is it moving people closer to God? Is it helping people to worship God? Skip the fluff, Worship Leader, and find the songs that tell stories, dream dreams, and touch the heart and soul. 

You need songs that fit your congregation. Churches are not one size fits all, and I am pretty sure that our God loves the variety that makes up His Bride. But that also means your church is different than the one down the street, and has different needs, styles, and strengths. Maybe the church body is in a season of discouragement and need songs that reassure them that God has not forgotten. Maybe they are in a season of celebration, or maybe they need to learn that it's ok to respond to God in song.  Know your people, Worship Leader, and find the songs that fit their needs, help them grow closer to God, and worship Him. 

Worship Leader, this is your job. Not to make others worship. Not to force them to sing. Not to copy the hottest songs on Christian radio, not to be another Chris Tomlin, Lauren Daigle, or Jennie Lee Riddle (even though we love them), but to lead the music that helps your congregation respond to God for who He is and what He has done.  What does that look like in your church? 

Goal Setting: Growing Spiritually as a Worship Team

St. Augustine said there were really 2 churches: the visible and the invisible church. The visible church is the people that we see each week, those that show up for services, who serve as an usher, who do childcare, who are on the worship team.  And then there is the invisible church - the church that only God sees - these are the true believers. According to Augustine, only God can truly know whether someone is a believer with a growing, dynamic relationship with Jesus or whether they just claim to be.

It's not really our job to know.

With that in mind, I think that in an ideal world, the worship team would be comprised of spiritual giants, those that make my faith journey look new and immature, as it probably is. But the reality of our worship teams is that we probably have a few spiritually mature Christians, a few who may never have accepted Jesus into their hearts, and the rest are somewhere in between - maybe they believe in Christ, but who couldn't grow deeper and fall farther in love with Him? So how do we grow spiritually as a worship team?


Devotions - group devotions are a great way to grow spiritually as a group. Many teams will choose a book of the Bible to study, or choose a book by a devotional author, or even take turns leading a devotional or study. They don't have to be long to be effective. You might want to focus on what it means to worship God, or you might focus on the attributes of God, or study verse by verse through a particular book such as James or even John. You don't have to reinvent the wheel - there are plenty of materials available at your local Christian book store (Rory Noland has great materials for worship teams!) Or look on youtube for free devotional videos, just make sure to preview them first! Ask God to put something on your heart to share with your team. If possible, create a plan so that you can provide continuity and consistency. If you haven't done devotions as a group before, is God revealing to you that you He wants you to?

Do life together - One of my favorite seasons of worship leading came out of a team that really did life together, and they did it with or without me present.  They treated the team as if it was it's own small group. There were dinners out, dinners at each other's houses, picnics, helping each other move, praying for each other, visiting in each other in hard times. There was a little fighting and drama, as you might find in any creative group of people, but then there was much forgiveness and reconciliation. And there was so much love and opportunity to be like Christ. The team truly learned what it was to be a Christ centered community and grew together in Christ.

Pray together. Pray for each other and pray together - during rehearsal, outside of rehearsal, before church services. Prayer is powerful. As the leader, take it upon yourself to teach your team to pray well. There are many methods for a balanced prayer life - I like the ACTS method - Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Spend a little time praying in each category so that your prayer times - both corporate and individual - don't become a laundry list of wishes for God to accomplish, but rather, focus on Him and become a conversation with Him.

Connect the Dots. One of my favorite - and to me, one of the most important - ways to grow together is through the music that we use to worship God. If a song isn't worth talking about, it's not good enough to sing. If it is worthy of being sung in the service, then it must have good theological or relational content. Take the time to explain why you sing this particular song and what it means. Read through the words together - how do they enhance each member's relationship with God? Are there any theological implications that need to be discussed? What Scripture is being referenced in the song? Pray the song. Then sing the song, together, to God. Don't worry about rehearsing it for a few minutes and just spend time in the practice of worshipping God through music.

Worship together. We spend a lot of time hashing out notes, reviewing song forms, and parts, and chord changes, and that pesky bridge that never sounds right.... But sometimes you need to just let it all go and practice worship. Have you ever considered taking your team on - or creating your own - spiritual retreat for an evening or weekend so that your team can worship together?

