WORSHIP-LEADERS
The worship
service features two sides of a sacred conversation. Those who lead in worship
need to help people recognize themselves in the presence of God. They must also
speak God’s words to the people so that they will know they are on holy ground.
That is the experience people are longing for in worship. But before such a
sacred conversation happens in worship, it must happen for those who lead in
worship in their own soul.
Craig Barnes
Reflections on Worship’s Meaning and Purpose - Thinking About Worship, Calvin
Institute of Christian Worship.
All of our
discussions of the style and mechanics of worship must be anchored in a deeply
biblical and richly gospel-centered understanding of what worship is. We might
be tempted at a worship conference to focus exclusively on the style and
mechanics of worship. And these are important! But a larger challenge is to
link how we approach the week-in, week-out task of planning and leading worship
with our theological understanding of worship. Do our planning and leading
habits, mechanics, and techniques enable people to experience worship in the
deepest, most profound, most Christ-centered way? Does our work form our
congregations in a deeply biblical faith? We need a high-octane theology of
worship -- and one that is not simply articulated in writing, but enacted in
our worship and lived out in our lives.
John Witvliet
Reflections on Worship’s Meaning and Purpose - Thinking
About Worship, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
Few of us
have had or will have the luxury of escaping the “worship wars.” The “wars” are
usually waged over forms and styles, not over the essence of what worship is.
But leading your people into the essence is all-important. So I want to call
you to put your focus and energies in the most fruitful place for the glory of
God. Focus on the essence, not the form. If you succeed in breeding a church
that experiences the essence, they will probably survive the wars, and you will
be able to lead them through to more peaceful waters
John
Piper
Brothers,
We Are Not Professionals, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 2002, p. 229-230.
It’s not the
excellence of our offering that makes our worship acceptable but the excellence
of Christ. We cannot worship the eternal Father apart from the eternal Son… Our
worship is accepted not on the basis of what we have done, but on the basis of
what Christ has done… [Therefore] if we [leaders] help people focus on what God
did two thousand years ago rather than twenty minutes ago, they’ll consistently
find their hearts ravished by His amazing love.
Bob
Kauflin
Worship Matters, Crossway Books, a division
of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org,
2008, p. 25.
Each of us in
the Body of Christ has the ability, because of His love for us, to minister to
and bless the Lord. We can bring joy to God just as a loving son or daughter
does to their parents, and as a friend to a friend. Worship from the heart is
one of the best gifts you can bring to your heavenly Father. When we worship
Him, not because of fear or pride or obligation, but out of an overflow of love
and gratitude, we bless and minister to God. This is a privilege that He has
given to all His sons and daughters. A worship leader is not necessarily more
“spiritual” than anyone else; he or she simply is willing to help a group of
people reach a place of loving intimacy with God via music.
Don Francisco
Am
I Worthy to Minister, Music Ministers Newsletter, Rocky
Mountain Ministries.