worship leader

Writing Prayers for Worship

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Writing prayers for worship calls for the creativity of a poet, the sensitivity of a pastor, the insight of a theologian, and the foundation of a living relationship with God. Weaving together these concerns, this article gives advice to the worshiper who is given the task of writing prayers for public worship. It suggests an approach that will be accessible for beginners and challenging for experienced worship leaders.

Prayer is the heartbeat of worship—our living, vital entrance into the presence of God.

It is also often the part of the worship service in which most people’s minds go to sleep.

Is it possible to write prayers for worship that powerfully bring people into God’s presence? Can written prayers help us to shake off the lethargy of our congregational prayers? Yes, it is possible—given some basic spiritual principles.

A Levitical Tradition

If you are writing prayers for worship, you are part of the tradition of Levites that goes back to the time of Moses. God set apart an entire tribe to be in charge of the Israelite worship, and many of our most beautiful prayers and songs come from Asaph and the sons of Korah. Written prayers, whether spoken or set to music, from the heart of the earliest Jewish and Christian worship.

Your calling, as a modern-day Asaph, is to find language and imagery that engages people’s minds and hearts in honest, worshipful, heartfelt prayer to the living God. But why written prayers?

First of all, there is nothing wrong with spontaneous prayers. These can be as eloquent, moving, and effective as written prayers. But not everyone feels comfortable making up a prayer on the spur of the moment in front of a large group of people. Sometimes the pray-er forgets things that he or she had wanted to say—or says things later regretted.

Writing your prayers allows you to think out beforehand what the congregation needs to be saying to God in prayer at that point in the service. It enables you to word your prayers so that they apply to the entire congregation (especially important in prayers of confession and repentance or commitment).

Writing down the prayer beforehand also challenges you to use fresh language, to find images that will focus the congregation’s hearts and imaginations on God. It will keep your prayers from being unnecessarily long and repetitious.

And written, responsive-type prayers allow the congregation to join you not only with their hearts and minds but with their voices as well.

Choosing Language Wisely

Choice of language is where the creative part of your worship gifts comes into play. Language, a gift from the Creator, can be a powerful force in touching people’s spirits and bringing them to God.

It’s too easy when praying “off the cuff,” to use prayer language that is overused and worn out. For example, O most holy God, we come to Thee in the evening hour of this day to thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for us. We come before Thee now to ask that Thou wilt be with us, that Thou wilt bless us and guide us in all that we do. Hear us now, we pray, in the name of your Son, our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

There is nothing wrong with the thoughts expressed in this prayer. They are reverent and proper and have probably been used, with some variation, in many church services down through the years.

But there’s the rub. Like stones that have been rolled together for a long time, these words and phrases have tumbled through our consciousness so often that they have lost their sharpness. Even substituting “you” for the “Thees” and “Thous” does little to bring this prayer alive. There is no “edge” to the language. It has lost its ability to move us, to catch our imagination. Sadly, it will (and often has) put us to sleep.

Choose your language wisely. Use images for God that help people to picture the living Eternal One. There are many images we can use, of course; think of the one most appropriate to the service or mood or theme of that day’s Scripture. (This is especially important, as the Scripture should shape and influence the whole of the worship service.)

If the focus is on God’s tender care of us, for example, images like shepherd, father, mother, brother, and comforter come to mind. If it is on God’s sovereign power, work with images such as wind and fire, the Creator who stretched out the heavens, or the “Lord who will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior.”

Don’t be afraid to use concrete, specific images for God: rock, water, fire, shepherd, friend, shield, mother hen, lamb, bread, and so on. God, knowing that we are unable to comprehend fully his nature, gives us these images in Scripture so we can at least understand him on the simplest of levels. And the wealth of scriptural images reminds us of the many facets of God’s nature and his dealings with us. Focusing on one of these in prayer and using Scripture’s own language to make it come alive is one of the most helpful things you can do in writing prayers.

Using visual imagery in language helps to touch people’s imaginations and hearts, making them more aware of God’s presence. But you have only a brief time—a few minutes at the most—to do this. So use only one picture or several related ones in each prayer. Make the picture as clear and sharp as it can be; avoid general, cliched language (without going overboard in poetic extremes).

Once you’ve chosen a scriptural word picture to use, work at making it a unifying theme of your prayer. For example, Lord Jesus, you are our living Head. Teach us to be your body here on earth—your hands, your feet, your eyes, and compassionate heart. Lord, send the impulses of your love into the sinews of this church. May your will and thoughts direct us. Let your hands, through our hands, supply food for our neighbors’ hunger. Let them hear your voice as we visit and talk with them. Let the children come to us and sit in our laps, as they sat in yours. Without you as our Head, Lord, we are lifeless. We wait for your power, your word, your instruction. Fill us with your life and love, Jesus. Amen.

