{"id":533,"date":"2019-06-12T10:51:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T10:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/?p=533"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:51:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T10:51:06","slug":"leading-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/?p=533","title":{"rendered":"Leading Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long time ago I created guidelines for leading worship. In case they will be of use to anybody they are here. Do feel free to adapt and use as you like.<\/p>\n

Leading worship 2009 MSW 2003<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Leading worship at Brentwood Baptist Church \u2013 February 2009<\/h1>\n

A. GENERAL GUIDELINES AND PRACTICALITIES<\/h1>\n

for everybody contributing items to our services<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

This paper combines general advice with specific rules (marked in bold)<\/strong> about how Sunday services in Brentwood Baptist Church should be organised and led. It may be right on occasions to depart from those rules but please discuss plans to do so with Peter or the Elders in advance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TIMINGS<\/strong> \u2013 Services should begin promptly at 10.30 am or 6.30 pm.<\/strong> They should normally end when people expect them to end. Morning services will usually finish 11.35-11.45 or 11.45-11.55<\/strong> with communion (revival excepted of course!) The children will normally go out between 10.50 and 10.55 am and NEVER later than 11 am.<\/strong> These timings are vital for cr\u00e8che and Family Church leaders. Evening service timings are less critical but the evening service will usually finish 7.30-7.45, or a little later with communion.<\/p>\n

The worship leader is responsible for sticking to the overall timings. So the worship leader will have sorted out beforehand how long anybody else will speak for (children\u2019s talk, mission slots, prayers etc). If such a speaker is talking beyond their time, then the worship leader has the responsibility of deciding to cut out material following that item or else finding a way to tactfully tell the speaker to stop.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MUSIC <\/strong>\u2013 Unless there is an amazingly good reason not to, the first and last songs or hymns in any service will always be ones which most people already know and can sing well.<\/strong> If necessary teach the congregation and practise a new song before the service starts. It is usually good to sing single verse songs\/choruses twice so that people who didn\u2019t know it first time through can join in properly the second time. Please bear in mind that at this stage of the church\u2019s life there are a number of folk who will not appreciate singing something more than two or three times through. Most services are likely to include at least one traditional hymn. They should also include at least one or two recent songs.<\/strong> Sally can supply a list of songs and also copies of more recently learned songs. It is not good if there is a great disparity between our services depending on who is leading them.\u00a0 A more even spread of old and new is be more inclusive. With rare exceptions any service will not contain more than one or two new songs which the congregation have never sung before. If you want the church to learn a particular song, please speak to Sally.<\/p>\n

Any musical rehearsals for the service should be completed at least 15 minutes before the start, to allow a time of quiet and reflective preparation, perhaps with instrumental music or a CD playing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WORDS <\/strong>– Worship is so much more than singing and some people find singing\u00a0more helpful than others.\u00a0 A group of songs should be surrounded or interspersed by readings, set prayers etc.\u00a0 Words\/graphics\/testimony\u00a0are also less divisive than songs. If CDs are played as an aid to meditation, the words should be displayed on the screen.\u00a0 This helps those who cannot make out the words\u00a0sung and is\u00a0especially important for contemporary songs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PREPARING THE SERVICE – <\/strong>It will be clear in advance what the \u201cstyle\u201d of service will be e.g. \u201cOrdinary Service,\u201d \u201cFamily Service,\u201d \u201cPraise Celebration,\u201d \u201cCommunion,\u201d and so on. (Peter or Steve will always lead \u201cSecond Sunday\u201d style services.) Peter or a visiting preacher will normally be able to confirm the Bible Reading and the Sermon title or theme early in the week. Please check with him whether there are any other special items to include, e.g. world mission slots, special topics for prayer, an extended time for response, etc. Worship leaders are free to involve any members of the church in the service. In particular, most services will include prayers of intercession<\/strong> and the Worship leader is responsible either for leading those prayers or finding somebody else to lead them. Open times of prayer work well in the evenings.<\/p>\n