Do a service project.  Your team can grow together as a group and spiritually by serving God and the community outside of the church. Be creative and have fun with it - work at a soup kitchen, collect clothing, help build a house, or just do odd jobs for someone who is disabled, or go un-Christmas caroling to a shut in. Be the hands and feet of Jesus to someone who needs it and you'll see Christ working on the hearts of your team.

Get help. It doesn't hurt to bring someone in if you feel like your team has hit a spiritual rut. Maybe a mentor, a pastor, a friend from another church. Have your special guest share their story, their perspective, or ideas from their team. Take your team to a worship conference (worshipleader.com) or watch a webinar or interview online. Or have a team from another church come and lead your team in worship, and vice versa, so that someone can help your team worship as they help others to worship.

Be a model.  The best thing you can do as a leader to help your team grow spiritually is to be in a state of growth yourself.  As Christians, we have never 'arrived' at maturity. We are never done learning, we never can say we have grown close enough to God or become Christ-like enough. Are you struggling with something? Share with your team if it's appropriate. Where is God working on your heart? Where is He working in your life? What are you doing to grow closer to God? (See this post if you need ideas!)

We are never too mature to revisit favorite Bible stories. We never outgrow the content of our Sunday school lessons. But sometimes, we allow ourselves to be immune to God's Word because, if we are long standing church members, we've heard it all before. And sometimes, we may have heard a verse but never let it change our hearts. Sometimes, we find people on our worship teams that haven't ever given their hearts to Jesus even though they know all the Bible stories. Then there are times when God shows us something fresh and new from the same scripture passage we've read again and again and again. Never underestimate the power of God's Word to change your heart and help your team grow.

Being present in Christ's presence.

It is the Monday after New Year's. It is back to reality. It is back to routine. It is back to life after a hazy, crazy, over-filled, over-spent, worship-filled, hugged-out Christmas season. It was a good Christmas, probably my most favorite ever, since it includes the most children I have ever had. And chickens. It included my first ever flock of chickens, too.

But what good is a Christmas if celebrating the birth of Christ hasn't worked on my soul?

What good are presents if the presence of Christ hasn't forever changed me?

What good is a New Year if I'm not using it to further the Kingdom of God?

I'm not going to tell you to make New Year's resolutions for your ministry. That would be completely heretical on my part. On the other hand, I do believe it is time to reflect on what worked and didn't work in 2015. It's a good time to think about how we can continue to grow musically and spiritually in our worship in 2016. There are plenty of fun  and exciting plans and programs that can help you - check out worshipleader.com, therocketcompany.com, worshiptogether.com, and praisecharts.com for tons of ideas, inspiration, and methods. Listen to some new Indie musicians and some music veterans for worship inspiration. But nothing compares to going right to the source. The one Source.

Who doesn't want to thrive personally and professionally this year? Who doesn't want to rise above their circumstances and succeed in amazing ways? Who doesn't want to make this their best year ever? I want all these things. But here's what I really want.

I want to be a worshipper - one who knows Jesus and responds to Him. I want to be God's friend. I want to know Him better than anyone else. I want to see His power working in my life and through my life every single day. And I want the same for my worship team - I want them to know Him even more deeply this year. To worship Him freely, not because that's what their supposed to do as the worship team, but because they completely and honestly can't help worshipping God because of how good He truly is. And I wish that for you.

But that will never happen unless I order my days. It's not going to become reality unless I do one thing - spend time with Jesus. We can't just show up in body, reading through God's Word, we need to show up in mind and spirit. And so my goal is to be present.

Present with God in my planned devotion times, present with God in public worship times. Emotionally and mentally present in my family so I can show them God's presence in my life. This means a lot of things - making devotional time a priority, not putzing on my smart phone when I could be interacting more with my kids, not wasting time on things that don't matter, going to bed early so that I am not too tired to be present.

God is present - am I aware of Him? I received a few great Christmas presents this year. But the Christmas season brought forth something even better in me - a stronger desire to know the presence of Christ in my every day life and the possibility of reflecting Christ's presence to those who are present in my life. I don't think I could ask for a better gift.

What gift have you received this Christmas? How does it change 2016 for you?

