Seven Important Pointers for Worshippers ...

I read an article this week by J. Lee Grady,
'Seven Things I've Always Wanted to Say to Worship Leaders' http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones


Excellent Article! I appreciate Mr. Grady’s perspective. I have not seen it all when comes to Sunday morning drills. I have been at the same church for ten years with the same worship leader and an amazing worship experience every time. Still I recognize that his observations are important points for worship leaders to consider. However, it also made me think of seven important pointers for worshippers.


1. Come with a shout! Release worship leaders from the duty of ‘pumping you up to praise’. If the act of salvation is not enough to stoke your fires of spiritual passion, to keep you shouting day after day (especially when we come together to worship the LORD), it is doubtful that the prompting of any person will achieve that objective.


2. Create content. It is important to sing songs with content – and that are theologically correct. However, it is also important to create content. During the chorus of “Ooh, Ooh, Ooh!” or “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” you have a perfect opportunity to sing your own song to the LORD, ‘I love You Jesus’ or ‘There’s nobody like You’. By all means, do not be a distraction – it is corporate worship after all – but do make the songs personal to you.


3. Don’t look for a concert. True worshippers worship rather than observe. We want the worship team to play skilfully, but they are not there to entertain us. Our focus is Jesus – not the worship leader, the worship team or other worshippers.


I once had someone comment on how much I seem to enjoy worship. If I am honest, I was taken aback as I wondered why they were watching me during worship instead of focusing on Jesus. I simply responded, ‘Close your eyes … you will be amazed by how much you see.’


4. Repetition is not always a bad thing. There are times when repetition is just that – meaningless verbalizations done for the effect of sound or to draw a reaction from the congregation. However, there are times when repetition becomes a vital step in helping someone to move past lip service and head knowledge to heart inscription and life application.


5. Don’t be too sensitive. We certainly do not want to create deafness by bursting the eardrums of church attendees. However, as a worshipper, let’s not be hyper-sensitive. There are times for softness and times to ‘crank it up’. Taking into account my pre-Christ and current Christian life, I have been to sporting events, parties, clubs and concerts and have never heard anyone say, ‘Please keep it down, it is too loud.’ Certainly there is a greater cause for all of our resounding noise than the raucous which is raised at a football game, concert or party.


6. Learn the lyrics. It is great to have the words up so that all can follow along (especially for visitors). And proofreading, that is a must. However, [and this is for the regular church attendees] unless it is a brand new song that is just being introduced into your praise and worship experience, learn the lyrics. If we can walk out of the grocery store humming the ‘hook’ to some secular song that we never heard before, surely we can learn the words to the chorus of the worship songs that we sing.


7. Honor the Worship and the Word. There is nothing ruder than a individual who repeatedly shows up fifteen minutes into praise and worship, ‘sliding past’ other worshippers and disrupting the experience. Be present, engaged and on time for all aspects of the service. Worship does not end with the last song and it does not begin with the Word. It begins with us – and then the worship, the word, the greeters, the ushers, the teachers, the nursery workers and parking lot attendants all become part of our worship experience. But, we each have an individual responsibility.


Like Mr. Grady, I am not a worship leader, and you would not want to hear me on a keyboard or with a microphone. But I believe we would honor God and the leaders He has placed in our lives if we applied these principles to our praise.