I used to believe that a worship team’s role within a church service was to praise while the pastor’s role was to preach. That worship, would cultivate a throne room experience so that God’s word could then be planted and nurtured within the hearts of the congregation through the teaching of His word. But recently I’ve discovered that this just isn’t true.
The truth is, there is a need for preaching within the worship experience. It is not enough to simply invite someone to the throne room of God, you must bring them into the presence of God. In worship there can be this, “if you build it they will come mentality“, but the truth is, if they want to come to it then they will, but if they don’t, then they won’t. No matter how grand the experience, if they want to worship God they will be there prepared with an offering of praise.
“I used to believe that a worship team’s role within a church service was to praise while the pastor’s role was to preach”
Imagine you received a free invitation to your favorite {insert form of entertainment}. If the opportunity reached the core of your motivation it wouldn’t matter if the tickets were for the back row or the front, because you want to be there you will accept them without hesitation.
In reality, a congregation is mixed with hearts of all kinds of perspectives. Not responding to the invitation does not indicate their level of love for the performance, but rather their understanding of God’s presence in that moment. Likewise, this is not something to be critical of, all of us fall short of this understanding. Even our attempts as worship leaders is fashioned by our current theology, which is constantly developing. Therefore, the reason I say this is to present the true opportunity in worship; to bring a glimpse of heaven to earth, to reveal the presence of God to the people of God. Or as Matt Redman puts it, “The people of God in the presence of God pouring out the praises of God.”
This creates a monumental opportunity for the entire church body within the worship experience. Even from the pews the congregation has a vital role in revealing the throne room of God to the world.
“Every knee on heaven and on earth shall bow and confess that Jesus is Lord” – Philippians 2:10
This is not a suggestion for worship leaders, this is a picture of truth for the church. And as worship leaders we are to preach the truth, through the gifts and arts that God has given us so that His heavenly glory might be seen here on earth. We cannot assume that every soul that wanders into our worship service knows the love of God, we must proclaim the love of God so that they leave the service having met the Father, confessed the Son, and believing the Holy Spirit.
“So don’t just give your congregation the lyrics to sing, give them the King to sing about.”
This approach to leading worship says, “when a heart has something to sing about it will sing about it.” So don’t just give your congregation the lyrics to sing, give them the King to sing about. He is worthy of praise, and when you preach of who He is and what He has done then He will be praised.