ORDER OF SERVICE \u2013 It is important to get the Order of Service into Yellow Pages if we can, which means to Lin in the office by Friday lunchtime, or earlier if different arrangements are in place that week. <\/strong>Surveys say having a published order of service is particularly helpful to guests and new Christians. By the same deadline the Order of Service should be sent to the Keyboard player and other musicians, to Mick Bastable to facilitate the projection of words, and to Peter to check (e.g. just in case you have forgotten to put in a sermon!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MULTIMEDIA \u2013 <\/strong>Our services increasingly rely on DVDs, PowerPoint presentations, CDs etc. These should be included in the Order of Service. Words for any new songs should be sent to Mick on Friday or before so he can create a suitable presentation for them. DVD, CD and PowerPoint materials MUST be at church at least half an hour before the service begins to check that they work with our setup. We currently use Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, and cannot read files in PP 2007 format. Please also bear in mind that the software we use does not like preset timings on slideshows, and that DVDs must be run from the sound desk computer.<\/p>\n

During the service it is very important that the worship leader keeps the projector operator informed of the order of verses, choruses etc. within songs. Ideally this should be checked beforehand. If the song is to be sung in a different order to that which is on the preset slides, this should be checked with the operator, and also explained as the song is being sung.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSOMETHING FOR EVERYONE\u201d <\/strong>\u2013 Our name for \u201cchildren\u2019s talks.\u201d We have a rota for folk doing the children\u2019s talk. These should last around five minutes and never more than 10 minutes.<\/strong> If the children\u2019s talk is unexpectedly longer, it is still the Worship Leader\u2019s responsibility to ensure (e.g. by missing out songs) that the children leave for their activities around 10.55 am and never after 11 am. There may be occasions when other items (e.g. the Drama Group performing, or an Act of Thanksgiving and Dedication) will replace any Something for Everyone item and the worship leader must tell the person on the SFE rota well in advance that their contribution will be postponed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SFE can be about anything.\u00a0 It is not<\/u> essential that they relate closely to the theme of the worship or the sermon, although it can be nice if they do Peter is usually the preacher and therefore the person to contact about the reading and sermon subject.\u00a0With a sermon series\u00a0the themes of services\u00a0can\u00a0be\u00a0known well in advance. Otherwise, it might not be possible to know until the week before. The rotas also tell you the worship leader, who might be taking a particular slant.\u00a0 Communication can be helpful both ways, as knowing their approach might be helpful, but also there might be a particular song that would fit well\u00a0immediately before or after\u00a0your slot. Worship leaders often plan during the week before the service.<\/p>\n

Events can arise which might mean the SFE slot would become inappropriate, or make the service too long. We should be able to let people know of this a week in advance so that you would not end up having to abort something you’d spent time preparing.<\/p>\n

If you want to get in early to set things up, the church will be open from around 9.30.\u00a0 If you want to use the computer\/projector the person to contact is Mick Bastable, who sets everything up on Friday afternoons. CDs and DVDs are run through the sound desk computer.\u00a0 It is worth checking in advance that the technology will do what you want it to do and that the person operating it knows what to do to make it do what you want it to do!<\/p>\n

It is fine for SFE Leaders to swap with other people on the rota but\u00a0you need to let the worship leader and Peter know of any changes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TIMES OF SHARING or TESTIMONY<\/strong> \u2013 These are always good, especially in the evenings. But we have a responsibility to ensure that what is said is correct and acceptable. So Peter, Paul, \u00a0Bryan or Yen will normally \u201cchair\u201d times of sharing or be close at hand to challenge anything said which is inappropriate, or if necessary to stop the speaker. Laying on of hands in services is the Elders\u2019 responsibility.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

B. THOUGHTS ON WORSHIP \u2013 principally for worship leaders<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

The purposes of worship<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The corporate worship of the church has a number of aims. The most important is to glorify God. If what we do isn\u2019t glorifying to God, it isn\u2019t worship! But worship also prepares people to hear God\u2019s word as we draw near to God, and worship should follow as a response to God\u2019s word. Our whole time of worship should be \u2018an encounter with God\u2019.<\/p>\n

But then also our worship should express the fellowship and the oneness of the church. Our church services should be something more than a set of individuals individually worshipping. If we want to worship God in exactly the way we individually prefer we perhaps ought to stay at home. When we meet for worship it should be for CORPORATE worship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Elements within Christian worship<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

