1. The Praise and Worship Team Leader Is Not Leading nor Engaging This is probably one of the most common errors of a worship team leader I have experienced. In so many churches I have seen the Praise and Worship Team fully engaged in worship but the congregation is not even remotely there yet. I remember a retreat where the Praise and Worship Team leader closed her eyes, raised her arms, smiling and having a good time with God while we were simply spectators watching her. As a Praise and Worship Team leader you must watch the congregation and lead them in worship by engaging them in communication with eye contact or prayer. Your worship at home must differ from the way you LEAD in worship. At home it is only you and God. In church your desire must be to get the congregation to the place where it is between them and God. Your worship cant be inwards but must be outwards. By looking into the congregation you should know when it is time to start a new song, halt the current song, and offer a prayer or a time of silence. I have seen Praise Teams confusing Praise and Worship with a Performance and I probably madethe mistake myselfa couple times. This isnt a drama or stage play. Everything you do must be real and sincere. You are not singingFOR the congregation. You are singingWITH them. Harmonies, Glory Notes, Individual Solo parts have to be kept to a minimum in order to engage the congregation in worship. Remember you want them to listen to Gods voice and prepare them for the message and not so much making them aware of your voice. Having to say that have your family members tape, or snap pictures of you singing maybe at a different event. 2. The Song Choices Dont Speak To the Majority of the Congregation I have visited services where I found the worship set disorderly and unorganized. The songs seemed unfamiliar to the congregation. And some songs were simply not intended for a congregation to sing. Just because your worship service is contemporary doesnt mean the congregation supposed to sing every song currently topping the Christian Charts. Wouldnt you agree that Jason Crabbs song; Sometimes I Cry is not meant for a worship experience but rather then for the radio and as a testimony? The same thing goes for Josh Wilsons; I refuse. A great Praise and Worship Song for your congregation is a song which can be easily picked up by the congregation because it has a lot of catch phrases in the lyrics and repeats itself. A member of the congregation should be able to relate to the song quickly, be able to close his/her eyes and still able to hum along or even now the line of the song. Chris Tomlins: How Great is Our God for example is a perfect worship song while his Indescribable is too hard to sing for the whole congregation. Christian Contemporary Music is a Broad Term. Some of us like Country, others pop and other rock. Your favorite songs arent necessarily the songs meant for your congregation. Again, you are the Praise and Worship Team Leader and leading your congregation in worship should differ from your personal worship which also means that God might put a song on your mind you dont like but that youshould offer to your congregation anyway. In a months time a good Praise and Worship Team Leader offered at least three songs liked by every individual church member. OK Make it two. Dont forget the good ole fashion church hymns. A contemporary Church Service doesnt just have to have contemporary Christian Music. It can also have Hymns. Hymns are written by those who were contemporary before Contemporary Christian Music existed. Always throw a Hymn in a worship set. Dont let those amazing testimony by those who have come before us get untold. You are the Praise and Worship Team Leader and not just the Praise Leader nor just the Worship Leader. Someone taught me once to use Psalm 100 as a guide. This Psalm describes the order of how Praise and Worship should happen. The steps are shouting for Joy, Worshiping the Lord with gladness and joyful songs, knowing who he is, entering his Gate with Thanksgiving because his faithfulness lasts forever. Sometimes Worship Leaders start with Worship instead of with Praise. The first song should alwaysbe a Praise Song. In the middle of your set Your songs should bemeditative but NEVER the first one. Your congregation is simply not ready for worship at the beginning of the service. I realize that three songs are often the cut off line in many Sunday Services across the country but biblical I feel that one cant be ready yet for the word of God. It seems if I followed Psalm 100 I would need five songs. But the Pastor is in charge. We got to do it with the time we have. I also started creating my own themes for my worship sets. The themes were based on what I was seeing or hearing in my fellow church members. One of my themes was for example: Who am I in relation with God? So I picked Friend of God (Michael Gungor) Who am I (Casting Crowns) and You are my King (Newsboys). For a Valentines Theme (LOVE) I picked Yes You have (Leeland), We Will Dance (Dave Ruis) You are my King (Newsboys) and I love You Lord (A cappella). In a Church Setting I would get with the Pastor and ask him what the message of his sermon will be and create my set around that sermon with the guidance of Psalm 100. Singing the same old songs all the time is boring and distracting. At the same time with unfamiliar songs you will have a hard time getting your congregation to a place of worship. So you have to create a mixture with unfamiliar songs and familiar songs introducing only one unfamiliar song every three or four week until it gets familiar. You could also play the unfamiliar song on the congregations arrival as a background so they have heard it at least before they attempt to sing it. 3. The Lyric Is Not Available Even in our computerized times I have seen it happening. The Praise and Worship Team sang a Song and the lyrics were neither available on the screen nor on a song sheet. I also have assumed once that everyone knows the lyric of a familiar song and have not provided a song sheet. You cant assume that everyone knows the song even so you have sang; I LOVE YOU LORD millions of times. Somebody might not know it. Always provide parishioners with a set of Lyrics and make sure that they can read it. Sometimes the print is too small on the paper, sometimes the screen is too far away and sometimes the machine is broken or the lyric is not displayed properly due to human error. If that is the case just read the lyrics before you sing it. I also found providing the congregation with a song sheet is helpful to them. Over and over I heard women telling me that they took the song sheet home and either prayed the song again at home, sang it or even looked it up online. And at times those lyrics to those particular songs were an encouragement to them. I am a big fan of giving out song sheets! Dont start saving money on copies by giving one song sheet for family or one per table. Those few cents extra are really a good investment in the kingdom of God. Remember lyrics should also be provided for the choruses or choruses should be clearly marked on the song sheet. You cant expect everyone knowing the chorus or refrain. Sometimes I alsowish that solo singer provide me with a lyric sheet too so I can hum along or go back laterand sing it at home. 4. The Key Is Too High or Too Low I am the first to admit that my singing range is very limited. I cant sing high notes. But as a Praise and Worship Team Leader I have to ensure that the songs are sung in a comfortable range for everyone. Often worship leader take the songs a lot lower then it was meant to be and the sopranos are left empty. Sometimes songs are also sang too high making it difficult for the man who arent tenors to join in. A Praise and Worship Song Set should be inviting for everyone to sing, even if it is a little uncomfortable for the Worship Team Leader. 