LEADERSHIP
[ CREATING AN IRRESISTIBLE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE | John Chisum ]
( WITHOUT PUTTING ANY MORE TIME IN TO PULL IT OFF)
If you’ ve been leading worship in a local church for more than a week or two, you already know that a lot more goes into it than just choosing a few songs and trying to get your people to sing along. One stat claimed that only about 15 % of a worship leader’ s week is spent actually leading the congregation in worship, so that tells you that the other 85 % of your time is spent on things you probably don’ t even like, much less excel at.
On top of that, there’ s always the possibility of spiritual warfare and relational issues with pastors, staff, and congregants disagreeing on what worship is supposed to be in the first place.
SO … is it possible to figure out how to create an irresistible worship experience that the majority of your people will enter into without spending a lot more time to do it?
The short answer is yes, but the way you get there may be a little surprising if your impression of leadership is based more in music production than building great relationships. Keep these three admonitions in mind as you move through each week to help pull your people even deeper into worship and make what you’ re doing irresistible.
KNOW YOUR PEOPLE. Obviously this is challenging the more people you serve, but there are still ways you can understand why they’ re coming to your church. This can go against our grain as worship leaders because we’ re so into the music side, but we really should care about what our people care about, including musical preferences and song choices. If we’ re constantly ignoring what they like and just scratching our own musical itch, we will lose them.
Don’ t be afraid to survey your people’ s preferences and then weigh them against the goals and trajectory set by the pastor who’ s hired you to do this job. Keeping the heartbeat of your audience close to yours doesn’ t take any more time as you pass them in the hall. Make sure they know you care.
If your players only feel used, they’ ll never really support you and that will come across in their faces and attitudes onstage. No one wants to be used.
KNOW YOUR PLAYERS. If you’ re having difficulty finding or keeping players, it may be that you’ re not spending enough time participating in their world outside of rehearsals and services.
One of the most effective worship leaders I’ ve ever known had monthly dinners in her home for her teams. The fierce loyalty she gained from that one night a month went further than any mission statement ever could. It was her love for her players that made them want to be on time and do their best, not a corporate vision for the church, as important as that is.
Realizing that your players’ deepest need is to belong and to be valued will go a long way towards making what you do on the platform irresistible and here’ s why: If your players only feel used, they’ ll never really support you and that will come across in their faces and attitudes onstage. No one wants to be used.
KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS. If you’ re spending 85 % of your time doing things you’ re not good at, you’ ll have little energy left to do what you are good at. Developing more self awareness and recruiting volunteers who actually love to do the things you hate, you’ ll have a lot more love and energy to be creative and design services that your people will value and find more irresistible than ever.
Think these suggestions aren’ t“ practical enough”? Try building a long-term effective ministry and keeping people engaged without them. When people know you love and care about them first, they’ ll follow you into worship much easier and will support your creative ideas much quicker. If you’ d like to make life easier and take giant strides towards engaging them, spend more time listening and loving. That alone will make you and your services irresistible.
John Chisum Managing Partner of Nashville Christian Songwriters, a coaching and resource company for Christian songwriters at... www. NashvilleChristianSongwriters. com
46 April 2018 WorshipMusician. com