What Bob Ross taught me about leading worship

I grew up watching Bob Ross on Saturday afternoons. I loved to see him paint, but even more, I loved to listen to him talk. I waited each week for him to say that there are no mistakes, only happy little accidents. Oh, just put in a few more happy little trees. Look at the clouds - put in a few more happy little clouds. Try as I might, I could never quite get the same effect with my Crayola water colors that he could, even in such a short painting episode. He never seemed flustered, always happily painting away and creating something beautiful from a plain canvas and a few splashes of color.

What I learned from watching Bob Ross is that things in painting and things in life don't always come out the way we'd like, but that's ok, We can still make something beautiful out of what others might see as a mistake if we are willing to adjust our plans and keep our eye on the big picture.

 It's awfully difficult to compare our weekly service to a professionally mastered worship album or a worship concert. Worship artists spend months rehearsing for their concerts and albums, and have all kinds of technology to make their music sound even better - an average small church with a volunteer worship team just can't compare with the amount of time or technology. And that's ok! The truth is that live music is a lot like live painting on television - things don't always come out as planned. There are wrong notes, missed cues, and technological issues that creep up. But if we are flexible and go with the flow, we can still make something beautiful out of what others might see as mistakes.

Don't get hung up when things don't come out as planned, don't get stuck on mistakes. Instead, let the happy little accidents go, and keep your eye on the big picture - worshiping our Risen Lord - and He will make it beautiful.


Oh, and if you need more of Bob Ross's happy little accidents, there's a whole YouTube channel devoted just to him!Watch Bob Ross paint here.

Prayer for the Weekend: The Word

Lord God Almighty,

At Your Word, the world happened. You spoke, and life came. With Your words, You created.

You are the Author of creation, the Author of life.

You sent us the Word to dwell among us, to be with us, to be one of us. Your Word became flesh, and took on human skin, and paid the highest price so our wandering souls could be Yours again. You left for us Your written Word so that we might know You.

Your spoken Word breathed life in the beginning; Your begotten Word redeemed life that was lost. Your written Word reveals truth so we might thrive in this world and in the next.

Almighty God, there is power in Your Word.

Please draw us to Your written Word so that we might be drawn to You. Speak Your Word into our hearts, so that we might love and worship You. Enable us to live out Your Word, so we might bring Your Word to others. Help us believe Your every Word.

Thank You, God, for Your Word, and may we have an insatiable hunger for it.

Amen

John 1:1-5, NLT

Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
² He existed in the beginning with God.
³ God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created,^[a]
    and his life brought light to everyone.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.^[b]

Distracted? Declutter!

Clutter is distracting. 

When my home looks cluttered, I find myself thinking of all the things I need to do, all the items that need to be put away, all the work that needs to be completed. It makes me stressed. For me, a de-cluttered space is a peaceful space. I rest easier at night when the dishes are put away, the toys are picked up, and the floor is swept. I have an especially hard time concentrating on reading the Bible if I sit in a cluttered room. It’s also hard for me to be musically creative or to practice well when there are piles of mail and homework sitting around my piano. I feel hectic and hurried when my schedule is cluttered, too.

 I feel the same way about our worship spaces.

Modern worship spaces have a natural tendency to look cluttered due to the nature of the equipment.  Imagine how clean your worship platform would be if you didn’t need cables, music stands, monitors, amps, instrument stands, and other items. How clean and fresh would your space look if all you had were people and their instruments?

Not all ministry budgets have the space for wireless mics and in-ear monitors, and that’s ok! But when I set up my gear for Sunday morning, I try to pause for just a minute and think about the visual use of the space. Can I organize the cables a little more neatly? Can I make that mic stand a little less obtrusive? Can we tweak the platform arrangement for a more open feeling?

Our worship services tend to be aurally focused – that is, we are focused on what we hear, such as music, sermons, Scripture reading. But statistically, 65% of the general population are visual learners. So how can we make our visual space for our worship services more supportive of, rather than distracting from, what we are hearing? Removing the visual clutter, without creating a completely stark, empty space, is a great step towards removing distractions that get in the way of communing with each other and with our Creator. 

Prayer for the weekend.

