When I read the Bible, I don’t see worship leader anywhere.
I wish I did.
Believe me, I’ve looked hard.
I even tried submitting a verse for the next ESV Study Bible update:
“And King David continued the rest of his earthly ministry as a worship leader, making bank, and writing songs on his harp for the people of Israel to declare in battle.”
Nobody wanted to use that.
I wish it was mentioned in the Bible because it’s sort of what I do. In one way or another, my life revolves around being a worship leader.
Worship Is My Life
I write worship songs. I sing worship songs. I lead worship services. I lead worship bands. I write a worship blog. I listen to worship music. I talk about worship. I attend worship conferences. I read worship books. I worship God. Some might even argue that I worship worship.
If Pastor Rick Warren suddenly announced that worship leading was no longer necessary and that churches should fire their worship leaders, I’d be a bit depressed. If that happens, you might find me hanging out under your local city bridge, scavenging for some grub, holding a sign that says “Worship Leader For Hire”.
Help me out, please.
In all seriousness, why is worship such a big deal these days? We have a music industry surrounding it. We have worship pastors who have it as their job. We have songwriters who make a fine living because of it.
Why is worship leading such a big deal?
While being a worship leader isn’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, you can bet your life it has Biblical precedent.
I believe worship leaders can function within any of the five-fold ministry gifts.
- Pastoral worship leaders – approach worship leading with a sensitivity to the people they lead. They have a heart for their development as worshipers.
- Evangelistic worship leaders – have a heart for those ‘outside’ the church. They may go where others won’t in order to bring the lost into the presence of God.
- Teaching worship leaders – feel a strong sense of the “why” behind the “what”. They want to ensure the congregation understands what they are doing – the meaning behind corporate worship.
- Prophetic worship leaders – clearly hear the voice of God for their congregation and speak or sing it over them.
- Apostolic worship leaders – break new ground and release other worship leaders into their calling.
Let’s face it.
As long as we have the Church, we’ll have worship leaders.
As long as God is glorious on the earth, we’ll have worship leaders.
It’s a sacred privilege and responsibility.
But life is too short and God too glorious for us to merely entertain the Church with our talent.
We need leaders who:
- Direct our focus to Jesus
- Write songs that give expression to the church
- Love Jesus with all their hearts
- Have a passion for spreading Christ’s fame
- Help us experience God in a deeper way
We don’t need leaders who:
- Steal God’s glory
- Distract people’s attention
- Worship worship
- Don’t know God
- Are all about themselves
Worship Leader, we need you. We need you to rise up in your holy calling – to decrease as the glory of God increases through your ministry.
Now it’s your turn. Why is being a worship leader biblical?
[Image via JMWK]
Those who “worship worship.” That is a great line. I am still convinced many of us have idolized our worship music. You are right; our leaders need to help us move away from the shallowness of merely singing songs we like and move towards becoming more like the people God wants us to be.
Thanks for the post. Stay blessed…john
Thanks Jon! How can we keep ourselves from idolizing worship music? It’s tough to do with all the great artists and songs out there, you know?
Probably just remember that every song writer is broken and truths in worship music should either come from broken or humble places, regardless if the writer intended it that way.
Just keep focus on the cross and I think that will do the work for you.
Isaiah and Revelation make it pretty clear that worship is always happening… and although the term ‘worship leader’ may not be found in the bible, you can certainly find people leading and worshiping together. Maybe it’s just semantics. We have to some extent glorified the worship leader’s role and the real danger becomes when this supersedes our goal of worship.
Great point, Rob. We are in danger of glorifying the role of a worship leader. We need to be careful not to lose the heart in the process.
100% on. Pure #worship #pwnage
I’ve always thought that the notes preceding many of the Psalms refer to the worship leader. For example, before Psalm 6 we see a note for a person that the NIV translates as “the director of music” and the ESV translates as “the choirmaster.” To me, these notes tell us that the Psalms were indeed intended for corporate worship and there was a person in Biblical times who led the group in worship.
That’s a good point, Ben. Also got me thinking about the Levites in the Old Testament and those David appointed to lead in music full time. Maybe not “worship leader” but definitely a role related to music and worship.
Thanks for sharing!
As I study the Psalms and the life of David, I too am leaning towards the reference to The Director of Music as the worship leader.
I was going to point out the same thing.
1 Chronicles 9:33 states that the musicians were given rooms in the temple and had no other responsibilities. This to me states that musicians/worship leaders were extremely important for the work of God.
Also reminds me of when King Jehoshaphat sent the musicians and singers in front of the army into battle. Coincidence? I think not.