One other consideration in your choice of language is your congregation’s preference for formal or informal liturgy. There are some beautiful prayers taken from the language of “high church” liturgy in the traditional responsive mode. Here is one example that can be used as a call to worship at Pentecost, taken from Praise God: Common Prayer at Taize:

L:     Blessed be our God at all times, now and always and forever and ever.
P:     Amen.
L:     Glory to you, our God! Glory to you! Holy Spirit, Lord and Comforter, Spirit of truth everywhere present, filling all that exists, Treasury of good gifts and Source of life, come and dwell in us, cleanse us from all sin and in your love bring us to salvation:
P:     God, holy; God, strong and holy; God, holy and immortal; have pity on us.

But if you prefer a more “low church” informality, you might use this Pentecost prayer instead:

L:     Holy Spirit, you are the fire of holiness that surrounds the throne of God. You burn away our sin and blindness; you fill us with the beauty and purity of Jesus, our Lord.
P:     Come to us, Holy Spirit!
L:     Burn in us this morning, Holy Spirit. We give you the places of our hearts that have been choked by the cares of this world. We give you our tiredness, our sin, our struggles with apathy. We wait your fiery cleansing.
P:     Come to us, Holy Spirit!
L:     May the Word of God this morning burn in our minds, our wills, our feelings. May we sense the light and heat of your presence in that Word. Speak to us, O burning power of God!
P:     Come to us, Holy Spirit!

Praying the Scriptures

Much of Scripture is prayer: the Psalms, portions of the prophets, David’s beautiful prayer in 1 Chronicles 29, the simple prayers of our Lord, the magnificent prayers of Paul’s epistles. Use them as part of your written prayers; combine them, reword them, find the best places to break them into a back-and-forth echo between leader and congregation. For example, consider this adaptation of Psalm 84 as a responsive prayer to open worship:

P:     This sanctuary is lovely to us, O God—O living, powerful Lord almighty! Deep within our spirits we long to be near you, to stay here in your courts and to worship you.
P:     Our heart and our flesh cry out to you, O living God.
L:     Even the sparrow is welcome here, to build her nest by your altars, O Lord of all the worlds!
P:     It would be our greatest joy to live in your house and to praise you forever!
L:     Those who find their strength in you will find this place full of living water, even if they pass through the valley of weeping.
P:     To spend one day here in worship is better than a thousand elsewhere!

Pastoral Considerations

Appropriateness. If you are writing a prayer for your congregation, be sure that it applies to them. Do not make the congregation say something they are not ready or willing to say about themselves. Do not say, “We confess that we ignore our neighbors and fail to pray for them,” for example, when it might be true of you but not true of 10 or 20 percent of the people participating in the prayer with you. A safer way is to say, “Forgive us when we ignore our neighbors … ”

Brevity. Keep prayers as brief and as honest as possible. Take as your example the prayer of the publican: “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Say what you need and want to say—no more than that. Avoid the length, flowery language, and self-congratulation of the Pharisee. As Jesus said, “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

Honesty. Make honesty the hallmark of your prayers. People want and need honesty in religion—plainspoken honesty that gets past the nice words and speaks the truth with God’s love. If your prayers lack an honest, direct grasp of the truth—by avoiding mention of divisions in your congregation, for example, or by smoothing over your lack of effectiveness in outreach or your struggle to make ends meet financially—then the congregation will get the message that prayer is just for “nice” things and not for the difficult, specific problems facing your church.

Audience. Do not use prayer as an opportunity to preach to anyone. You are not making points to remind your listeners of certain truths; your listener is God himself. Always be aware of this and say to God what you would if you were directly in his presence.

Here’s a good thing to do as you are starting to write a prayer for worship: Before anything else, use your God-given imagination to place yourself in the court of heaven. See the God of Isaiah, who is high and lifted up, and whose train fills the temple. Smell the smoke and incense of the God of Revelation, and see the blinding white throne and the unbearable majesty that radiates from God’s holiness. Hear the angels cry around the throne, “Holy, Holy, Holy is he who is and who was and who is to come!”

Hear also the gentle invitation to “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that you may receive mercy and find grace to help you in your time of need.” See with the eyes of your heart the figure of Jesus, our high priest, and brother, standing and pleading before the throne for the needs of you and your congregation.

Then write your prayer, conscious that this is no ploy or trick of the imagination but rather the highest glimpse of reality that you will see. Do not write your prayers first of all with the people in mind; write them with the presence of God in your mind and heart. Then your prayers will speak; they will also lift people to the throne and presence of God. Your language will be reverent, humble, holy, full of praise, calling participants to join you in the Holy of Holies.

A Final Word

To write for worship is, in a sense, to be an Old Testament Levite. The Levites’ calling required spiritual preparation: ritual cleansing, donning white linen garments, and so on. Before you begin to write for worship, make sure that you have put on the white linen of forgiveness and righteousness, having confessed your sins and asked God’s Spirit to cleanse and fill you.

Does this sound pretentious or unnecessary? Not if you take God’s holiness and his call to worship seriously. Even the most beautifully written prayer or litany is lifeless without the quiet presence of God’s power. And that power can make the simplest prayer come alive for those who listen and participate.

