Are we leaving people behind?
July 10, 2007
I came across Kevin Richardson’s new blog Worship Rising this morning by way of a keyword search on worship.1 In a post from yesterday, he writes, “I feel like the band went somewhere the crowd didn’t, and we’d been abandoned at the starting line.” From a worship leadership standpoint, Kevin asks the question, “Are we leaving people behind?”
That’s an excellent question each and every worship leader should ask frequently. Musicians are intimately involved in making music. We usually know the songs well enough to lead without much help from scores or charts. We’ve rehearsed it enough to know when, where, and how transitions will be made. We trust the other musicians with whom we’re leading to fulfill their roles as they’ve been rehearsed. We can “do” the music on autopilot. But worship isn’t about the music. It’s about leading people to the presence of Christ who will, in turn, escort us into the Holy of Holies. And if we do in fact go about our business on autopilot, there’s a very real chance that we’ll leave many in our congregations behind.
The Church is a dynamic creature. Some in our congregations are more spiritually mature than we are. Others are just beginning their journey. The spectrum of age differences in our churches is the widest it has ever been. And still it is our job as worship leaders to do more than just produce a concert of sacred content. We can’t assume they’re following. We have to help them follow; we have to help them worship. The old adage is appropriate here: If you’re the leader and you look around and no one’s following you, you’re just taking a walk.
Returning to Kevin’s post, we read that he had these thoughts while he was visiting a church. He wasn’t leading worship at the time and he still felt as though he and the rest of the congregation had been left behind. So this isn’t an issue where the worship leaders know more or are more capable or are more tuned in with God than the congregation is. It’s an issue of sensitivity and willingness to worship God in an atmosphere of unity.
Impacting the Kingdom through Worship,
- By the way, it’s quite an interesting prospect to do a keyword search on the term “worship.” I have an automatic search set up, so any time a blog or news item mentions worship, it comes across my computer. And the things that are returned in that search aren’t always rated E for Everyone. [back]
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