You know the cliches. You read the books. You bought the T-shirt.
- “Worship isn’t about music”
- “You were created to worship”
- “Born to worship”
- “It’s not about you”
But how does that translate into worship leading? How do you move from merely singing a setlist to leading in worship?
We’ve all been there. Standing before of a crowd, scared out of our minds. It’s enough just to get through one song, let alone lead people in worship through a whole set, right?
We’ve been talking a lot about making disciples. One of the characteristics of young worship leaders is that they don’t know how to lead worship. Ironic, but true.
Sure, they may have a great voice.
They may be able to sing through a song well.
Indeed, they may have insane stage presence or musical ability.
But they don’t know how to lead…people…in worship.
5 Tips For Actually Leading Worship
Since I have a few worship leaders I’m discipling at the moment, I thought I’d bring you into my process a bit for teaching them how to lead. You can do the same!
1. Keep Your Eyes Open – There’s nothing wrong with closing your eyes from time to time. But not for an entire worship set. Your main job is to connect with people. You can’t do that if you’re in your own worship world. Practice keeping your eyes open.
2. Encourage People – Just because you have a great voice doesn’t mean people will join you. You need to invite them. All it takes is a little encouragement. Throughout a worship set, I’ll give tons of vocal cues, encouraging people to lift their voice. here are some of them:
- “Let’s sing this together”
- “Church, let’s rise up and declare this truth”
- “Every voice, from the front to the back”
- “That’s beautiful! Let’s sing it one more time”
I know this may feel awkward at times, but it doesn’t have to be. You aren’t performing songs. You are a leader. Your church is waiting for you to lead them.
3. Hold Nothing Back – I’ve got to say, there’s nothing more inspiring than a leader that puts their heart on display – a worship leader that pursues God with everything they have. A true heart of worship connects the generations. A true heart of worship is inviting and inspiring to a congregation.
Don’t be timid. Rise up and lead with boldness.
4. Ignore Your Fears – Nerves are a part of the game. No matter how long you stand on a stage, it’s always nerve-racking. You must learn to ignore those fears. Stop focusing on the worst case scenarios and just worship God.
Otherwise, you’ll paralyzed yourself with fear. And fear is the worst frame of mind to lead in. You need to practice ignoring your fears.
5. Prepare Your Heart – If your only preparation is in the musical realm, you are not becoming the worship leader you could be. Pray for your congregation. Show up with expectancy. Talk to people before and after service.
You’re more of a waiter than you are a rockstar. Prepare your heart beforehand to serve people in their encounter with God. It’s not about you and your leadership. It’s all about shining a spotlight on the glory of God and getting out of the way.
Your church doesn’t care how talented you are. They don’t come to hear your amazing arrangements.
They come to connect with Jesus.
Make sure you’re ready to lead.
Question: How else can we move from song-leaders to worship leaders? Add your thoughts to the comments. It’s always better when you share!
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Good reminder. I especially like the part about preparing your heart. It is easy to overlook that and focus only on the musical side of things. Some of my favorite parts of rehearsal are when we take a simple song and just worship together as a team.
Me too, Wayne. It’s so important to do this. I find it to be more productive than two hours of intense musical rehearsal. Preparing the heart is essential.
I agree with you totally on this, the time when rounding off rehearsals with worship songs is my favorite moment too.
Being involved in your congregation away from the ‘stage’ is a huge part of worship leading. And you are spot on David. It’s not about us worship leaders and leading songs. It’s about Him and what He wants to achieve in his children’s lives as He uses us in a small way to achieve his purposes. It’s all about Him!!!
Great perspective. If you can trust the Holy Spirit like this as you lead, every service can have a thrilling uniqueness. God is moving all the time!
Great thoughts as usual David, however I slightly disagree with point one. I don’t believe our job is to connect with our people as much as it is to connect them to God.
Although building trust with them is a must.