Planning Praise-and-Worship-Style Worship

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Planning worship is sometimes problematic for leaders. Prayer is always the prelude to good planning, but the selection and ordering of songs for worship is also a spiritual activity. An effective leader compiles a master song list, allows a theme to influence his or her selections, anticipates the mood of the congregation, and takes into account the musical and lyrical content of each piece. When these preparations are carried out diligently, the leader will be able to lead the people gently into the presence of God.

Perhaps you’ve read the Scripture, “No temptation hath overtaken you but such as is common to all worship leaders.” When I open things up at worship seminars, the questions worship leaders ask are amazingly similar from coast to coast. And one of the questions I invariably am asked is, “How do you plan for worship?”

When we think of planning a worship service, we immediately think of things like song titles, themes, musical keys, and tempo transitions. But that’s only 10 percent of the worship leader’s preparation. The bulk of the leader’s preparation takes place on his or her knees.

Planning worship is much more than stringing a lineup of songs together. The only way to be able to plan a worship service is by sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the only way to gain that kind of sensitivity is by cultivating an intimate relationship with the Lord. The first building block in service preparation is a personal commitment to daily devotional communion with the Lord—time spent in prayer and in the Scriptures. That’s 90 percent of the leader’s preparation.

But the purpose of this entry is to focus on the 10 percent. I believe that God, in His foreknowledge and infinite wisdom, is able to give us guidance for a worship service several days early. That gives us enough time to practice the new songs, rehearse the old ones, and get everything prepared well in advance.

In Defense of Planning. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of service planning, let me put in a plug for the concept of planning itself. Some people seem to feel that the most spiritual thing a worship leader can possibly do is come to the worship service without a list of songs, and depend completely upon the leading of the Holy Spirit for content as the service unfolds.

I see a couple of problems with that approach. It’s easy to “freeze up” when you get before a group of people. If you don’t have a list of songs in front of you, your mind can go blank, and suddenly you can’t recall a single song your church knows. A lack of predetermined direction can also reduce the worship leader to “fishing”—“casting forth” a variety of songs in the hope that the people will “bite” at least one of them. Finally, when you fall back on a chorus that really worked last week and nothing happens this week, it’s always safe to revert to the age-old words, “You may be seated as we turn the service over to the pastor.”

Planning brings purpose to a service. It enables you to relax and lead with confidence, which in turn relaxes the congregation. The musicians can have their music before them, contributing to musical cohesiveness. Planning is one of the most spiritual things you’ll do.

Sticking to the List. I have often been asked, “Do you find yourself sometimes discarding your song list during times of worship because of an unforeseen turn in the direction of the Spirit?” Let me answer by saying, first, that the Holy Spirit introduces many changes in our worship services that I do not anticipate. And thank God that he does! That’s where the freshness is. And that’s also where we worship leaders learn that blessed posture of complete dependence upon the Lord. If we knew exactly where the Holy Spirit was going to be taking us every service, our worship would become “man-made” and would be directed through human manipulation. How refreshing when a prophecy or an exhortation or a Scripture reading directs the course of a service in an unplanned way.

Having said that, I’ll answer the question more directly. I rarely find myself discarding my song list or adding a song that isn’t on my list. Let me explain why. We’re going along through the worship service according to plans and then suddenly someone leads out in a passionate prayer that directs our hearts in a very specific and unexpected way. My first thought is, “What song should I choose now?” Then I look down at my prepared list (and this has happened to me repeatedly) and I find that one of the songs on my list fits beautifully as a response to the prophetic prayer that just came. It is indeed the rare occasion when I find I need to move outside my prepared list to provide a song with a fitting response. Even though I didn’t know on Tuesday what would be happening that Sunday, the Lord did, and he guided my planning on Tuesday.

A Master Song List. I maintain (with the help of a computer) what I call a “master song list.” Since hymnals are already indexed with songs in assigned categories, my master song list contains mostly the short choruses and Scripture songs that are currently in our repertoire.

Songs are divided first of all into two main categories, fast and slow. There are some medium-tempo songs that are great transition songs from fast to slow, but since they are relatively few in number, I assign them to either the fast or slow category. Under the fast and slow categories, I then arrange all the songs according to keys. Usually the first line of the song works best as the song title. Then, all the songs in the key of C are listed in alphabetical order, as are the songs in the key of D, etc. I will also note whether we sing a certain song in more than one key by placing the alternate key in parentheses after the song title.

I put all the fast songs on one sheet, all the slow songs on another, reduce them both down on a photocopier, paste the copies back to back, put protective plastic around them, and I have it: a master song list that slips into the cover of my Bible and sits up nicely on a music stand. It’s my companion through every worship service I lead.

I finish off the master list with a couple of final touches. I’ll add a column of communion songs, another column of Christmas songs, another of “openers,” and yet another list that I dub “altar call.” This last grouping is very helpful when planning the closing portions of a service.

About once a year, I update the master list. I’ll delete the songs that have no more mileage left in them, and I’ll add the new songs we’ve learned. This master song list then becomes my trusty companion (along with our hymnal) when I’m planning a worship service.