5. The Instructions Are Wrong So many times I have been in Church and got actively engaged in specific songs and was almost in the holiest of holiest and then the Praise and Worship Team Leader made a motion to quiet down the congregation so the song could fade out. Or I have been quietly meditating on a song and we were encouraged to lift our hands or to sing it with more joy or something like that. When I discussed earlier that the Praise and Worship Team Leader should be leading I meant he should be leading every individual to the tabernacle. He should be leading me to a place where God hears me and I hear God. This is a very tricky job as he is not leading only me but also 100 other people. The trick is not to tell the congregation what to do but providing the place for them by picking up signals from the congregation. He/ she can only do that when hisher worship is outwards and when he looks into the congregation and is in tune with them. And that can be done by prayerful choosing the songs, by talking to the preacher and by asking God to use him/her as a tool and not seeing his service as a performance or stage setting but rather then as a way to provide directions for people. At one retreat I felt like I was asked by God not to sing along at all and just to listen and meditate. So never say : I see only four hands lifted and wonder aloud what is going on just communicate with God while you lead in worship. 6. The Form of Worship Is Getting Old A Contemporary Service can have so many different forms of worship that it never should get old. Instead of always showing the lyric on the big screengive a song sheet. Have someone perform sing language to the songs. Maybe instead of a soloask someone do dance. Instead of a prayer, read a short story or devotion. Psalms can be used as responsive readings. A skit can leave people with shouting for joy. Instead of asking people to standencourage them to engage in a posture of worship. If it is an informal setting like the ones I was asked to lead Praise and Worship it is OK to laugh and eat while reflecting about the Glory of God. Be creative! 7. Instruments Are Out of Tune or Song Leader is off Key Take time to tune your instruments before the worship. If you happen to start a song off key, there is no shame in stopping and starting the song over again. Anything what can give the congregation security to get to the place of worship should be established ahead of time. If you are unfamiliar with the song get familiar or enlist someone else to sing it with the congregation. 8. Praise and Worship Team Leader Doesnt Play an Instrument Having to say that instruments are always better then not being able to play ones. While I had guitar and piano lessons I dont really play an instrument so I am often limited to CDs in order to lead in praise and worship. It is OK because I can now download musicand make my own CD instead of fast forwarding and rewinding to a certain song like years ago. However for example Michael W Smith; Angus Dei goes on and on and on and when he was recording itm God was probably right there with them. But when you do this in your little group we may not need to repeat Hallelujah 50 times, or maybe we need to repeat it 60 times but the lengths of the song on the CD doesnt let me play with it or respond to my fellow Christians as I want to and need to. With an Instrument you dont have the problem because you can stop or extend the song to however long you need to. If You happen to be a Praise and Worship Team Leader without the ability to play an instrument then ask someone to step up along side with you or be familiar with the song ahead of times. Carrie Underwood for example sings a total different version of; How Great Thou Art then the Gaithers You have to not only adjust your song sheet accordingly but also you have to be aware of long repeats, key changes, breaks and possibly the artists Thank You at the end of the song. I found out the hard way that good listening music may not be good singing music. And I had to learn to engage more when I was playing a CD instead of having a person accompany me. 9. Praise And Worship Team Leader Is Not Comfortable Ditch the high heels if you thread you are going to fall. If you think the pants make you look fat wear something else instead. If you think your blouse is too low cut it probably is. Change in something more conservative. Dont worry about pantsuit! If you are more comfortable in a clean jeans then wear that. At the same time even if the dress code is casual and you feel uncomfortable in casual clothes wear your suit. You shouldnt be worrying about anything else then leading your congregation to the place of worship. The more you are distracted about your hair, skirt lengths; panty house the less you can focus on your congregation and then you will be the distraction. 10. A Praise and Worship Team Leader Is Upset About Suggestion and Comments Here is the thing, if someone takes the time and talks to you after the service or worship about your worship set, songs or ideas youdid your job. I never go to a pastor, worship team leader, bible study leader with a suggestion unless I care for it or like it. I know that a lot of Praise and Worship Team leader struggle because someone always doesnt like a certain song or the way it was done. Nevertheless if a conversation arises, it means the parishioner was participating in worship and that means your job was done. Listen carefully to the critic, instruction or suggestion and see if you can turn it into something positive in your next worship set. And thank the person for their concern. She/ he didnt have to come and tell you but chose to do so. In the end being a Praise and Worship Team Leader comes with an awesome and honorable responsibility. You will do fine if you remember that beingin front of the congregation is not a stage settingbut rather a place of worship you and your congreation want to enter. You are just leading the way.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:52:49 +0000
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