All right, now here's a topic that can get many a worship leader in trouble with their congregation. Choosing a style to present the music is a hot topic in and of itself. Rock, Reggae, Classical, R&B, Gospel, Country or traditional. These are just a few of the styles one can choose from when leading their church in worship. In this post, I'm going to share how I approach this issue.
Again, I am a GROWING expert and am only giving a glimpse of what my experiences have been and what I currently do. I do NOT believe I have arrived and would love to hear about others experiences and thoughts.
Style
I have found that as a worship leader, it's necessary to know that I am in this role to serve the church, not just entertain them. Once I learned and applied this principal, I discovered that I must not simply choose song styles based on my preferences. This is a difficult thing, because simply put, there are some styles that I enjoy more than others and there are some styles that the praise team can tackle better than others.
When people mention a cool worship song they've heard and say they'd love to hear our team do it, I quickly run through my mind the style and whether our team can play it at the level of excellence necessary. There are just some songs that we can pull off well and some that just don't quite work. And that's ok. Challenge your team to play things that they aren't used to playing. You may just discover that you can play a little gospel along with your rock.
Now back to the people in the church. You must be willing to take risks in leadership. Serving the people does not mean catering to everyone's opinion of what worship music should sound like. Refer to my post on "10 Things on Worship Leading". Sometimes the church body is best served by the worship leader who challenges them to open their ears, eyes and hearts to styles that are relevant in today's world. There's a can that I won't open here labeled "Music styles and instruments that are Biblical" that many folks like to pull out and open from time to time. I typically like to stay away from that since it usually gets you nowhere. Just ask them if they'd prefer you play a Sackbut.
So find the style that best fits your community and from time to time, mix it up. It might even revive a bored worship team.
Recommended link: worshiptogether.com
Recent Comments