A lot of attention when it comes to both training people as worship leaders and when it comes to preparing and practicing as worship teams goes into making sure that the music is technically on point. That matters of course. The best thing that musicians can do to serve our corporate worship is ensure that they play to a standard which not only avoids being a distraction but is positively helpful.
However, there is more to leading a church in worship than that. This is particularly true for those of us who have moved away from the traditional hymn sandwich. In our church, the worship leader is responsible for much of the first part of the meeting and because we are a charismatic church, we encourage people to be participating in terms of praying, sharing testimony, offering a prophecy, reading Scripture etc. So the worship leaders need to be sensitive to this.
I believe that this means they need to be thinking not just about the songs and helping to lead people well in singing. They need to be thinking about what is happening between the songs and encouraging that. This means that the worship team can help to set the tone and pace of a meeting not just through the music but by being prepared to contribute in other ways as well.
This might mean that they are the first to pray after a song, or pray leading into another song. They can also share prophetic words which encourage others to begin to share too. However, because they have the microphones, they have a lot of visibility, power and responsibility and so they need to be careful about how they use this position. This includes making sure that we move on at the right pace, give opportunity for plenty of participation but also slow down so as not to rush on from a contribution but take time to let it sink in.
So, I would encourage worship leaders to do three things. First, be thinking and praying about what they might say between songs. I don’t think that prayer or prophetic words are more spiritual for being unplanned and completely spontaneous. Secondly, be encouraging the rest of the team to be doing this as well -and talking together before the service, especially where they believe that God is placing something on their heart. Then, as well as practising songs, I’d encourage them to be practising those other things as well so that they’ve been trained and have rehearsed for the links. The best way to do that is to run through a full worship set not just
Faithroots 