Good point, Scott!
a good post, and very much something that has been on my heart for a long time. as a now – new-mid-new (!!) Christian, I am starting to see horrendous amount of ego in Christian music circles (not that secular music doesn’t suffer this of course – but then – they aren’t necessarily called to be glorifying God and nothing else) Getting up on stage and being spirit-led with worship is difficult, and it requires commitment from both congregation and ‘worship leaders’ – but closing your eyes and repeating the first verse (not forgetting the immortal ‘First verse again everyone’) just seems SO disingenuous, and is probably something that makes people who don’t know all the songs feel very uncomfortable, and as if they are doing something wrong.
This leads to me to my final point, each church seems to have its own little cliquey set of songs. This infuriates me more than anything else, because there’s nothing like going to a unfamiliar church, and the whole regular congregation sings along to some bouncy number, and you’re standing there like someone in a pub that didn’t get the joke. As far as I am aware, exclusivity and making people uncomfortable is not the Christian message.
Nick, thanks for your thoughts. In some ways, I don’t think you can escape exclusivity when it comes to worship songs. There are so many songs that everyone just will not know every single song. I don’t think worship leaders are trying to exclude people, by any means. But it is the worship leader’s job to read the room and seek to engage everyone in a common expression of worship. One way to do that is to sing familiar hymns that most everyone knows. Otherwise, you just need to teach them the song and choose songs that are singable.
Also, the repeating of the first verse – interesting point. I don’t think anyone repeats a verse because the congregation sings it wrong. It’s usually just to emphasize the truth that the verse is describing.
Thanks for your thoughts, man!
Great post. It is a classic conundrum the contemporary church has gotten into with calling worship music, “worship” and allowing our people to compartmentalize the meaning of that word. Love what @djchuang is doing over at Worship Leader mag to facilitate that larger convo of a worship leaders role, responsibilities, & opportunities with respect to the evolving role of that presence and personality on stage every Sunday,
Thanks Kenny. DJ is doing a great job. What do you mean by “personality” on stage?
Not gonna give away all my content here for a podcast and article coming up, but “MUSIC DIRECTOR” is in the Bible…like several times. That means that there was once an office of simply musical direction. Why would we think leading music is not a ministry when it is described as such in many passages of scripture?
Also, did you know that the way we use “pastor” is not biblical either?
I look forward to more discussion of this. But, I suspect when looked at fully we see worship leading is at an all time low as far as a “profession” where it is an easy target these days. No one questions “business pastor” “youth pastor” “fill in the blank” pastor as not being biblical. Why is worship leader such a problem for people when we do not look at all of biblical leadership?
I would suspect that a lot of people are not aware of the pastoral role of a worship leader. They see a musician who sings songs about God but don’t realize what else goes into it.
Why is the way we use “pastor” not Biblical? That may warrant a longer response than a comment
I think that being a “worship leader” is less about playing music on Sunday’s, but more about knowing the heartbeat of those you lead and putting together a service that has an environment catered to the specific needs and seasons of that group. Not meaning, we decide what God’s worship should look like, but rather, how can we create an environment which allows the spirit to have max exposure to people’s hearts. The music is secondary. Relationship is primary. If you don’t have a relationship with the congregation you’re leading, it’s more of a concert at that point. Not always. There are exceptions. But for the music leader, the primary goal should be having a relationship with those you’ve chosen to lead.
Dave, that’s awesome. How would you suggest we improve our “relationship building” as worship leaders? I think that’s a great discussion to have.
Nice thoughtful post…good to keep in mind when we’re tempted to fall into the pit of worshiping worship/music/ministry
Great post, bro! I gave this a lot of thought some time ago and though the idea of a “worship leader” seems novel, the idea of a pastor given oversite over a specific area of ministry within the church is not. Personally helpful to me was your explanation of the 5-fold gifts – oddly enough, I walk firmly in all 5 as you describe them! I suppose that was encouraging, and reignited my vision for how to progress with the ministry from here on, too! Thanks!
Dude, that’s awesome. Glad it was an encouragement to you. Keep doing what you’re doing!
David,
I know this is late, but thank you for the article. I passed it along to my pastor and the other leaders in my church, as well as to a worship leading forum for the Vineyard churches which I am a part of.
Excellent thoughts and worth repeating.
Mark
Mark, I apologize for the lateness of my reply
Thanks so much for sharing! What Vineyard church are you a part of?
Hi David,
I’m the worship pastor at the Vineyard church in Franklin, TN. Been here for almost 8 years. I really enjoy your blog and often share it with worship leader friends and members of my team.
Blessings,
Mark