Choosing That First Song. Here’s where we sweep away the mystical aura that surrounds service preparation. Some people think we wait until we hear an audible voice from heaven that says, “Start with ‘This Is the Day.’ ”

Some worship leaders really wrestle with this area. They pray like this: “This is the day. I will enter his gates. This is the day. I will enter his gates. O God, what’s your will? This is the day. I will enter his gates. Which song should I start the service with, Lord? This is the day. I will enter his gates. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. This is the day. I will enter his gates. O God!” And so they agonize. Meanwhile, God’s up in heaven saying to himself, “I couldn’t care less which song you start with. All I’m interested in is, whatever songs you sing, that you open your hearts to me.” Can’t you see it? God doesn’t have a predetermined list in heaven that I have to figure out if we’re going to have a Spirit-led worship service. Above all else, God wants communion with his people. He wants us to open our hearts to him no matter which songs the worship leader chooses.

I’d like to paint the backdrop for you of a hypothetical experiment. Suppose we got the five most anointed worship leaders in America today, took them aside, and said to each one, “We want you to fast and pray all day today, and come up with the list, come up with the will of God for this Sunday.” Do you suppose they would supply us with identical lists? I think we’d find that all five lists would be very different. What’s more, I think all five lists would “work” very well.

“But I thought we had to find the will of God for each service!” The will of God isn’t a song list. The will of God is that we lower the self-protective barriers we erect in our hearts, allowing the Lord to melt every way in which we resist the gentle overtures of the Holy Spirit; the will of God is that we enter into the glorious intimacy of relationship that God intended from the start when he created man. The wise worship leader will build a service song list in such a way as to best achieve that goal.

Following a Theme. Some pastors will give their worship leader a theme for the worship service. If the pastor is preaching on the blood of Christ, every song is expected to mention the word blood. In my opinion, it’s very possible to have a worship service that is clever in its following and expanding a given theme in preparation for the sermon, but in the end inspire a very uninspiring worship .

I am both the preacher (pastor) and worship leader at our church. And in all honesty, only occasionally do I pay attention to the theme of my sermon when I’m planning the worship service. Because the question for me is not, “Does every song point toward the sermon?” The question for me is, “Will this lineup of songs enable us to open our hearts to the Lord, so that we’ll be prepared to hear whatever he has to say to us?” I would much rather have an enthusiastic praise service that ministers both to the Lord and to his people than have a worship service in which every song points to a certain theme.

So relax on the whole business of trying to get all the songs to line up according to one theme. (Special occasions such as Christmas are an obvious exception.)

The Moods of Worship. One of the first things I do is ask myself, “What kind of mood am I in? Am I in the mood to celebrate and rejoice this Sunday? Or do I feel more in a pensive, prayerful mood?” Sometimes my own moods point to the general mood the congregation when they come to the Sunday service. That in turn helps me determine the general direction of my song selection.

I have labeled what I see as eight “moods” or “flavors” of worship. Virtually all of our songs fall into one of the following categories: exaltation, intimacy, celebration, proclamation, warfare, prophetic, prayer, and special occasions (such as Christmas and Easter).

Before selecting songs, you may want to predict the general moods or flavors that you feel will characterize Sunday’s worship service. Any one service will be confined to perhaps just two or three of the above moods, but over the course of time, a well-balanced menu of worship would mean the proper inclusion of all eight moods of worship.

The Process of Song Selection. Here’s how I choose songs for Sunday morning worship. I scan through the index of the hymnal and choose a few hymns that I feel interested in singing. Then I scan through the “fast” side of the master song list and choose three or four songs that stand out to me. Turning to the “slow” side of the list, I then choose about three slow worship choruses.

This may sound like an “unspiritual” process I’m describing, but I sincerely trust the Lord to stir my heart as I go over the song titles, putting a desire within me to sing the songs that will best contribute to a flow of worship on Sunday.

Then I begin to arrange the song titles according to the best sequence. Several factors need to be considered:

The Key of Each Song. I try to position songs in such a way that the transition from the first key to the second key is smooth. For example, if one song is in the key of F and another in the key of G, I would consider singing the song that’s in the key of F first, because it is easier to move up from the key of F to the key of G than it is to move down from G to F.

The “Mood” or Tempo of Each Song. Generally, I find myself drawn toward singing up-tempo, celebrative songs near the beginning of the service, moving into slower songs of intimacy and exaltation later in the service. (This is not a set formula—the Holy Spirit will lead you to invert that order at times.) Also, I tend to group the fast songs together, and then do the slower songs afterward.

The Lyrical Content of Each Song. For example, if the song is inviting us into God’s presence with praise, obviously I would want to position that song at the top of my lineup.

The first three minutes of a worship service are often the most critical. Therefore, the first few songs you choose—along with the way you introduce them—are very important. Choose songs that invite participation, that get hands clapping, that focus minds on the reason we’re gathered. Start with up-tempo songs that win the hearts of the children as well. Mobilize that royal priesthood of God’s people into their holy calling of declaring his glorious praises! (See 1 Pet. 2:9.)

