Being a Worship Leader - 3

Worship Leaders by John A. White Contributing Writer July 29, 2011

Introduction to Part 3

In the last sections, we discussed how leadership is confirmed and emerges in various character traits. We emphasized the giftedness of the leader will often reflect more than one gift which we called a gift cluster. And finally, we used an instrument designed to highlight those gifts we currently use (This was the Excel Gift Assessment Survey file). In this section, we will discuss the high personal, family and social expectations for leaders. But first let's make a couple of observations regarding worship and the worship leaders influence over the congregation.

The Maturing Christian Leader

On the one hand, as we discussed, God's call is sovereign. But on the other hand, the one who is called needs to be spiritually mature and discerning to fulfill God's call and to keep from disqualifying themselves. 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1 discuss the characteristics (or the signs of spiritual maturity and grace) for church leadership. Although these passages speak specifically about overseers and deacons, we can apply the same requirements to those who lead God's people into His very presence through worship. When you consider the fact that preachers and teachers teach Christians how to live on earth and worship leaders teach Christians how to live in eternity, you begin to understand the importance of spiritual integrity of worship leaders.

Because of their influential roles, worship leaders must maintain excellent lives, which is integral to their personal worship expression. Many people underestimate the influence worship leaders have on the spiritually of the congregation. Consider the following influences the worship leader has on their church:

1. The songs and style that a worship leader chooses significantly guides and forms the congregation's expression of worship.

2. The freedom that worship leader allows will likely dictate the free expression of worship and ministry of the community

3. The extent to which the worship leader calls on the power of God will be the extent that the congregation avails itself, or commits to, God's power opportunities for the Body to minister to itself arise.

4. The intimacy of the worship will likely stimulate the intimacy of the congregation's relationship with God and each other.

In other words, the congregation's worship, including the worship of the individuals within the congregation, will take on the personality and spirituality of the worship leader and their style. Therefore, it is paramount that worship leaders carefully maintain their moral and ethical responsibilities within their position in the church, community, and to God. Similarly, worship team members should exemplify these same standards.

For reasons I cannot explain, it seems a common practice to ignore these basic leadership requirements on worship leaders and their teams. For some reason, struggling people and those weak in the faith and some who are failing in righteous living are encouraged to "join the choir" or get involve in the sound or multimedia presentation ministries. Why do we do this? This only adds to their problems because Satan always attacks those that visibly serve the Lord the hardest. In doing this we become like the Pharisees condemned in Mat. 23:4 who placed heavy burdens on people shoulders. Why should we add the burden of ministry to a struggling brother or sister? As people responsible for building up the Body of Christ, we should encourage the struggling saint to get the help they need so they can become strong and spiritually mature enough to faithfully serve. So then, as team leaders, we must always be sensitive to the spiritual health of ourselves and our team members.

Another issue should be considered. When we usurp God's word we open ourselves to His judgment; judgment for disobeying God as well as other consequential actions that are not aligned with God's will or plan. Disobedience always reduces our ministry's effectiveness and can disqualify us. Therefore, we must pick team members that are developing a Christian maturity that is honorable in the sight of God and their family and community. Likewise, as team leaders, we must remain aware of and take opportunities to mature our team's spirituality.

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