do have an agreed goal . We want to lead our congregation to worship God !” That goal might even be communicated often and clearly to the whole team by leadership . Absolutely ! I agree . Yes , we want God to be worshiped . But I see two main problems with communicating that as our goal to the team :
Not everyone will fully understand what the term “ worship God ” means . Some – even sincere Believers – might be totally confused by that goal .
Furthermore , there could be ( probably will be ) disagreement between team members about what actually needs to happen to achieve the worship of God . Surely , the only entity that can truly measure whether God is being worshiped ( or not ) is God Himself ! We humans may have some sense or even discernment of what is worshipful , but we ought not consider ourselves to have the ability to definitively measure success ( or otherwise ) in the worship of Almighty God . Let ’ s leave that to God , can we ?
A “ goal ” set by a team that cannot be agreed upon , nor measured , is no goal at all .
Back to the soccer crowd : It could be argued that the World Cup crowd ’ s goal is to win the World Cup and - in a sense - of course , it is . But it ’ s more true to say that their real goal is to put the ball into the back of the net more often than the other team . They know , that if they score goals - soccer match goals - better than any other team , match after match , the World Cup will ultimately be won . They need not focus on the World Cup itself . Just do what needs to be done to win matches and the World Cup will look after itself !
They are in the grandstands , wearing their team ’ s colors , waving their banners , cheering and singing songs to inspire their team to kick an inflated , synthetic leather sphere into the back of a net . They all agree on that . They know when it ’ s happened and when the match is won or lost .
I am sure that we - the teams responsible for leading our congregations to worship God through songs - all want God to be worshiped . But our objective of worshiping God should be what the World Cup is for soccer crowds . We want God to be worshiped through our singing , our playing and our tech-ing , but we would do well to remember that only God measures the worshipfulness of our worship and that we know that the opportunity to worship God is actually in every moment of every day ( Romans 12:1 ) not just when we gather and sing to Him and about Him .
So how about this for an agreed , humanlymeasurable , “ ball in the back of the net ” goal for our teams : Get the congregation singing ! Everything we do as a team - the singing , the playing and tech-ing – should be crafted in such a way as to invite our Church family to sing passionate prayers to God , praises of God and truth about God as an expression of worship . With the unity of purpose that this agreed , humanly-measurable goal brings , making the right decisions to achieve that goal will become a lot easier .
Speak to one another with psalms , hymns , and songs from the Spirit . Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord . Ephesians 5:19 ( NIV )
As the written Word of God clearly instructs us to do , let ’ s sing together ! As a team of vocalists , instrumentalists and technicians , let ’ s make our musical and technical choices with that specific goal in mind . All our personal , individual , goals must become lesser , sub-goals to this bigger goal , or perhaps vanish all together .
This is a game changer . I believe with all my heart that the unified voice of your congregation singing fervent , heart-felt , passionate praises will be a well-received expression of worship to God – but only God knows that for sure .
Grant Norsworthy founder of MoreThanMusicMentor . com providing training for worshipping musicians .
MoreThanMusicMentor . com