In planning the service’s opening, I have to keep reminding myself of the true condition of many saints on Sunday morning. It’s easy to assume that they’ve been feeding in the Word, getting renewed daily in the Holy Spirit, warding off every evil scheme of the devil, impacting their circle of friends with their vibrant witness—and now they’ve come with eager anticipation to join their voices with other holy saints in the corporate declaration of God’s awesome praises. But I must remind myself that many people come to our services in a state of spiritual exhaustion. They’ve been living in the war zone, and many are fortunate to have made it to the service at all. The words and music I choose must reflect a sensitivity to where the people are, along with an eye toward the goal of where I want to bring them.

Once I have the songs listed in the order I want to sing them, I will then rehearse the entire worship service in my mind. I will imagine myself moving from one key to the next. Will that key transition work? Then I consider the “flow” of the moods from one song to the next. Is the progression of moods natural and inviting? Finally, I will picture where I want the people to have come by the end of the worship service. Perhaps it will be a place of high exaltation or loving adoration or bowing in humility and reverence. I will certainly want our hearts to have risen to new heights of faith as we have beheld through worship the glory of our risen Lord. The goal of the worship ministry is to stir up the holy passions of God’s people. Will this list of songs in this particular order help us to move corporately toward that goal?

Planning an Exhortation. Now that my song list is intact, I need to plan for one other eventuality: what if, after leading with this wonderfully crafted list of songs, the people just don’t enter in to worship? Maybe they’re tired; maybe they had a fight on the way to church; maybe they’re distracted; maybe they haven’t prayed since last Sunday. Whatever the reason, one of the best tools I’ve discovered for inspiring a response in the congregation is that of exhortation.

Please understand, I’m not talking about a sermonette. I’m referring to about twenty to forty seconds of a brief, positive encouragement to participate, followed right away by a repeat of the song.

Exhortations are often most effective when planned ahead of time. You can choose your words carefully, making the most of the thirty seconds. As you spend time in the Word, ask God to place something meaningful in your heart so that when you share, others are edified. And usually, the best weapon in a short exhortation is a passage of Scripture. Read the Scripture, deliver a short and cheerful exhortation, and invite the people to join you in the song one more time.

Here is what not to do. Don’t say, “What’s wrong with you people this morning? Is anybody aware out there? It sounds like a funeral in here this morning!” Mr. Pew-warmer will say to himself, “You’re right, I was out of it. But since you’re going to be nasty about it, see if you can make me worship!” As we all know, nobody can force a person to worship. Worship is a willing response to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Some worship leaders talk between every song, which breaks up the flow of the service. One or two short exhortations per service is usually adequate. Be the worship leader, not the preacher. Be encouraging, pleasant, enthused, inspiring. Let the warmth of Christ’s love in your heart melt the resistance of cold hearts that may need fanning.

Planning New Songs. New songs play a critical role in the worship expression of a local church. If you’re not learning new songs, you’re stagnating. New songs force us to think. They expand our vocabulary of worship. And they bring with them a breeze of freshness. The new songs you choose to add to your repertoire will determine the future direction of your times of corporate worship.

Be picky, picky, picky. Look at the words and the style of the musical expression. Does the message add something to your church’s breadth of communication? Does the musical style of the song add spice or depth?

Plan how and when you’ll introduce new songs. I usually teach new songs near the beginning portions of a service. That way there’s room for the worship service to “take off” afterward with a known song. But if I interrupt “high praise” with the teaching of a new song, the crescendo collapses immediately, and the new song gains the stigma of being a “dud.”

Plan the reinforcement of new songs carefully. If we taught a song for the first time last week, it’s important that we reinforce it this week, and possibly even the week after that. But then we’d better leave it alone for two or three weeks so folks don’t get tired of it.

In summary, the worship leader’s job in planning is to craft a list of songs that will best help the congregation to open up to the Lord. Using tools such as short exhortations, the use of Scripture, and spiritual gifts, a worship leader has the awesome and wonderful privilege of leading people into the very presence of God.

The Worship Leader as Servant

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Servanthood is a powerful leadership tool. This is because, in serving others, the worship leader becomes like Jesus and walks the path that led to his glorification through obedience. Worship leaders serve God first, then their church’s leadership, their worship team, and their congregation.

When his disciples began to vie with one another for positions, Jesus told them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:25–28). In those few words, Jesus was stating a great leadership principle.

The Power of Servanthood

If you have learned to serve, you are bound for kingdom success. In fact, servanthood is such a powerful leadership tool that it works in any organization, whether church-related or not. There are at least two reasons why serving has such great power: It replicates the life of Jesus, and it puts us on the same path as Jesus.

Serving Replicates the Life of Jesus. Becoming more and more like Jesus is the essence of being Christians. And the more like him we become, the more we will be able to do his works. (See Jesus’ complete sermon on this subject in John 13–16.)

A major part of becoming like him is becoming servants. Jesus commands us to follow him in servanthood. After he washed their feet, Jesus told his disciples, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:13–17). The foot washing has significance beyond its obvious lesson in humility. In Jesus’ day, washing the feet of guests was a common courtesy, much like helping someone off with his or her jacket would be in our time. It demonstrates that the leader is not above taking care of the ordinary needs of his staff.