Dear Heavenly Father, 

You are the Master Creator and the author of creativity. 

You designed the flow of the earth and the flow of our lives. 

You set the earth on its axis 

and you set in our hearts the desire to know and worship you. 

How we want to know You more, how we want to bring You delight. 

Give us the heart to worship You with our lives and our music.

Give us the words to praise Your Holy Name.

Give us the songs to sing of our love for You. 

Give us ears to listen to Your unfailing direction.

Give us guidance and wisdom for every detail, every note, every word

That we might worship You with our best gifts and inspire others to do the same. 

Thank You for the gift of worship, may we offer our worship well. 

Thank You for the gift of song, may ours be pleasing to You. 

Thank You for the gift of Your Word, may we read it, learn it, live it. 

Amen

Thought for a Thursday

"God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation." 

Charles H. Spurgeon 

Crafting a Strong Worship Set List

                Do you think that people are standing in the congregation, analyzing the worship songs that were selected and the order in which they were placed? Or do you think they kind of ‘go with their gut’ and respond to the songs they love while sort of idling along on the songs they dislike? Maybe the answer is both, or maybe it’s neither. My hope is that people are so enraptured with the Lord that they worship Him no matter what songs are showing on the screen.

                Regardless, as a worship leader, I feel like it is my responsibility to craft a set to the best of my ability, rather than just throwing a few songs together. There are so many ways to prayerfully create effective worship sets.  Here are a couple motifs to get your creativity flowing.

Theme: Sometimes I like to center all my songs around a particular theme, especially if it relates to the sermon material. For example, if you are talking about the Holiness of God, you might use the hymn Holy Holy Holy, Revelation Song (Jenny Lee Riddle), and 10,000 Reasons (Matt Redman).

Communion: On weeks that we serve communion, we might focus all of the music on the celebration of the Lord’s Table. You might try: Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)(Christ Tomlin), The Wonderful Cross (Christ Tomlin/ Matt Redman) Above All (Michael W. Smith), Amazing Love (Hillsong) .

Church Calendar:  The church year can be a great source of worship set ideas. Thanksgiving only happens once a year, you might try a set list including Lord You Are Good (Lakewood Church), 10,000 Reasons (Matt Redman) and  Give Thanks (Don Moen).   You might look for Holy Spirit songs for Pentecost Sunday or songs about God’s care for creation in the springtime.

Move thematically:  This is my favorite type of set, where we move thematically through the music. For example, start the set with a call to worship such as: Come Christians Join to Sing (Christian Bateman), You’re Worthy of My Praise (Jeremy Camp), or Forever (Michael W. Smith). Next, move to a song about what the Lord has done for us. Maybe Because He Lives (Amen) (Matt Maher), In Christ Alone (Passion Band), or Made Me Glad (Hillsongs). Then you can move into our response to what God has done. For example, we might end with Lord I Need You (Matt Maher), The Potter’s Hand (Hillsong), or a simple I Love You Lord (Laurie Klein).

What are your favorite methods to create set lists? 

Thought for Thursday

"How quickly we forget what it's all about. We can get so strategic that we worship so our church will grow, not because He is worthy. But we're doing all this because God is worthy and we want to worship Him." -Tommy Walker 

Are you bored at church?

Have you ever felt like you just didn't connect with God during a worship service? You showed up, ready to praise the Lord, but the service felt empty, dry, or just boring. Or maybe your mind was just everywhere but on God, with so many things running through your head - your to do list, your grocery list, stress at work, your children's sports schedules… oh wait, were we supposed to be praying just now?

Yes, I’ve had Sundays that felt just like that.  And I’m the worship leader.

There’s a couple of things to consider when worship feels dull…

First, our feelings don’t always tell the whole story. Jesus said, “For where 2 or 3 gather in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). So whether we feel God’s presence among us or not, He is right there with us. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He meets us where we are. So when we are scattered, bored, annoyed, sad, or lonely, God meets us there. It isn’t the worship leader’s job to lead us into the presence of God… simply coming together in the name of Jesus means we are in the presence of the Almighty God. It is our responsibility as worshippers – whether in leadership or not- to cultivate our awareness of His nearness. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him. How would our outlook of a church service change if we came, expecting to find God in our midst? How would we change if we made an active choice to believe that God would be there with us no matter how we felt?

