The Complete Worship Leader

sinner.

Introduction

The worship service is the most important event in the local church, and the engine that drives all programming. Church health depends on what happens in that experience. If the worship service is deteriorating, growth in other ministries will be temporal and marginal. When all is said and done, dynamic worship services produce dynamic churches.

Yet, dynamic worship is not merely a church growth factor. Worship is the reason for the existence of the church. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9–10).[1] Evangelism is gossiping the gospel to our family, friends, and neighbors. This boasting in the Lord is what worship is all about. We declare through the arts, symbol, and language what the Lord has done for us. Some people say that we should praise God for who he is, not because of what he can do for us. But this is an unfortunate distinction. We only know who God is because of what he has created and redeemed, in essence, what he has done. With this consideration, the local church is one of the best places for evangelism. This is where we proclaim Jesus Christ as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.[2]

For this important event to succeed, we need dynamic leadership. The purpose of this book is to describe the process of becoming a complete worship leader; the participle is intentional. Worship leading is a process in that we are always discovering the God who has revealed himself and what he has to say about worship. We are always trying to figure out how to engage the people of God in active participation.

In the phrase a complete worship leader, I am referring to the congruity that is required in worship leading. This consists of four elements: theology, discipleship, artistry, and leadership. Effective worship leading brings together these elements. The worship leader who does not possess attri-butes from these four categories is at best impaired. The major sections of this work will focus on becoming a theo-logian, a disciple, an artist, and a leader. By mastering these four categories, the ordinary worship leader will become a complete worship leader.

Within these categories there will be two chapters that summarize these sections. In part one (becoming a theo-logian) we will look at revelation and redemption. In part two (becoming a disciple) we will look at salvation and pro-c-lamation. In part three (becoming an artist) we will look at appreciation and creation. In the last section (becoming a leader) we will look at demonstration and participation. Two additional chapters pertaining to leadership conclude this work.

This book is based on research and a personal journey. I write as one who leads worship in the local church. I have learned what to avoid in worship leading. Equally important, I have discovered principles that enrich worship leadership. May this work influence our worship in the body of Christ. May it be used by God, in a practical way, to help senior pastors, worship leaders, and others with the most important event that will happen in their churches this week.

Introduction

to Part One

Every worship leader must become a theologian. Theology is important because it deals with our ideas about God. It makes a difference how we worship God. William H. Willimon, in his book Worship As Pastoral Care states:

To ask the theological question is simply to ask, What does our worship say about God? or the corollary, What does God say to us about our worship? Surely this is the toughest and most basic question to be asked, but, curiously, it is often the last question we ask. If we think about our worship at all, usually we think in terms of, What do I want from our worship? or, What do my people want from our worship? without daring to be so bold as to ask, What does God want from our worship? Is our worship the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; or is it the worship of Baal, Aphrodite, and Cupid? Does our worship have integrity when measured by the biblical standards for what our prayer and praise should be? So much of our worship is self-centered, mundane, and tame.

How are we to be faithful to the gospel; how do we know the difference between secular idolatry and Christian liturgy unless we ask, and in some measure answer, the theological question?[3]

One of my professors, Dallas Willard, said in a lecture that we live at the mercy of our ideas. This is especially true when it comes to our ideas about God and worship. Our theology must be accurate if our worship is to be accurate. An intentional neglect of the God who has revealed himself will degenerate into idolatry. The premise, worship is not initiated by us, will begin this discussion of becoming a theologian. God initiates worship, not us. God has revealed himself through what has been classified by theologians as general revelation and special revelation. When I speak of special revelation from this point on, I will refer to it as redemption.

General revelation refers to the knowledge that we have as the result of God creating the cosmos and the moral conscience within each human being. The term general revelation is used in that by very nature of living in this world, all will experience this whether believer or not. This is the starting point for a theology of worship.

In chapter one, I will address not only general revelation but also the topic of idolatry. Every human being is a worshiper. The question is not are we worshiping but what are we worshiping? Romans 1 addresses the issue of idolatry as fundamentally an issue of rebellion.

In the second chapter, I will address the topic of redemption. In that the unregenerate human being fails to worship God and in that God holds us accountable for our idolatry, we must be born again if we desire to worship the living God. For the nation of Israel, the exodus was essential to worship. For the Christian, the death and resurrection of Christ are essential to worship. As the apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:17, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.[4] Therefore, true worship is only possible for those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

one

Revelation

"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Heb. 11:3). Worship is initiated by the God who has revealed himself. The psalmist says, The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world" (Ps. 19:1–4).