Clearly, the servant-attitude on our part is an attitude that would please our Lord Jesus. Pleasing him is the roadway to kingdom power, for in the great miracle chapter, John 14, Jesus said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him” (John 14:21). Our hearts’ desire is to have God show himself to us in our worship services. Obedient servant-leadership is surely an avenue for that to happen.

Serving Puts Us on the Same Path as Jesus. Another reason why serving has such great power is that it puts us on the same path that led to the glorification of Jesus. Jesus was exalted by God because he was first a servant. God commands us to

do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:3–11)

We Get Back What We Give

Imagine the power of a worship team that is composed of servants who desire nothing more than to glorify God and bless his church. In your role as leader, you can build such a team—not just by teaching on servanthood, but by being an example to the team.

Unfortunately, many people who come into leadership in the church think that leading is synonymous with throwing your weight around. But that destructive mentality must be replaced with obedient servanthood, in which we place God’s will above all else and serve one another at every opportunity. Jesus promised, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). According to Jesus, therefore, if we give servanthood, we will receive servanthood back. We generate a giving people. Thus, the servant-leader is able to accomplish what the domineering leader can only long for—a serving people.

Targeting Your Serving

Let’s now consider the target of your serving, and how to accomplish your servant-leadership.

The Worship Leader Serves God. It seems almost unnecessary to mention that you serve God. But we can lose sight of the basics because of our tendency to worship at the shrine of the extraordinary. The chief target of your ministrations is God. You are not the entertainer of a human audience. You are first and foremost a servant of the Most High God, to bring him pleasure. Then you can lead people where you have been. Your primary calling is to get close to the heart of God and to minister to him according to his desires.

You Serve the Church’s Leadership. Worship leaders who try to enhance their own position at the expense of the other leaders in the church are clearly out of God’s order. To use the incredible power of music and worship for selfish ends is utterly reprehensible. Rather, you will use your gifts to support the total ministry of the church. If that ministry is utterly unworthy of support and seems entirely unredeemable, then ask the Lord for a release to join another congregation.

Because music and worship have such a profound impact on the total life of the church, you can serve the other leaders by staying in close contact with them. Ideally, you should be involved in the top-level leadership of the church, where you can find out what the spiritual and strategic needs of the church are.

For example, let’s suppose that the church is planning a missionary outreach to Mexico. If you are involved in planning, you can be seeking God for ways to prophesy life into that vision from your position as a worship leader. God can give you creative ways to keep that vision before the saints.

You Serve Your Team. Serving your team means that you will see yourself as their supporter, equipping them to do their job well. Years ago, Larry Christenson said, “The sign of a successful leader is a successful staff” (A Message to the Charismatic Movement [Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1972]). Promoting, empowering, encouraging, training, equipping your team—these are the hallmarks of a professional leader. My church is singularly blessed to have as a worship leader one who runs a tight ship. Commitment is very high. But his team knows that he will “go to bat” for them regarding their needs. Partly because of his commitment, our team has some of the finest sound equipment available today. They have a place of honor in our church and exert a positive influence at every age level and in every facet of our ministry.

A good leader will also “take the heat.” You will shield your team from the many “well-meaning dragons” that come with their hundreds of mutually exclusive “suggestions” and complaints. You will see to it that your team is answerable to you, before other leaders in the church. You will be your team’s advocate at church budget time; you will plead the team’s cause to have money allocated for instruments, sound equipment, tuition, and expense payments so that your team can attend worship conferences and so forth.

You Serve the People. Finally, you are a servant to the congregation. Your purpose is to lead them into the manifest presence of God. You occupy a prophetic role and serve the congregation by leading and equipping them for true, spiritual worship. But if you are the servant-leader, you will be careful to lead the people with compassion and understanding. I have seen some musicians lead with a chip on their shoulders. They have an agenda. Their attitude is, “I’m going to teach you how to worship if it kills you.” For example, I had a classmate in seminary who was very intellectual and deeply involved in liturgical worship. At graduation time, he asked for a call to a rural church somewhere in the Midwest. Since that seemed incongruous with his worship interest, the administration asked him why he would want such a call. His answer? “I want to teach those peasants how to really worship!” Needless to say, his request was declined.

As a servant-leader, you will find out what your congregation’s musical tastes, abilities, and worship skills are. Then, rather than looking at how much they are lacking, you will gratefully build on what they already have. You will stretch them without breaking them.

A New Standard for Leadership

This is an hour in which God is raising a new standard for leadership. The days of leadership by egomania are gone. God is looking for leaders whom he can trust to replicate the life and style of Jesus, for to such leaders he will gladly send people. He is looking for churches that are safe for struggling Christians, where their leaders will care about the flock more than about themselves. If you will answer that call, you can take your place on the cutting edge of what God is doing today. Answer now, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam. 3:9).

Worship Leaders Lead People

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Worship leaders should make a priority of developing management skills, and not excuse themselves from this on the basis of their being artists. Rather, they are prophet-musicians in the church, a position that carries tremendous leadership responsibility.