PRAISE<\/strong> \u2013 Worship includes praise, thanksgiving and adoration. These can be expressed in words, in music, in movement, by speaking in tongues and in other ways too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PRAYER<\/strong> \u2013 Worship also includes prayers: thanksgiving and adoration; confessions; petitions (requests for ourselves) and intercessions (requests for others). Prayer can include times of silence or be expressed in gifts of tongues and explanations. Leading others in prayer is much more than praying for oneself in front of other people. Leading in prayer is about using words and ideas which the congregation will be able to echo in their hearts and with their \u201cAmen.\u201d Although we usually pray \u201con the spot\u201d there is much value in reading prepared written prayers and meditation, and leading the congregation to say together \u201cset\u201d prayers out of the Red hymn book or displayed on the screen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GOD SPEAKING<\/strong> \u2013 Our worship should always include God speaking to us, through Bible readings, sermons, drama, music, video, art. God can also speak to us through discussions or question-and-answer sessions, or by means of spiritual gifts such as prophecy, words of knowledge and wisdom, and even through signs and wonders. We should also expect God to speak to each of us in times of silence and reflection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OTHER ELEMENTS<\/strong> \u2013 Our worship can involve Communion and Baptism, acts of service and offerings. What we do when we worship together should simply be a continuation of the worship we offer to God every day in holy living and Christian service (Romans 12:1-2). All the above are valid elements of worship acceptable to God and offered by Christians through the ages. None are more or less spiritual than others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DIALOGUE<\/strong> \u2013 By this we mean that worship should be a dialogue between us and God. God speaks, we respond, God speaks again, we respond again. The worship leader is in the unusual position of sometimes speaking FOR God to the congregation, but at other times leading the congregation as they speak or sing TO God in response.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE <\/strong>\u2013 Some expressions of worship (especially but not exclusively singing) are \u201cobjective\u201d in that they declare truths about God, man, salvation, our Christian hope, etc. Other expressions are \u201csubjective\u201d in that they declare what we feel about God and express our faith and commitment. Sometimes the \u201cobjective\u201d can lead us on to \u201csubjective\u201d. Rapidly switching to and fro between objective and subjective elements is usually just confusing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ENCOURAGEMENT and CHALLENGE<\/strong> \u2013 Some times of worship are inspiring because they encourage us. Others are significant because they challenge us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TRIUMPH and COMPASSION<\/strong> \u2013 It is good to celebrate Christ\u2019s victory. It is also important that people who at that time may be discouraged or suffering (due to sickness, grief, anxiety, doubt or many other reasons) are able to participate in the worship, or at least are not made to feel guilty or \u201ca failure\u201d because they find it hard to join in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ORDER and SPONTENEITY<\/strong> \u2013 Many, on all \u2018sides\u2019 of the many \u2018worship wars\u2019 which have divided churches, mistakenly associate \u2018noisy\u2019 and \u2018unstructured\u2019 with \u2018Spirit-led\u2019 worship.<\/p>\n

BALANCE and VARIETY<\/strong> \u2013 Over the months our services should include a balance of ALL the elements listed above, with some level of variety within every worship occasion.<\/p>\n

Participants in worship<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

At most services there will be people at a variety of spiritual stages<\/strong>. There will be mature Christians, and new Christians, and seekers, and agnostics. Some elements of worship will be accessible to all and may seem superficial to the more mature. Other elements will put seekers and some new Christians out of their depth. The Bible teaching on stronger and weaker brothers (e.g. Romans 14-15) puts the greater responsibility on the stronger to make allowances for the weaker, but all should show love.<\/p>\n

There will also be the complete range of ages<\/strong> at most services, from children and teens through to folk who are retired. With this also may come varieties in tastes, or social or educational background. We must \u2018bear with one another in love.\u2019<\/p>\n

And there will be varieties of church experience<\/strong>. Some will be born-and-bred Baptists. Other may have come from other denominations or even other religions. Some may only have experienced church long ago as children in Sunday School. Others may have no church background whatsoever. Our services must bear ALL of these kinds of folk in mind.<\/p>\n

