Worship Leaders and the Church

There is a very important relationship between worship leaders and the church. The church reminds us, as worship leaders, that our job is more about leading God's people than just leading a time of singing praises. Sometimes the relationship between a worship leader and the church can be little complicated. There are times when the church body can have very negative things to say to a worship leader. Maybe they don't like the song choices you have made, maybe they want you to play more hymns, or maybe that don't like your "hippy style" of how you dress. It is true that you can't please everyone. But through worship, we aren't trying to make everybody happy. We are worshiping to please an audience of one, our God. But as we lead, we must find the best ways to serve the church so that the church can please God.

When we struggle with issues with dealing with our church family, prayer should be our first step to a resolution. If we lack prayer for our family, we will lack power, grace, and love as we lead them. Praying for the church body will help us remember what we can't do without the Holy Spirit. It will reveal to us our emptiness apart from what the Spirit can do through us. Prayer will open our eyes to what God has for the church as a whole. God will humble us by showing that His plans are better than ours. We want everything to run smoothly with little room for mistakes. But God wants the woman going through a divorce to know that He still loves her, the kid who just lost his parents to know they are worshiping Him in heaven, and the lost to find their way to the Father. His plan is to do all this by magnifying the greatness of the Savior in the eyes of the church. Prayer will make us want to care for others. It will show us that our job is just as much about leading people, as is it is about loving people. Leading and teaching are the activities, but loving and serving are the motivation behind them.

Worship leaders take a lot of hits from the church. There is much encouragement we receive and there is a handful of criticism we take. Our leadership ability will only grow if we take these acknowledgements, both positive and negative, prayerfully and biblically. We can't allow the compliments to fill our minds up with pride, and we can't let harsh words harden our hearts and make us bitter. There are appropriate responses to both. The most important thing we can do when receiving encouragement is to take the praise off of us, and point it to the Father and the contributions of others. When we receive criticism, the best thing we can do is allow the comment to build us up not bring us down. We must thank God for the correction and ask Him to build us up through it. Corrections can remind us that we are imperfect and sinful people. They should remind us though of what Jesus did on the cross for us. We remember that the cross is a loud statement of our sin, unworthiness, and need. And in light of the cross, we can receive criticism graciously because God has fully forgiven and justified us. 

The most important question you be asked as a worship leader will be "Do you love your church?" This is what matters most to God. Because He loves the church and we should love it as well. We may get discouraged or lose hope in our church, but Christ doesn't. God never gets tired of the church singing praises to Him (in tune or not). He never gives up on His plan to reveal His glorious wisdom through the church. (Ephesians 3:10) When we look at the people of the church, we just see people, nothing special. But God sees His treasured possessions. They are bought with the blood of His Son. Since they are precious in His sight, as they should be in ours as well.