Becoming a complete worship leader begins with appreciating the God of creation. It is this God who creates that gives us inspiration for our own creativity. It is the God of the cosmos who prompts us to worship.

Many churches have altogether lost the mystery in worship. And the problem does not lie with God being overly familiar to us. Some people would make the argument that the more familiar we are with something, the more likely we are to be bored. This is not true. When we look at a rose and inhale its wonderful scent, are we not amazed? So it should be with our relationship with God. The more we know of God, the more astonished we are with his love. The problem with modern Christianity is not familiarity with God but ignorance, unresponsiveness, and apathy.[5]

When we look at the leaves bursting forth from a silver maple, the Creator is trying to get our attention. Our pathetic blindness restrains us from seeing God. Worship begins by encountering the God who is there. This is known as general revelation, because whether one is a believer or not, every human being by nature of living in this world receives the goods.[6] In his book Engaging with God, David Peterson states, Acceptable worship does not start with human intuition or inventiveness, but with the action of God.[7] Our understanding of this truth is imperative if we are to rightly understand the topic of worship.

God said, You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below (Exod. 20:3–4).[8] There was to be a clear distinction between the gods made with human hands and the Lord God Almighty. God’s people would know the difference by paying attention to what God revealed about himself. The only way they could worship in spirit and in truth was to know the One whom they were seeking to worship.

Theology is about discovery, not invention. We do not make up a god; we discover the God who is there. J. I. Packer has stated that theology is for doxology and devotion.[9]

It is vital that we become childlike, engaging all our senses to appreciate the Creator. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you (Neh. 9:6). Having eyes to see God’s creation is needed to become a complete worship leader.

Poets are often inspired by nature. One of my favorite poems is Polishing the Petoskey Stone by Luci Shaw. In it, she describes a Petoskey stone, which, after being rubbed with the hands, begins to take on the appearance of an eyeball. It takes a careful eye to spot one of these stones on the beaches of Michigan. Initially, it looks like any other rock with all of the dirt and muck. But once you begin to polish it, you will notice a translucent appearance, one of looking into the eyes of a soul.[10]

As I think of this poem, I am reminded of the way God has revealed himself through his creation. He has created the galaxies, stars, planets, skies, earth, water, and every living organism with the skill of a detailed artist. He has done all of this to reveal himself. God wants us to know that he exists and that he is a God of order and beauty.

In the New Testament, when Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra, the people began to worship them following the healing of the man who was crippled. They called Bar-nabas Zeus, and they called Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The text tells us, But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ‘Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them’ (Acts 14:14–15). Notice that Paul and Barnabas offer the corrective by directing attention to the Creator, not to themselves. We must deal with the fact that there is a God who has created the heavens and the earth. He is Sovereign over history and the natural order.[11] The inception of worship is to acknowledge this God who created the universe. From the farthest star to the intricacies of the biological world, there is a Master Designer behind it all. Part of our own creative design is that we long to be worshipers of the One who made the universe. May we ascribe to the Lord the glory and honor due his name.[12]

The Relationship between Creation and the Sabbath

I find it fascinating that the Sabbath is linked to the creation. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exod. 20:11). Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel offers the most profound insight in his book The Sabbath:

It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time: in the book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness. This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place—a holy mountain or a holy spring—whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first.[13]

This holiness of time, which the covenant people were to observe, is linked to God’s creating for six days and then resting on the seventh. God wants to be acknowledged on the Sabbath as the One who created and rested. He wants to have a day set aside that would remind his people of how he alone is the Creator. The complete worship leader must appreciate the God of creation; it is from this starting point that he or she will have equilibrium.

General Revelation in the Moral Conscience of Every Human Being

The next element of general revelation is that God created every human being in the image of himself. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:26–27).[14] We have dignity in that we reflect this God of the universe.

Every Monday morning, I have breakfast with my oldest son, Timothy. We have recently been studying how we have been created in God’s image. My seven-year-old can articulate the unlikeliness that his dog or goldfish will ask him to play a game of checkers. The ability to use language is one of the clearest indications that we reflect God’s glory differently than the rest of the animal kingdom. But this is not all.

God created us with a moral conscience. Consequently, we are without excuse when it comes to the knowledge of God. Every human being is responsible for this knowledge. Part of general revelation is that each of