Allow For Cultural Differences

Techniques are perceived differently from culture to culture. While revealing your emotion may be perfectly appropriate in Italy, that same display of emotion would likely be interpreted as character weakness among the Fulani in Burkina Faso. The same flute that may lead an American congregation to worship causes confusion in a tribe that associates the flute with possession rituals. Slow music may generate reflection in one group, boredom to another. The very styles and techniques that make your spirit soar may bore your youth to tears. Thus, many of the ideas below are culturally bound, working in one cultural context but failing in another.

So who are the final authorities for deciding if a technique works for you? Your worshippers. As the apostle Paul did, become all things to all men (I Corinthians 9). Don't expect them to adapt to your personal tastes. (Link to article on idea-driven, also on purpose-driven music) Never, never assume that the techniques that bring you personally to worship will also work with those you lead. Always humbly ask for input. Ask one on one, in anonymous surveys, in a focus group, among your band members and singers. Find out what's working and what's not. Especially ask those who come for the first time. They are yet unstained by our peculiar insider traditions. Then, of course, you have to take seriously what they say. As Proverbs instructs us:

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel. (Proverbs 12:15)

Make the List Your Own

Finally, add your own ideas to this list. I got my ideas from my own worship leading experiences, other's leading experiences, and observing others lead. Wildly successful novelist Stephen King says that he learns as much or more about writing from reading poorly written novels as reading the good ones. The mistakes are so glaring! So learn from effective worship leaders and learn from the ineffective.

Again from Proverbs, it's only those who "diligently seek" wisdom who will find her (8:17). But those diligent seekers will find wisdom to be "better than jewels; and all desirable things can not compare with her." (8:11) Observe, read, get candid input from others and seek God in prayer. As long as one person has yet to be awakened to authentic worship, we must be restless seekers of excellence in leading worship.

So without further adieu, here's the list of techniques and taboos.

Be Authentic

1. Be real. Don't imagine that you can lead meaningful worship on youth night if you don't lead a lifestyle of worship the other six nights. One youth minister couldn't understand why his youth weren't getting into the worship. The leaders seemed to be doing a great job. Then he found that one singer on the worship team was living loosely and the teens knew it. Her lifestyle short-circuited the power of God. Youth can spot hypocrisy a mile away.

2. Be yourself. There are obvious limits to being yourself, since we're to become all things to all people to reach them. We may have to make uncomfortable changes, such as playing styles that aren't our favorites, in order to help our people worship. On the other hand, you don't have to be as funny as Mark Lowry, as intense as Keith Green, or as energetic as Al Densen. Discover how God has wired you and use that for His glory.

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