Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast

3 Ways to Engage Non-Christians in a Worship Service

Do you ever feel a little weird leading worship when there are unbelievers in the room?

Imagine how they feel. It’s more than a little weird to step into a room of jubilant people singing weird songs, clapping their hands, maybe dancing, and maybe, just maybe waving the dreaded streamer. I remember the first time I raised my hand in worship (notice I said ‘hand’. Singular. Gotta start somewhere). It was a big deal for me. I also remember the first time I encountered a streamer waving dancing lady. No comment.

In a related post I talked about 8 ways to engage people in worship. But I want to narrow our focus today. How do we more skillfully engage non-christians in our worship services? If a healthy church is one that has a consistent influx of unbelievers, we need to learn how to connect them. And I don’t believe it involves watering down the Gospel.

I feel this tension every time I lead worship. I’m glad they’re there. They don’t know what’s going on. I desperately want them to experience the power of God.

Here are some ways to engage:

1. Play good music

It makes sense that as unbelievers step into church they aren’t thinking about how to flow in the Holy Spirit and which isle to dance in. They are watching people. They are watching you. They are listening to the music. They are reading the lyrics. Don’t allow sloppy music. Work hard on being good.

2. Sing easily understandable songs

When I’m picking my setlist, I ask the question “will unchurched Joe understand this?” I know I may personally like the song that talks about burning for God in an ocean of wind, but will that make any sense to an unbeliever? Probably not. Focus on songs that articulate the Gospel and aren’t too abstract.

3. Address them

It’s so important to acknowledge unbelievers and empathize with their situation. Bring them along with you. This involves speaking to them, being real, being likable. Don’t freak people out with your personality. Tell them it’s OK if they don’t sing and just stand or sit there. In the meanwhile, pray that the lyrics and presence of the Holy Spirit will reach them deeply.

What would you add to the list? How can we better engage non-Christians in our worship services?

Do You Disciple Your Worship Team?

What I love most about leading worship (I guess besides actually worshiping God) is making disciples. Each member of the worship team is someone called by God whom I have the privilege of pouring into.

I believe sometimes we can short circuit what God wants to do through our worship team because we give excuses. “I can’t afford to hire good musicians.” “I just don’t like asking him all the time.” “This schedule is just too busy for people.” “There’s too many services at this church!” Or we just get into ‘weekly maintenance mode’ and lose the big picture of what we are doing.

Let me ask you a couple questions. What culture are you creating with what you’ve got? Do you have a process within your worship team where individual growth is intentional? Are you creating enough margin in your schedule to dream dreams and seek God’s vision for your worship team?

I’d like to share our process with you in hopes that if you don’t have a discipleship strategy for your worship team, that you would start. Or if you do, keep doing it. I’m not saying this way is the only way. Just let it stir your imagination. And let me know if you come up with even better ideas.

When I’m thinking about worship team discipleship, I’m asking the question, “What can we do WEEKLY, MONTHLY, and ANNUALLY?”

WEEKLY

  • 15 minute band devotions on Sunday morning (study a good book and/or book of the Bible)
  • Pre service prayer (short, declarative prayers)
  • Rehearsals (rehearse songs & ‘flow’ moments)

MONTHLY

ANNUALLY

  • Refresh Night (a rehearsal night where we meet off-site and simply worship, cast vision, and hang out. We do this 3x/year.)
  • Attend a local conference

What is it that you are doing? What has been helpful for your worship team?

What is the Primary Purpose of Corporate Worship?

I’m curious to know what your thoughts are on corporate worship. What is the primary purpose of us gathering together to sing?

Do we gather primarily to sing and align our hearts with truth?

Do we gather primarily to experience the breakthrough power of the Holy Spirit?

Do we gather primarily to sing well performed worship songs?

Do we gather primarily because we like the worship leader?

Do we gather primarily to give our praise to God?

Do we gather primarily to receive blessings from God?

I’d love some comments here. Where do you stand when it comes to corporate worship?

The Pitfalls of "Professional" Worship Leaders

I’m somewhat leery of the term “professional” when it comes to leading worship. What makes someone professional?

I know I offer a lot of tips on this blog. How to flow in the spontaneous and some qualities of a great worship leader and even how to lead a great rehearsal. These are great things. But allow me to challenge you today:

Beware of becoming too professional.

The Bible says that “knowledge puffs up”. As worship leaders we don’t want to become so professional that we lose the simplicity of what we do.

As I prepare to lead worship for this weekend, I don’t just want to do it professionally. I want to approach my Daddy God like a child. I want to be lost in wide eyed wonder. I want my love for Jesus to compel me.

When you started leading worship, you probably didn’t sing that well. Maybe you were clumsy in your speaking. Maybe you started a song in the wrong key. Maybe you accidentally said ‘crap’ instead of ‘clap’ (who does that? 🙂 )

But I bet you were passionate to be in God’s presence.

Don’t approach God with anything less than wide-eyed wonder this weekend.

Question: How do you guard your child-like passion as a worship leader?

5 Ways to Improve How You Lead Spontaneous Worship

Part of what makes a time of congregational worship alive and fresh is the spontaneous. It’s the moments in a service where we don’t just ‘read the script’ but actually engage with God in the moment.

Imagine a guy taking a girl on a first date. They both get dressed up and hit up the nicest restaurant in town. This guy is even wearing a bow tie. Come on people…a flippin’ bow tie. They sit down at the table ready to engage in romantic conversations and the guy pulls out his new iPad. Instead of gazing in her eyes and speaking from his heart, he proceeds to read a script he’s written. He never looks up to hear her heart, listen to her speak, or veer from the ‘plan’.

Seems ridiculous, right?

Without spontaneous aspects to our worship services, our worship of God can seem like this. We don’t stop to listen to what He has to say. We don’t allow a fresh song to arise from our hearts in the moment. We just read the script.

In this post I’d like to offer some suggestions on how you as a worship leader can improve how you lead in the spontaneous.

  • Know your congregation – before you take the dive into spontaneous waters it’s wise to know who you’re leading. Are they new believers who will have no idea what’s going on? If so, do it in such a way that they’ll understand and stay with you. If it’s a group of seasoned worshipers, you could probably get away with long stretches of spontaneous worship & intercession. Takeaway: always make sure the people are with you.
  • Know the proper timing – unless God audibly gives you direction, it’s probably not wise to open a service with a spontaneous tribal chant in tongues or a prophetic rebuke. Utilize good songs to engage people and listen and look for the right time (you probably never want to utilize the prophetic rebuke :))
  • Practice by yourself – don’t expect to just be good at this right away. There are two ways you can practice by yourself: practice listening to the Holy Spirit and practice singing spontaneous songs. I am personally always singing my prayers. Constantly. I probably sing prayers more than I speak them. Also, the more you get accustomed to the Holy Spirit’s voice in your personal life, the more likely you will hear Him as you lead worship. Listen as your praying at home, at the grocery store, walking through the mall, in a restaurant. Always tune your antennae.
  • Practice in a small group – after you practice by yourself, find a small group and practice there. There’s less at stake if you mess up by yourself or in a small group of trusted friends.
  • Just say it – sometimes all you need to do is just step out. Just say what you feel God is saying. Just lead where you feel God is leading. Don’t cue up the shofar lady and shout ‘thus saith the Lord Christ Almighty’. Just be yourself. Gently say and lead where God is moving and wait. This can lead to breakthrough in worship.

Worship Leaders: did I cover everything here? What would you add to the list?