To Find a Worship LeaderThe essential traits of that most difficult role.Gordon MacDonald| Topics: | Changes in worship, Hiring, Music, Search committee, Team building, Volunteer recruitment, Worship, Worship planning, Worship service |
| Filters: | Church staff, Elder, Pastor, Worship, Worship leader |
| Purpose: | Worship |
| References: | John 4:23 |
| Date Added: | July 11, 2007 |
 The Pastoral Search Process
This download describes the search committee and its work and provides church members, boards, and search committees with resources that clarify the church’s expectations of the new pastor.
 Managing a Big Ministry with a Small Staff
Whether paid staff or volunteer leaders are managing your children's ministry, wisely dividing roles and responsibilities helps leaders lead without burning out.
The Most Important Criteria
Worship planners need to look beyond taste to theology and effectiveness.
Memorial day
Remember those who gave their lives for our country.
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The not-so-good things: some worship leaders don't quit a song easily and tend to take the endings into mantra-like overtimes. Many seem unaware that the over-50 crowd can physically hurt when they stand too long (pitched floors are deadly on hips, knees, and feet, while stages are flat). Oh, and many worship leaders don't seem to know that worship involves more than music. Thoughtful, sensitive prayer, provocative readings, and soul-stirring liturgies enlarge the menu.
Spotting a good one
You can appreciate why my friend's search committee has a bear of a challenge on its hands. If they sought my advice, here are five things I'd tell them to look for in a new worship leader:
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How the worship leader prays in public. Are the leader's prayers marked by deep reverence? Do they reflect an awareness that every decade of an adult's life brings new issues and preoccupations needing intercession? Some younger people know this; others don't. Are the prayers purposed to accomplish more than just segue between songs?
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The dignity given to public reading of Scripture. The people need to hear the Bible read with a quality that rivals that of a good soloist.
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The songs the worship leader picks. They should be singable (so we can hum them during the work week; sing them if we go to jail, like Paul and Silas). Realistic (not schlocky, with vocabulary we'd never use outside church). Honest (not promising God things we really have no intention of being or doing). Broad (representative of the varied singing traditions of the last several centuries; old songs with new instrumentation is a great idea).
Worship music that speaks to us is both timely and timeless.
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The use of corporate silence and encouragement of historical reflection. Not all worship is done to the beat of a drum. We need expressions that speak to all the senses. And we need connection to the ancient expressions of our faith. Note how the worship leader feels about the great historic traditions of creed, liturgy, and sacramental symbol that remind us that folks have been worshiping for centuries before we arrived.
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How the worship leader lays the carpet for a sermon to reach both heart and mind. Are the worshipers prepared emotionally and theologically to be encouraged, challenged, or reproved?
I have tried to think of the single greatest worship experience I've ever had. It happened, I think, just after midnight on New Year's Eve at the InterVarsity Urbana Missionary Convention of 1976. There was no worship leader. Not even a preacher (which amazes me).
The convention concluded with a Communion service. After the benediction, 17,000 students began to head for the arena portals and their buses for trips back home. Someone in the crowd—not a worship leader, but a worshiper—began the song "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord." It's one where the men sing a line and the women echo back.
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