CONNECTED WORSHIP

If the Sermon is the meat then Worship is like the sauce. If people can’t get past the sauce, they may not get the meat. What I am talking about is that generally on Sunday mornings at church we have a time of corporate worship with music before the Pastor comes out and preaches. Is this a warm up? No. Is this just to fill time? No. There is a very specific reason. Worship helps us get our hearts ready to hear God’s word. What we as leaders do with the time of worship can affect how people receive the preaching.

Music styles ultimately have little impact on people’s salvation or their pursuit of God. It’s God’s truth and the power of God’s Holy Spirit that transforms lives. However, we humans tend to look at things on the surface and judge. And boy do we judge. I can attest to that personally. I really have to ask God to help me when things don’t run well, songs are fumbled, people don’t do their job correctly or at the right time. I am sure that I can get an Amen on that, not that I really want one, though. Thus, we can miss the meat by looking to hard at the sauce.

Some worship leaders can be bombarded with buzz words like authentic, relevant, relational, etc. But let’s look past our preconceived notions of these words. We do want to be authentic or real. We want people to know that we were all once sinners and now are made alive in Christ. Not perfect, but alive. We want to be relevant or appropriate for the time. Most people don’t wear huge collars, massive bell bottoms or perms anymore. If someone wore those things today we may not take them too seriously. Therefore, we must understand where we are in our culture and be able to use music and other tools in worship that are appropriate for that time. Meanwhile, having reverence for the past and respect for God’s movement in our lives in past days. And, we must be relational or understand that building relationships with people may help them get to know God better than a bible thumping.

That said, we don’t want to be a potential stumbling block by being too out of touch with reality or being overly culture focused. We, as worship leaders, are to pave the way for people to open their hearts and receive the truth God wants to reveal to them through the preaching. We must not tamper with the sauce, but rather let it be a compliment. With God’s help, we can be effective in leading worship, allowing God to do a work in His people and letting ourselves to fade into the background.