Secondly, we cannot worship well a God that we do not know. When I was in college studying music, I remember being rather bored when I had to listen to recitals given by students that I didn’t know. Since I knew nothing of their ability, their style, their education, their performance meant little to me. I felt like I was hearing the same old pieces of music over and over again. But when I listened to the senior recital given by my future husband, I was enraptured. I was invested in him personally, as his fiancé, and musically, in his performance – I had listened to him practice for hours on end, worked through difficult passages with him, discussed the composers of his pieces, and worked hard to accompany him for part of the recital. My investment in him as a person and in his work made his recital exciting and important to me.

The same is true with Jesus. If I am not very invested in Him, then spending time in a worship service probably won’t be that meaningful to me. But when I spend time with Him, daily wrestling with His Word, working hard to know Him better, sharing my life journey through prayer, seeking to accompany His work, then I am far more excited to spend time worshiping Him alongside of my church family.   

My question is this: how can I adjust my time so that I have a little more time to dig deeper spiritually? How can I spend my time more wisely so that I can invest it in Jesus? What would change if I closed my browser and opened my Bible? Would I be different if I spent some time on my smartphone studying a Bible app instead of Facebook? What will you do?

Need ideas to help your congregation worship? Here's 7.  

7 Ways to Teach Your Congregation to Worship

Why do we go to worship?

Where do you worship? 

Worship. It's on my mind a lot. Living a life of worship, Who we worship, how we worship, and going to worship. I love worship and I love to help other people worship, too. I hear a lot of people commenting on the worship service they attend (or avoid attending).  They use language that refers to 'being fed' - as in, "I'm just not being fed by this pastor's sermons" or "I need to go somewhere where I'm being fed." Or maybe they say, "That message really fed my soul!" Pastors like to hear that. Sometimes, we choose our worship service based on the musical style - some love to sing from a hymnbook accompanied by an organ. To others, that is a totally foreign atmosphere and they feel more at home with a few guitars, some drums, and a lead singer. Still others look for things like pastoral prayers, Scripture reading, location.  A lot of people choose a worship service based on what's available to their children. Sometimes, people attend a church because they grew up there and it is their home. 

These aren't bad things. There is nothing wrong with attending a worship service that teaches you God's Word in a way that you can understand it. And there is nothing wrong with singing praises to God in a style that is comfortable for you. And let's be honest - we want our children to know Jesus, right? So why wouldn't we look for programs that meet their needs in order to help them get to know our Savior?

But there is another component that we need to examine when we go to worship - the state of our hearts.  Is it just me, or has anyone else ever mentally 'checked out' on a given Sunday because we've sung that song too many times, or we don't really like that song, or that soloist isn't our favorite person in the world? What if the guitar was out of tune, or the pianist kept playing wrong notes... would we still be focused on worshiping the Lord, or would we be distracted by the details? 

I am often reminded of how the Israelites worshiped in the Old Testament. They went to the tabernacle to praise the Lord where His presence was.  In Psalm 84, the Psalmist writes about worship:

How lovely is your dwelling place,

    Lord Almighty!

2 

My soul yearns, even faints,

    for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and my flesh cry out

    for the living God.

 (Psalm 84:1-2, NIV). 

The Bible does talk about what instruments were used in worship, what the tabernacle looked like, and how it was set up. But what does it really focus on? The presence of God. The Psalmist doesn't talk about which worship service he liked best, or which instrument helped him sing, or what flavor of incense he preferred in worship. He wanted to go to the tabernacle because he yearned to be in the presence of the Lord. Later in the Psalm, he says, 

"Better is one day in your courts

    than a thousand elsewhere;"

 (Psalm 84:10, NIV). 

The Psalmist would rather be basking in the presence of God than anywhere else. So while it's ok to have preferences on style and type of worship, I think we can do better by making sure we are going to worship to be in the presence of the Lord. Before I step foot across the threshold of the sanctuary door, I need to do a heart check and remind myself that I am there to worship God with my church family. If I want my soul to be fed, if I want my heart to sing with praise, then I need to focus on the One whose presence is worthy of all my worship.