Chris Sayburn
From Worship Central // Leeds Adviser
One of my passions is to see people who lead musical worship do so with integrity, understanding and faithfulness. I’ve just been reflecting on some of the ‘traps’ out there ready to lure/snatch/hold unguarded worship leaders
These are in no particular order (apart from first one) as they are all equally damaging.
- Forgetting that it’s all about Jesus, not you
- Thinking Christianity and songs of worship were only birthed 20 years ago and anything old is bad/irrelevant
- Not celebrating and releasing those ‘better’ than you in the team
- Choosing Songs/Keys on the premis that it makes your voice sound good
- Treating worship leading as just another job/role that you tick off each week
- Always striving to get your name out there in the hope it will lead to bigger and better things (i.e festivals/conferences/CD)
- Forgetting that leading people in worship is as much a pastoral ministry if not more than a musical one
- Trying to manipulate things when worship is not going well – I.e guilt tripping / hyping / playing harder faster etc…
- Not spending time prepping, praying and playing through set lists anymore
- Having your identity wrapped around being ‘up front’ or getting that CD out
- Not caring about the lives of those you lead in worship week in week out / only turning up when your leading
- Thinking only ‘Spontaneity’ = Spirit led
- Not recognising you lead worship 24/7 – people are watching how you lead worship in the pub, out with the lads, the way you react to situations, what you put on Facebook/Twitter etc..,
- Thinking all worship leaders are automatically called to write songs
- Forgetting that you can’t lead people to places you haven’t been yourself
- Thinking you are irreplaceable and worship won’t take place if the band don’t play
- Giving a sermon before each song to prove to people you do know some theology despite what people think/have said
- Leading worship to satisfy your insecurities rather than glorifying God and investing in His church
What traps have you experienced/seen that you could share to help others ‘watch their step’?
I had a read over the original list and to me it looks pretty comprehensive, I wouldn't disagree with anything on there and there's not much more I can think off straight away. One thing I'd add along the lines of:
"Thinking Christianity and songs of worship were only birthed 20 years ago and anything old is bad/irrelevant"
...is perhaps broadening it to "liking songs written in one particular era and thinking all others are bad/irrelevant." I've seen this from everywhere between thinking if something's written more than a decade ago it's too old, to thinking we should only sing songs written around the 80's, to thinking if a song was written after 1900 and doesn't fit on organ then it's got some form of satanic influence!
The only thing I'd question slightly is the "Choosing Songs/Keys on the premis that it makes your voice sound good". It's the key part I'd question - if you're choosing it to make you sound good and solely for that purpose it's a definite no-no. If it's because it's something like a new song and it's important for people be able to hear clearly to pick it up, sometimes adjusting the key based on what suits your voice best can be good from a practical perspective. But I guess those are two very different choices - just inward choices that other people won't necessarily know about.
"Giving a sermon before each song to prove to people you do know some theology despite what people think/have said"
This is something that does drive me nuts a bit - sure there's a time and a place for it and I'm not saying short words or prayers should never happen! But when it's being done every song (or even just reading out the lyrics of the song in a slightly different wording, I mean we're going to sing it anyway!) it just gets overkill...
Hi Michael
Thanks for the input - I really like your thought
'If it's because it's something like a new song and it's important for people be able to hear clearly to pick it up, sometimes adjusting the key based on what suits your voice best can be good from a practical perspective.'
- Never thought of it that way, that's a really great point.
I guess how I try and think of it on an overall level is it very much depends where the heart is, and sometimes that's just something that we can only know ourselves. There's things that could be done like the above for very practical, good purposes and those same things could be, with the wrong motives, unhelpful things.
The obvious one that falls in this category I guess is spontaneity - sometimes being spirit led does mean being spontaneous! But equally it'd be rather easy to pull of the spontaneity as a complete fake when it's really just due to lack of preparation. Chances are no-one else would really know the difference. But there is a big difference in where the heart is and that's the main point.
I also think this works well with things that go wrong or seem to go wrong - if you pray about doing x y and z songs and actually it all seems to go pear shaped, that's not a bad mark on you. In fact that's much better (in my opinion) than doing safe songs a b and c and nothing seeming to go wrong...!
Nice post Chris. Off the top of my head:
- falling into the trap of thinking 'oh no, if I'm not doing THAT new/super-anointed/cutting edge song then my worship offering will be inadequate'
- thinking that as I am doing THAT new/super-anointed/cutting edge song then our church is moving forward in worship, even though none of the congregation can sing it
- getting bored of songs (because for every time the average congregation member sings it, you've sung it or heard it 6 times) and so dropping them even if they would help the congregation worship
- forgetting that you're there to serve the congregation with songs that will help them praise and encounter God, not have them serve your ego.
- spending more time improving your musical chops than the depth and quality of your life with God.
- getting competitive with other churches / festivals re worship - which can either be feeling insecure that your church isn't as exciting as Soul Survivor Festival, or proud that your worship team can nail 'Jesus Saves' and the church down the road can't quite manage it with only a banjo and flute available to them.
The last one's a good one - I remember a member of our church coming up to me just after she'd been on HTB's Focus week and telling me with wide excited eyes that the worship there was 'amazing, just so anointed, just incredible, like, wow, like AMAZING!'
I felt an overwhelming urge to say, 'yeah, and the worship here on the Sunday you missed was pretty special as well' but restrained myself and managed to mutter something encouraging... :)
ha, Matt! Classic.
Thanks for inputting mate - great thoughts as always!
The '- spending more time improving your musical chops than the depth and quality of your life with God.' was a big one for me starting up - I remember thinking that if I could nail the techniques, worship would happen. And while it's important we are musically capable - to at least a point we are not a distraction (and there is nothing wrong with wanting to get better) nothing can substitue investing in real relationship with God. This is what makes worship come alive to me - I worship someone I'm in relationship with not just a theory.
I suppose like Michael was saying above - it's a matter of the heart and the motivation by which we do stuff.
Hope you and the family are well.
Chris.
Great post Chris, love everything you've said.
Also agree with Matt in relation to the "If I'm not singing that new, super-anointed song then I'm not moving forward in worship".
It is so easy to fall into that trap, forgetting that what we need is to serve the congregation, not just our own musical tastes and desires.
Alex
Thanks Alex :)
But come on now mate, you've been leading a long time - you must have some nuggets to throw out there :D
Chris.
Good point Chris...
I would say that the trap that is easy to fall into is believing that as a worship leader we are responsible for making a way into the presence of God.
We do not have that responsibility as that is what Jesus did for us on the cross. The way into the Presence of God is open already. We as worship leaders only need to point to Jesus and follow him into the presence.
The prayer I always pray before I lead is this: " Jesus Christ, by Your Holy Spirit, lead us into the Presence of the Father." (I have Sam Hargreaves to thank for that prayer!) It is a simple acknowledgement that we can do nothing to "make a way" into His presence, but rather that we are relying on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to enter into His presence...
Not sure that fully explains what I'm thinking, but it is bedtime for the kids and I should probably be helping with that... ;-)
Alex
See Alex we could have missed out on that mate! Great stuff and a great reminder!
In fact, I was listening to an old 'GodPod' podcast yesterday with Tim Hughes as guest. The subject was 'worship' and Tim asked - who leads our worship - The Spirit, Jesus, the WL? etc... some really good thoughts came out from it - you can check it out here http://sptc.htb.org.uk/godpod?page=3 (Episode 30)
Chris
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Would genuinely value some input on this. We all lead in different contexts and life situations - we could be a real wealth of suport to each other in keeping sharp.
Is there anything from the original list you would add/takeaway?
Chris