Rob, I agree our main goal is to connect people to God, but if we as leaders don’t connect with the people, it will be difficult to lead them to God. They need to trust us and respect us, thereby allowing us to lead them.
Adam,
Great post! I’ve found that with #2, if the leader has a great voice, people will actually sing less because they want to hear the amazing vocals instead of participate. That’s why I encourage our super talented vocalists to tone it down a bit and work extra hard at drawing attention away from themselves and verbally directing focus on to Jesus.
Thanks again for your insight!
Cliff
No problem, Cliff. Whoever Adam is, I’m sure he’s a great guy 🙂 And I think you bring up a great point. Just because you have a great voice doesn’t mean you should always over-sing. Restraint is huge.
Oops! Sorry, meant to address that comment to David…forgot which blog I reading for a minute. 🙂
I love your ideas. I want to share with you how I got over stage fright and learned to love having butterflies and nervousness. I picture a roller coaster – as it is starting you are excited, then you start to think “what am I doing – I’m going to die!”, then you start down sure you will not make it. You go through the curves and loops and make yourself let go and raise your hands up. Suddenly you are slowing down and you realize you are still alive. Your first words? “Cool, lets do it again.” I realized that this is how to approach stage fright. I know I am going to be scared, but I love the fear, the nerves, the exhilaration. I let go and raise my hands and show my confidence that God will get me through. And when we leave the platform and people are continuing to worship – I always think that I can’t wait till next week when I can do it again.
Excellent analogy! I think I’m going to try this when I lead worship today 🙂 Thanks Jim!
Haha!! That’s so true! And there’s that comfort of knowing the Spirit is leading and we have a GOOD Father♡ we can trust Him. Some of the worst times leading worship (in my mind) others say are the best. I just didn’t get to experience all the goodness because i was too focused on my short comings. Huge lesson I’m learning! I don’t want to miss it again♡♡
Thank you!!!! I have been pondering on thus for a while now and I wasn’t sure what I meant or was feeling. You hit it head on and I can’t wait to share this with my team !!!!!
Something I’ve learnt to do is actually ENJOY leading worship because worshipping and leading are totally different (well I’ve found anyway.I do that by building on my strengths ( which is praise/ uptempo songs ), building set lists around songs I’m comfortable with and expanding and being able to say no if I’m uncomfortable ( but be willing to step out still ). Also always expect the unexpected – starting off key, mics and sound issues etc….
With regards to nerves i use a tip that I pinched from a comedian on tv. Basically how do u feel when u r excited – butterflies, palms sweating etc…. How abt when u r nervous – butterflies, palms…..same feeling. So instead of thinking I’m nervous I just think I’m excited, cant wait to get out there etc…
Glad this is helpful, Natasha! I love the point you make – learning to enjoy what makes you nervous. Sometimes you just need to convince yourself.
Hie great insights and helpful to me. Thank you for the teachings,very inspiring indeed.How difficult it is to keep my eyes open,but will definitely implement it.
I agree with these points. However, one of the struggles that our worship leaders have (specially the singers) is keeping their eyes open. They get really discouraged when they eyes are open and see the 75 – 80% of the Church not singing or engaging on the worship singing. So as a result, they keep their eyes closed.
Marvin, this is very common. It comes with maturity and practice. The worship musician needs to lead and inspire the congregation, not vice versa. Your singers need to be trained to bring their full energy no matter how much the congregation responds.
Love the thoughts. I have really been struggling with being able to follow our worship leader as he doesn’t come across as being prepared either spiritually or musically. I think far too often “musicians” get put in the role of leading rather than people are really able to lead in worship. All of the things you listed are vital.
Thank you!
You bring up a good point. The best musician isn’t necessarily the best worship leader. But they can be trained!
I so agree that you have to invite the congregation to sing out. We have the band throttle back to simmer and step away from the mics so it is then all about the congregation worshiping. We can’t do this with every song, but we have quite a few. Looking into the eyes of each person in the congregation is key; it connects your souls and your purposeful worship of Jesus and helps to elevate the message.