A church which is seeking to grow must remember that unchurched folk<\/strong> and young folk may only give \u2018church\u2019 one try. To such folk worship must be culturally relevant or it will be inaccessible. We dare not expect non-Christians and new Christians to adjust to our established patterns. (What loving church could ever take such an attitude?) They will simply abandon \u2018church\u2019 altogether. So we need worship which will not discourage visitors (Christians or not) from returning. `Unchurched-friendly’ services will not guarantee that the unsaved will return again. `Unchurched-UNfriendly’ services will guarantee that they won’t return!<\/p>\n

Variables within worship<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

In planning a worship service there are a number of factors which can be varied and it may help you as you prepare to lead worship to keep these in mind. Probably the most important are these:<\/p>\n

Structure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rigid liturgy\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Total spontaneity<\/p>\n

\u2018Teaching\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Brief thought\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lecture plus hymns<\/p>\n

Participation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Monologue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All do everything<\/p>\n

Shared Leadership\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One Leader\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many Leaders<\/p>\n

Spiritual Gifts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Non-charismatic\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Charismatic<\/p>\n

Degree of variety\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Predictable\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Always different<\/p>\n

Musical style\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Traditional\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <—————->\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Contemporary<\/p>\n

The importance of unity in worship<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

God-centred, Spirit-led worship is vital to every Christian and every church. Our worship should be the last place for disagreement. This is why the devil works so hard to undermine our worship through our selfishness, so that we become pre-occupied by our own tastes and preferences. Instead we should be asking \u2018What will please God most?\u2019 and \u2018What will best build up the whole church?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>(Ephesians 4:1-6.)<\/p>\n

We are called to love one another as Christ has loved us, even to lay down our lives for our friends. The theory sounds fine, but bearing with each other in love often turns out to be much harder in practice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our worship should be an expression and a celebration of the things we have in common, one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Our worship should be the last place for disagreement, not a battleground over minor matters of difference. The most important ingredient in worship is our heart attitude, to worship in love and in Spirit and in truth. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13, if we don\u2019t have genuine love, we\u2019ve got nothing at all!<\/p>\n

God has called us together into the body of Christ. In that one body we are united by all the things we share, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. But Christians are human. We fall out. We disagree. We have different likes and dislikes. We aren\u2019t meant to be uniform clones, but we are commanded to work hard at preserving the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. We don\u2019t have to make that unity – God gives it. We must simply ensure that we don\u2019t break the unity. So God commands us to be completely humble and gentle; to be patient, bearing with one another in love.<\/em> And the area of our church\u2019s life where this love and patience is most urgently needed at present is in our worship together.<\/p>\n

Our corporate worship should be CORPORATE. However we may like to worship God as individuals or in Housegroups or at Spring Harvest Big Top Celebrations, when we meet on Sundays it is as Brentwood Baptist Church in worship. Our worship will be less than it could be and should be if some members of the church choose not to be present when we gather for worship, or are present but are refusing to participate. We cannot claim to be worshipping in Spirit and in truth if other members of the church are genuinely unable to enter into that worship with us.<\/p>\n

The book of Revelation (e.g. Rev 5:8-14) especially reminds us that worship should give us a foretaste of heaven. If it doesn\u2019t, we\u2019re doing something wrong somewhere. Whatever our patterns of worship are, if we aren\u2019t in unity and fellowship with those around us none of us will be able to worship God as we should. Our preferred style of worship should never be more precious to us than the God we are worshipping or the brothers and sisters He has given us.<\/p>\n

Some people might think that our services have changes dramatically in the last couple of years. In reality our styles of worship have only varied a little within the very wide range of worship patterns on offer. Compared to a Roman Catholic Mass, or Eastern Orthodox worship, or the preaching services of St Helen\u2019s Bishopsgate or the Charismatic worship of Elim Pentecostals and Housechurches, our services have continued within a relatively narrow range of styles. We are closer to each other than we think. Our tastes and preferences are more similar than we imagine. It is one of the strengths of Brentwood Baptist Church that we are moving forward in worship with a remarkable degree of unity. Let us continue to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A long time ago I created guidelines for leading worship. In case they will be of use to anybody they are here. Do feel free…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/thoughts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}