WORSHIP LEADERS
SINGING BUT NOT WORSHIPPING ? | Grant Norsworthy
“ The people were singing , but they weren ’ t worshipping .”
This is the sober judgement delivered to me recently by the “ Worship Pastor ” of a very large , multi-campus church . Let ’ s call her Donna . Donna wasn ’ t speaking about any of her own congregations . She was speaking about the congregation of a different , somewhat smaller church that she had visited a few weeks earlier .
Many ( but not all ) of the people in the congregation that Donna usually leads tend to be rather enthusiastic , visibly passionate and charismatically inclined as they worship God through songs . That ’ s what she ’ s used to . The other church - the one she had visited - has an older congregation that tends to be more reserved , thoughtful , outwardly restrained and reverential as they worship God through songs .
“ The people were singing , but they weren ’ t worshipping .”
Donna ’ s statement is worth unpacking . What exactly did she mean by that ? I had a reasonably good idea , but I asked some clarifying questions just to be sure .
“ Do you mean that their faces weren ’ t showing much emotion ? You didn ’ t sense much passion from them ? Perhaps they weren ’ t raising their hands ?”
“ Yes , exactly !” She responded .
My presupposition was correct . To Donna , just to get a congregation singing is not enough . The outward signs that a congregation is worshipping God - really worshipping God - is beyond merely singing prayerful , praising , doctrinally rich words .
On one level , I ’ m with Donna . It ’ s wonderful to lead a congregation to sing worshipfully and have them respond with more than just their vocal participation . To see people ’ s passion to worship God through the songs show on their faces and in their body postures - as well as with their voices - is a glorious thing .
But on a deeper level , statements like Donna ’ s ( and I hear a lot of them in my work as More Than Music Mentor ) concern me . Are passionate facial expressions and raised hands definitive evidence that someone is worshipping God ? Are thoughtful , contemplative faces with arms lowered conclusive proof that someone is not worshipping God ?
I agree with Donna . Just singing songs to or about God doesn ’ t make someone a worshipper . But I would argue that being passionate and raising hands as we sing doesn ’ t either !
Can Donna - or any of us for that matter - really look at people in our congregation with our human eyes and tell if they are worshippers of Almighty God or not ? Or have many of us - like Donna - learned a particular use ( or , in my opinion misuse ) of the word “ worship ”
38 November 2024 Subscribe for Free ...