Agreed, Danny. I love stepping back and watching people cry out to God with desperation. So amazing.
JIM i love your personal representation of the Worship Time with the congregation. I can imagine the same with my experience. God is so powerfull that every time is different and gracefully filled with His Love
Point 1 & 2 = WINNER! So good.
I’m sending this to my worship leaders. Subtle I know! haha
Stage fright has never left me until now. That’s why mastery of the songs and practice keep me on the right track even when my knees shake hard. Before the service starts , I welcome people and invite them personally to worship. Sometimes, i make coffee for early bird seniors. On stage, I greet the congregation and share a Scriipture about worship like the importance of bodily movements such as clapping, jumping , dancing and so on. During the worship, I give time for silence before God. Some church leaders are afraid of silence. They think that it’s a waste of time. Little they know that silence is a moment of confirmation, revelation and affirmation from God I invite them to open their lips to praise God, declare His goodness and faithfulness in their lives. One thing more, a music worship leader must be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit, the powerhead of God who is the true worship leader. Without His directions, our worship will just be a performance. Everything we do must always be focused on God
great website very inspiring. great tips for worship leader.am sure going to use them.
– My Leader Sent this to me..
Thank you for the inspiring Tips.. i learned a lot and surely i will use these in worship..
Our Pastor already taught me the others..
Thanks, Edeelyn!
Guys thank u so much just started leading worship in my church.
things are happening because of your help,,,GOD BLESS YOU
David, I’ve been playing drums for worship since I was a young lad, and 2 1/2 years ago endeavored into guitar. I’ve recently been tasked with leading worship, and I truly enjoy it. I find it fulfilling and rewarding, yet I’m still leaning how to lead practices and worship.
I find your thoughts most helpful and timely, as many of the issues you address are surfacing here and there. Thank you, and God bless you!
I have been in choir for about five years, I have not been able to lead praise. Just afraid! God help me to overcome fear.
My problem is forgetn songs while on stage, maybe after singing one or two,other will disapear how can i overcome it
Hi! I love this article! But I have a question. I sing on my praise team at church and over the last couple of months I’ve been assigned to lead worship here and there. The thing is, is that I don’t feel ready to lead. At my church we have AMAZING people that are fearless on stage when leading worship, so i almost feel as if I do my church a disservice when I have been schedules to lead worship. I pray, and pray to God about the songs He wants me to lead and try my best to not be nervous or self-conscious of “messing up”, but I wanted to know if you all have any feedback on not feeling ready to lead worship.
Alexandra, I find that it is all about preparation. Just because I’ve practiced the song and have great confidence that I will sing well, doesn’t mean that I am ready. When it is my turn to lead on Sunday, I spend quite a few hours in the days prior. I dig into the songs, listen & watch Youtube, etc. But most importantly, I get into the scripture that is woven into the songs. These become the foundation for any message that I will wrap around the songs. And I take the time to write out my notes – that seems to be one of my better learning modalities. Finally, the Worship Team gathers with the Pastor for prayer before we start the service. All that remains is the mistake which I am sure to make!
Prepare musically. Build a scriptural foundation. Plan what you will say. Pray… and forgive yourself for the mistakes that are sure to happen 🙂
Thanks a lot for the advice, for real I required that,, am sure with the help of God I’ll be able to be a better worship leader for this will help me nature my leadership,,,,,,, I never knew that one should not close his eyes in the entire worship,,,,, that’s a point noted. Am from Nairobi, Kenya
I have normal day job and family who isn’t the same heart as I am, at times so difficult to even connect with Jesus but every time I lead I always set 2 Days aside to just having one to one with the Lord (always important as a worship leader to have a quiet time with the Lord ) in preparation to lead before the Sunday service, its very important to start with a full heart to serve Jesus and surrender everything in His hand I find Sunday is always a blessed day at the end,