Creative Elements to Worship

3. Don't manipulate. I'll never forget attending a revival service in a small church with my wife. We went in cognito, dressed very casually although we were staff at another church. During the invitation I leaned over to whisper something to my wife. The speaker apparently assumed I was suggesting that my wife go to the altar with me. Immediately he says, 'There's a couple here for the first night'" (that would be us) "'God's working on your hearts and you need to come to the altar and make a decision tonight." As he looked in our direction I felt the chill of manipulation. This generation absolutely detests techniques that reek of insincerity or emotional manipulation. Don't do it.

4. Strive to be lead worshipers rather than mere leaders of worship. Learn your songs so well that you can forget about the audience, forget about yourselves and actively engage in worship yourself. When people sense that you're worshiping rather than performing, they'll follow your lead. Showiness hinders worship.

5. Make your outward expressions consistent with the posture of your heart. I want to come across sincere, like I'm worshiping rather than performing. During reflective songs I want to project a meditative spirit. During celebrative songs I want to come across excited. Yet, sometimes leaders have the right inward attitude, but their facial expressions and body language say something else to the audience. We must trust others to tell us how we're coming across and be humble enough to change.

Example: I took two youth to visit another ministry. Although the worship band performed with excellence, my students told me that the lead singer didn't seem excited about the message he was singing. Why? Because he stayed stationary throughout the worship leading. To these youth, a singer that believes in his song should express it with some movement. Is that true with your group? Maybe, maybe not.

In America, speaking with a hand in my pocket projects casualness. For many adults in Slovakia, the same gesture signals deviousness. Here's a question for your focus group to look for the next time you lead worship: "When we lead worship, do we look like we're worshiping? Why or why not?"

I'm distracted by worship leaders who have a strained look on their faces when they either sing a high note or play a fast riff on a guitar. It's fine in a performance setting, but just seems artificial to me in a worship setting. Since I know that Eddie Van Halen can smile while playing a smoking riff and Britney Spears can sing high notes while dancing and faking a smooch, I must assume that the straining worship leader must either suffer from constipation or desperately need a macho image. Either way, it doesn't enhance my worship experience. But maybe it's just me.

6. Implement a process to find and eliminate distracting body language. I always had my wife looking for my annoying mannerisms. Once she told me that I often went up from my heals to my toes. I had no idea. I'm sure that many youth opted to count the number of times I did this rather than listen to my message. Some gestures may be fine in themselves, but overdone they give the youth counters an avenue to express their gift. Ask a group of students and adults to look for bothersome mannerisms and report them to you. Then work on eliminating them.

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