I was startled one day to realize that worship leaders really don’t lead worship. They lead people. This was a new revelation for me. It meant that management skills were needed by worship leaders, too. Worship leaders, however, are not always happy to find this out. It may be a revelation, but it’s also hard work.

Rationalization by Artistic People. There are several problems inherent in building a team out of such a diverse group of people as “musicians.” Having an artistic bent myself, I can readily identify with the rationalizations artists use to escape management responsibility. Perhaps the first of these is, “Artists are supposed to operate more by emotion and spirit, less by reason.” That sounds logical, but it allows artists too much liberty to justify their moments of poor judgment or their impatience with details. It gives them the freedom to remain impulsive and unpredictable—not good traits for a leader of others.

Even folklore suggests that the more artistic one is, the less likely he or she is to be responsible. I often used to comfort myself with this alibi while remaining generally sloppy, missing appointments, or being chronically late to meetings. Again, this myth needs to be dealt with in order to become a strong leader.

Another loophole artists use to avoid change is that they justify any disunity that may appear among them. The excuse? “Artists just have volatile personalities.” In some circles denying the virgin birth of Jesus causes less trouble than the “proper” interpretation of a musical passage! Because of these and other “accepted” excuses for irresponsible behavior, it is no easy task to lead, let alone manage musicians.

Worship Leaders Are Prophet-Musicians. Some of these generally accepted rationalizations probably originate from a false identity among worship leaders. They don’t have a clear opinion of who they are. The importance of their role has been downplayed or unrecognized for years. In my chats with worship leaders, pastors, and other church leaders, I have discovered that many think of worship leaders as only being musicians or “entertainers.” But the Bible teaches that they function prophetically.

Rather than thinking of themselves as musicians first, worship leaders must see themselves as prophets, or at least as people who operate strongly in prophetic gifts. And prophets are men and women with tremendous responsibility.

Prophets are entirely different from worldly musicians. Prophets can make or break a church. Prophets are men and women of the Word who know the Scriptures and handle them rightly. They are leaders in their congregations. They have an awesome responsibility.

Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. (1 Tim. 3:1–6)

In this Scripture, God describes the kind of people suited for leadership in the church. Prophetic worship leaders are far from being just “artists.” Like all spiritual leaders, they set the lifestyle standards for the church and are to be examples of excellence. Everything the Bible teaches about leaders applies to the prophet-musician.

Worship leaders who think of themselves as “mere musicians” have a lot of identity-changing to do. Clearly, worship leaders must have the correct self-image. They cannot cast themselves in the role of entertainers. Called to a high honor and much responsibility, their ability to lead worship depends as much on their exemplary lives as on their musical skills.

As I conduct seminars around the nation, I see an increasing number of churches that are becoming aware of the responsible roles of their worship leaders. In these churches it is no easier to become a worship leader than it is to become an elder; these are also churches that honor their worship leaders and are blessed for doing so.

How to Become Creative and Organized. With the right self-image, it becomes a little easier to want to get organized. One day the Lord spoke to me: “Just look at your desk!” he said. “It’s disgusting!” I responded, “But Lord, I am the creative type. You know—artistic, musical, and all that.” And he said, “Are you trying to suggest that I’m not creative?” I responded, “No, sir, I would not want to suggest that. But it would take a miracle for me to keep my desk organized!”

Suddenly, I realized that I had just stumbled onto a key for personal discipline. I began that day to trust God for the change he would work in me and have kept a pretty neat desk ever since.

This seemingly insignificant lesson has helped me to realize that most change begins when we admit the obvious. Though we may see ourselves as not having been born with the gifts of organization and leadership, the skills involved can be learned. If worship leaders lead people, then they must make a choice to develop the skills needed to manage or pay the consequences of lack of teamwork and lowered effectiveness.

Add Leadership and Management Skills to Your Worship Anointing. You can always tell a leader: People follow him or her. Getting people to follow you into the Holy of Holies requires leadership skills. Once you have a following of people, you need to learn how to manage them: to organize, to plan, to direct, to train, to delegate, to evaluate. It’s not an easy task. But the tools of leadership and good management will greatly increase the impact of your worship leading.

Personal Preparation for Worship Leaders

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A constant enemy of worship leaders is busyness, for it takes them away from the all-important time spent with God. Other aspects of personal preparation for worship leading include knowing the needs of the congregation one serves; beginning preparations for services early in the week, if not weeks ahead of time (by choosing sermon themes far in advance); and seeking input from others.

Exactly how does a worship leader prepare to lead the congregation each week in worship? If my experience is typical, many leaders spend most of their time preparing the various elements of worship—such as the sermon or congregational prayer—and give little attention to preparing themselves for that majestic privilege of ushering people into the presence of God.

What strange creatures we are! We meticulously groom ourselves to meet some human dignitary but will waltz unthinkingly into the presence of the Almighty.

The Busy-Servant Syndrome. For me, the first step in personal preparation for worship is recognizing that worship is the highest and most important activity to which God calls me. More times than I care to admit, I have slid into my study, surveyed the piles of work on my desk, and thought about all the people I should visit that week and about the sermons I have to prepare for Sunday. In the press of all this busyness, I quickly open my Bible to skim a few verses and bow my head in a brief prayer so that as soon as possible I can get to the “real business” at hand.

