Any good craftsman needs good tools to do his work. In order for him to create a quality project, he will need quality tools to do the best possible job. The same would apply to any field of work. Some of the best teachers I know were ones that could take ordinary lessons and make masterpieces of them. I had a teacher in college who made Music History a great class by making the class come alive through his tool of story telling. Granted, he did tend to exaggerate a bit, but he made the characters in music history come alive! I loved that class and, not surprisingly, I actually did pretty well in it. As a worship leader, or individual, that wishes to help his/her congregation better understand worship, you need to have a number of tools in your belt to accomplish this daunting task. I hope to offer you some valuable tools that will help as you teach and encourage others to become worshipers.
Tool 1 - Your personality and credibility.
How do people view you? Do they see you as a genuine worshiper? Do they respect and trust you? How do they see you outside of church, at work, or in business? If people do not have faith in you and believe that what you are teaching is real, you will have a tough time teaching worship. Work on your image and your relationships with people. This is one of the greatest tools I have used.
Tool 2 - Prayer
Prayer is an often overlooked tool that can be your greatest secret weapon . Pray for your people and God will move their hearts. Worship and worship revival is a God thing and nothing we do outside of prayer will amount to much if you haven’t spent time praying for your worship team and leadership. Pray for your people that they will grow and become worshipers, because God hears and will honor your petition. Keep in mind that some will never grow because of their "heart" condition.
Tool 3 - The Worship Team.
No matter how hard I try or want to, I can't do everything. I am only one person and can only reach a certain number of people. Because of my personality, I do not relate to everyone. To have a well-rounded worship team, allow those who have leadership gifts to take over some of the load. Let them teach or lead worship from time to time. Give them the opportunity to be involved in planning and leading on the platform through readings or solos. I have people on our team who communicate worship better than I do. They are great teachers of worship through their own worship. Build a team that is unified and well-rounded and you will have a better tool to teach with.
Tool 4 - Outside Support.
What is outside support? Bring in someone who shares the same beliefs and vision for worship to help reinforce what you are teaching. I had been trying to share and teach worship for the first year at my present church and was having little luck communicating at the rate I wanted. I brought in a man who specializes in worship and leading worship to give a seminar and preach on Sunday. He communicated everything I wanted to communicate and did it better than I could ever have! He helped us get where I wanted us to go in one weekend after I had worked a year with little progress. He came in and restatee what I had been sharing, but in a different manner and approach. It was a great success for our church and people. Use others outside the church to help communicate your passion and vision. I caution you to check them out first and communicate with them your vision and philosophy to make sure you are both on the same page.
Tool 5 - Media materials.
Everyone has a venue of communication that appeals best to their style of learning. For some it may be video, a book, audio tapes, and some prefer the Cliff Note version. You need each of these in your tool box. If you can't find it, develop it. Create audio tapes for your people to listen to on their way to work. If you can't find a video that helps teach worship, create one. There is much written material on the market in the form of books and studies. Whatever means works for your people, use it. If we rely solely on one media tool to help our people, we will fall short and miss many in the process. You will find that there are those in your church and on your worship team that have gifts in writing or media that can be of great help as you develop your own materials for your people.
Experiencing Worship, The Study