When we launch into a worship set at church, I uncomfortably think, “Are we worshipping? Or just entertaining the church?”
When I led worship (I’ve stepped down for a bit of a sabbatical lately), I used to get really nervous before stepping up on that stage. I know that’s normal, and anyone who does any sort of public speaking or singing will tell you that they always get at least a little bit nervous. It’s natural.
Some days I was way too nervous. I realized that instead of focusing on that audience of one, I was focusing on the couple hundred people out in front of me.
Worship leaders are supposed to be focusing on God, and on the worship aspect of all that we do. It might be best if we just ignore you completely. You can come along with us if you’d like.
It’s really hard to not focus on the people.
Usually, when you’re on stage looking out, the first people you see are the overzealous worshippers. Those that fight for the front row and have hands raised high the entire service. They may even drop to their knees a time or two. You could probably do If You’re Happy and You Know It and these people would be happy.
Then you look past them and see the rest of the congregation. There are a few that genuinely worship, but the majority stand there looking bored, arms crossed, stifling a yawn. (I confess, this is often me.)
“Alright, here we are. Impress us. This better be good,” their intense stares seem to say.
All eyes are on the worship leader, when they should be on God. Lead us into God’s presence, and make sure the music doesn’t suck while you’re at it.
No pressure.
Worship leading is a tough job. There’s a lot of pressure put on their shoulders. When I’m out in the congregation, struggling with my worship issues, I remind myself it’s not always the worship leader’s fault. Sure, there are some legitimate worship issues, but if it’s just “I’m not crazy about this song,” I shouldn’t blame the leader.
I try to put myself back in their shoes. It’s scary up there.
Church, worship leaders are not there to entertain you. It’s not the purpose of worship. If you just “didn’t get into it”, I’m so sorry you missed the point of worship.
Just yesterday, I was guilty of all this. A song was played that I’m a little bit tired of. I confess that I had a slight eye rolling as the first verse started and I thought, “A-GAIN?”
I forgot what the point of it all was as I was lost in the “entertain me” mentality.
Forgive me Lord, for getting lost in myself one more time.
Question: Have you been guilty of the “entertain me” mentality?
Yesterday, at chapel service at my guard unit, the chaplain who usually leads worship played the same songs that he’s played the past couple of drills. I remember thinking “all right! (sarcastically) these songs again!” Then I remember how shallow I sounded when I told my non-Christian friend back at the office that “chapel service was pretty awesome, except we sang the same songs as last time”… So yeah, guilty as charged. The fact I can still go to church in some form despite being away from home (and being paid for it, no less) should be enough for me without needing to be entertained as well.
I’m guilty of that too. I get annoyed when the same songs are done over and over. Then I remind myself how hard it is to work new songs into the set with volunteer musicians who have little time during the week to spend learning new music.
One of the things I have been wondering lately is if there is room for engertainment in the Church and whee is I the line?
I wonder that too. I do think there needs to be a distinction between entertainment and worship. But yes, there is nothing wrong with being entertained by music in the church. It is such a fine line.
To often I judge the service by if I was entertained. Was the music good, did we laugh? Was there touching stories? In reality the best services could be when I was beat up and stomped on by the message and went away feeling like crap. We often misjudge because we look for what we want instead of what we need.
Oh, what a good point. I often walk away from church feeling beat up and maybe that’s a good thing. Never thought of it that way.
My husband has done some lay speaking from time to time, and he gets sort of bothered when people only tell him things like, “What a great sermon.” He says. “If I didn’t make you uncomfortable, I didn’t do my job.”
This is cool- I never thought about how being a worship leader is a tough job.
It’s making me think about if, as a congregation member, I have a legitimate reason to not like the songs (because we sing it too much, I don’t like the music, something’s wrong with the theology) then during the worship music is not the time to think about those objections. During worship music we should do our best to focus on God and not critique the music.
Well said. I think the congregation does have a right to not like the songs, but let’s not dwell on it during worship.