When I find myself falling into that pattern, I remind myself of something that happened a few years ago—a homely incident with my son that helped me to realize that I was often neglecting the “real business.” I was reading the paper one evening when our four-year-old son wriggled onto my lap. I looked down and asked, “What do you want, Jim?” “Nothing,” he said, but then he snuggled closer to me. I realized then—in a rush of parental joy—that he just wanted to be with me.

Personal worship is simply “lap time” with God. God rejoices when I come to him daily to enjoy his presence. How awesome to realize that you and I are ingredients in divine happiness—that our daily fellowship brings God real pleasure!

So quiet time with God must be a top priority each day. I know this with my head but not always with my heart. I have had to learn and relearn this lesson repeatedly. As a pastor, I must read the Bible not just professionally but devotionally. When I am caught up in the “busy servant syndrome,” it is much too easy to overlook my daily walk with the Lord in favor of doing things for him.

Doing versus Being. Living in the tension between doing and being, I am tempted to fall prey to artistic urges, forgetting that God calls me to be someone in relationship to him before I attempt to do anything for him. I cannot effectively lead people into the presence of God in corporate worship on Sunday unless I have been in God’s presence during the week in private worship. So my first and basic preparation for worship is remembering that unless I am quiet before God, my outward journey to help the world will prove only to be frantic action without the proper spiritual undergirding.

My life is most meaningful when I deliberately center it in God, observing the daily disciplines of Bible-reading, prayer, and meditation. Only then can I face my task in God’s strength rather than my own. Lap time with God is crucial.

Knowing My Congregation. Another part of personal preparation involves knowing the people I minister to. I can hardly expect to lead the members of my congregation effectively before God’s throne of grace if I don’t know what their experiences of God are. Where are they hurting? Are they seeking God’s help in their suffering? What are their anxieties and their expectations? I must be in touch with people’s needs. Surely my pastoral prayers and sermons will not be helpful if I am oblivious to what is troubling individuals. Though I am a senior pastor with primary responsibility in preaching and leadership/administration, I am assigned hospital and pastoral calls each week by our pastor of visitation. In a sense, every contact with members of the congregation during the week helps prepare me personally to lead them in worship on the Lord’s Day. If I am worship leader as well as preacher for that day, I make a list during the week of special needs that should be included in the pastoral prayer.

Beginning Early. My strategy is to plan sermon titles and themes at least three months in advance, allowing room for change as special needs arise in the life of the worshiping community. However, I do most of my intense studying the week preceding the Lord’s Day so that my preaching will be fresh and contemporary.

To avoid disaster on the weekend, I must get started in serious study early in the week. Usually, I try to spend either Tuesday or Wednesday in the library, where I devote my time strictly to sermon preparation, uninterrupted by telephone calls or visitors.

I’ve discovered that disciplined time management is important; without it, other tasks and concerns quickly cut into study time. Of course, sometimes those can’t be prevented. All ministers have weeks when unexpected emergencies consume time they intended to spend on worship preparation. When that happens, I just try to do my best with the hours I have left and leave the results to God.

During my earlier years of ministry, I frequently allowed legitimate but nonessential matters to rob me of precious hours of study time. But I soon discovered that panic praying on Sunday morning does not make up for the lack of careful preparation during the week. Such prayers are similar to that of the young boy who knelt by his bed asking, “Dear God, if I get an ‘F’ on my science test tomorrow, please make it stand for ‘fantastic’!” Can we actually expect God to be impressed with emergency prayers offered against the backdrop of poor time management?

Allowing for Input. I meet regularly to plan worship with a committee composed of an associate pastor, the choir director, the chairperson of our worship council, and a congregational member-at-large. Together, we carefully coordinate the sermon theme with music and Scripture, plan innovations within the liturgy of the day, and ensure that the service will allow appropriate congregational participation and response. The result is a more unified and interesting worship experience.

Of course, there will always be a degree of tension between structure and spirit. How can we balance form and freedom? Is it possible to follow a liturgy without stifling spontaneity? I believe it is, but I also admit to praying, “Lord, let something happen today that’s not in the bulletin.”

Final Preparations. My Saturday usually includes giving the completed sermon, or at least the essence and flow of it, to my wife, who is my most loving and exacting critic. She has saved me from many a pitfall by reminding me of how a sermon sounds to the person in the pew.

The importance I attach to Sunday worship determines how I spend Saturday night. My rule of thumb is that I take part in only those Saturday evening activities that permit me to awaken refreshed and ready to meet God in worship on Sunday morning. I arise early each Sunday to have time for devotions and for fine-tuning the sermon.

No matter how carefully I prepare, however, I know there will be times when I fail when worship seems like an empty exercise. In this earthly arena, we can at best attempt to worship. Thanks be to God that he meets us more than halfway. Jesus promised, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him” (John 4:23, RSV).

Worship is the loftiest activity of which humans are capable. God is pleased when we prepare as adequately as possible for worship, for by our actions we are saying that meeting him is important—and it is!