Jan
19
2011

The Ebb and Flow of a Worship Service

An article by Matt

One of my favorite parts of ministry is the crafting of worship gatherings. This may sound odd to some people, it is not often that the word craft is used in relation to church services, but if you stop and think about it I doubt that there is a better word. The dictionary defines the word craft as to make or manufacture (an object, objects, product, etc.) with skill and careful attention to detail… which is exactly what we should be doing as we develop our worship services.

A few years ago I was attending a church that had a great band leading worship, a gifted communicator doing the preaching, and a group of creative folks who made wonderful media pieces. While each of these individual pieces were pretty solid, I would come away from the service feeling uninspired. As I think back about that experience I think that I felt like the service just was. There wasn’t a sense that the service was crafted, there wasn’t a sense that it was a living, breathing organism… it just was.

From my experience, there seems to be two ways to look at a worship service. The first view is that it is a static presentation, an hour to two hours in which everything is programed to the minute, and things happen on schedule. Not having a theater background, this is how I would envision a broadway show being done. There are rehearsals, and things are repeated enough that there is minimal chance of a mistake. While this can provide a certain degree of excellence, I fully believe that this view of a service can suck the life out of a body in a very subtle, but dangerous way. The second view is that a worship service is a living, breathing organism. It is a dynamic period of time that is handled loosely and allowed to be fluid. While there is rehearsal and preparation, it is done in a way to build familiarity but at the same time there is an openness to what may happen. The way I see it the difference between the two is that one has an openness to the move of the spirit, the other has a need to get everything done.

I am convinced that the ability to do this rests firmly on the shoulders of the worship leader.

Worship leaders are a rare breed. There are plenty of excellent musicians that can direct worship, but to really lead a worship service, to really shepherd a body of believers through a worship service takes a special gifting. I have met a few people with this gift along the way… and have been blessed to be in a service where they have been leading.

While the worship leader’s ability to shepherd the service is key it is not solely their responsibility to craft the service. Crafting a worship service must be a team effort. The worship leader needs to be in contact with the communicator and those that are developing creative elements for the service. The team needs to be developing a flow and vibe for the service that revolves around a central theme. Worship songs and creative pieces should work together with the message to point those of us participating in the service to what the Holy Spirit has for us at the time… and through it all there needs to be a flexibility that allows the Holy Spirit to work through the service.

Several years ago I was honored to be a part of a team that would come together to craft worship gatherings for the students that we ministered to. We would meet together a few hours each week developing the gatherings of the next few weeks. Putting together songs, movie clips, artistic elements, and a spoken message as an act of worship towards our Creator. The time that we spent together was intense, sometimes with passionate discussions about what we should keep and what we should cut. As we finished our time of preparation we would walk away with a solid plan for what our gathering would look like. We would then take on the opinion of Eisenhower, who said “plans are worthless, planning is essential” and let the service go where the Holy Spirit took it… trusting Him to minister to all of us taking part.

What does YOUR planning process look like for your worship gatherings?

Derek Miller

These are some really great thoughts, Matt. There does seem to be this incredible tension between production and preparing for the movement of the Spirit in times of worship.
i would like to emphasize that the Spirit moves in our times of planning as well. As you described your experiences in planning, I am drawn to reflect on the times where His presence was felt as it animated us to continue the act of creating. Just to say, the Holy Spirit takes our plans in directions before the gatherings, not just during. But your point is well made about creating “room” and a flexibility that is prepared for how God would choose to lead his church at that point in time.

So, I also have a question. You mentioned that this role of discerning and preparing for this falls on the shoulders of the worship leader. What does this look like? How would you describe someone who is dialed in to this? And how does that relate to the idea of God’s Spirit inhabiting the believers in the congregation as well?

I love this topic, as you can tell and would love more thoughts!
Matt

You ask how to describe someone that is dialed into this and I have been trying to answer that same question for years. I love this stuff, yet at the same time I have a difficult time discussing it because it is hard to sound somewhat intelligent while talking about those certain intangibles that you can’t really put words to. Know what I mean? With that disclaimer I think you just know. I think you can just tell when you run into someone with that special something that allows them to go from being a worship performer to being a worship leader. There is a sensitivity of spirit about them that allows them to sense where a service is leading, and how to let it go where it is being led. This is the part that falls on the shoulders of the worship leader… since it is such a rare gift.

Generally the people that I have seen who posses this kind of gifting are pretty humble, are not the most musically gifted people (they are good, but not great or amazing… does that make sense?), and are willing to worship themselves while they are leading… that whole undignified thing that David had.

I think that there is more to this, but like I said I have a pretty hard time putting it into words. What am I missing?
Michael Cline

Matt, I must admit that when we first started working together in the church, I had a hard time adjusting to all the detail we put into building the worship service. I had the attitude that if we plan to much in advance we’ll somehow leave the Holy Spirit out. As if the Holy Spirit only came to visit us on Sunday mornings.

I’m glad I learned that the worship service doesn’t start at 11 and end at 12. It’s a process of prayer and preparation and the Holy Spirit is in every detail. Building the “flow sheet” was an integral part of what we did on Sundays and Wednesdays, even if at the end of the day when the Spirit moved and changed everything we’d look at each other with a grin and say “So much for the Flow Sheet…” .