Singers Vs Worship Leaders

“Morris, please teach us microphone techniques…”
“I cannot sing in that key, it is too high for me…” 

“I am not able to sing as backup while he/she is leading worship… their key is too high, er, guys, can you please tweak that key a little… just a little?” 

“This is how I am used to singing, if you don’t like it that is your own problem. I just can’t sing in the manner you are recommending… I just cannot…”

“That keyboard player/instrumentalist/drummer/guitarist ain’t playing what I want the way I want it… they ain’t bringing out that hook as it should… they are making it too hard for me to sing…”

If you are a leader in a worship team, the above concerns from team members are as common as it can get. You probably have heard it from your team members hundreds of times (depending with how long you have been in charge of singing in that given congregation.) It is also likely that whenever these team members bring up these issues, they actually are not so much interested in making corrections or improving in the art of worship and singing, and in the area of their complaints.

Today, in a short but very direct way, I want to help us differentiate between so-called singers and lead worshipers with reference to a worship team and a church congregation of any size.

First things first though…

I describe singers as anyone who can sing. They sing in the bathroom, while doing laundry, while cooking, while out with friends partying… they just can sing. They may sing with or without order and may or may not be committed members of a worship team. That is what they are.

On the other hand, worship leaders (and not necessarily worship team leaders)are members of a singing community or team that are able to lead and teach others how to sing, and can interact with a crowd (or congregation) and make them (through conviction, gentle persuasion or whatever way) on how to sing whatever they want them to sing – how to sing anything. One unique thing about them (worship leaders) is that they command the stage and everyone falls in tune with whatever they are directing or guiding them to do.

Inasmuch as there are these differences, it is good to note that there is a close resemblance between the two (singers and worship leaders) because they both sing and are both involved (in one way or another) in standing before an audience while singing.

Notable quote: Everyone can sing, but not everyone can lead others in singing. (Especially a congregation full of diversified people from different classes – okay, classes shouldn’t be in Church, or should they? – and cultures.) Everyone knows a song or two, but not everyone can teach that song to everyone else so that they may come out knowing it as much as they should.

So you may be asking yourself, “Morris, why in the whole good world of music are you talking to us about such obvious things…?” Obvious things, huh?

Well, note the following…

The definition of music and worship in the Church has changed a lot over the years. Since the times of The First/Early Church, corporate/congregational worship has changed exponentially. You will agree with me that our differences in denominational upbringing have not only influenced our doctrinal inclination within the Christian community, but that it has also affected the manner in which we worship God. The way we structure our services (on whatever day we have chosen to worship God), the tools and instruments we use, the manner in which we display acts or worship, the stance of our worship leaders, the kind of songs each congregation sings, the way we include others in our singing/worship, the way we incorporate Scripture in our singing/worship services etc… have influenced and redefined the general aura of congregational worship in every church across the world.

Of course, the centre of argument within most worship leaders and pastors in the Christian fraternity around the world will be that we are all seeking to worship God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24), but notably, the truth is that while seeking to worship the Creator in spirit and in truth, we have formed for our own selves differing views on corporate worship and the fruits thereof. This in itself has changed how (or has helped redefine how) members of a given worship team interact with each other and afterwards, with the congregation. This also defines how well they will rehearse and practice before presenting the aftermath of this to the congregation.

For instance, a worship team that cares less about the quality and influence of the music they produce before God and the congregation will have more singers than worship leaders. It will have a greater number of its team concentrating on performance than on a relationship and intimacy with the God that is being worshipped. This team will practice less, mind less about knowing their strong and weak points while working as a team and will neither pray for a better presentation and the movement of the Spirit of God nor about the people being ministered to during the worship service.

You probably have also heard of the emergence of the so-called commercial worship leaders/singers or worship-rock-stars found within many “mega churches”. They have a tendency to not submit to authority and they lack spiritual fervency while “ministering” in those “mega churches” or the spontaneous crowds they are given to “worship” with. They move from place to place “ministering” and “preaching” to these oblivious crowds/congregations and have little or no commitment at all to wanting the impartation of something new and something from God, within the people they “minister” to. This also has contributed to the increase in the number of singers in our worship teams as compared to the number of those who can actually lead worship.

In the preview I read of a book by Stephen Miller called Worship Leaders, We Are Not RockStars, he reiterates that the manner in which a worship leader chooses to worship God even at an individual level, is very determinant of how well they are going to interact with their fellow team members and the congregation that awaits their ministry. He also adds that as a member of a worship team, the central thing should not be to compete on who strums the guitar best, who plays the piano best, who sings best or who knows best but on how much as a team, you are positively moving your church/congregation towards worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

The table below summarizes what I am talking about (Singers vs Worship Leaders);

No.	Singers	Worship leaders/Lead worshipers
1	They can only sing and have fun. They care less about the influence their singing has on the audience.	They can sing and lead others in worship as well. They enjoy the singing yeah, but are also keen on making the congregation meet with their Creator.
2	They claim to have difficulty in singing in set-up groups with other singers within the worship team. They are oblivious of the team’s strengths and weaknesses.	They can sing, lead and back-up. They interact well with team members and can point out strengths and weaknesses within the team.
3	They have no understanding of their vocal or voice range.	They understand the whole concept of where their voice or vocal range is and can alter it at any time.
4	Have a high affinity to blaming others when things go wrong and would rather teach than be taught.	Are reluctant to lead and think themselves as imperfect and still need to do a few things with their skills before they are ready to lead.
5	They concentrate on performance rather than on intimacy and a relationship with the One being worshipped.	They concentrate more on a relationship and intimacy with the One being worshipped rather than on performance.
6	They are more of people-pleasers than they are God-pleasers. They therefore seek excitement and “a feeling” first before the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit through their singing.	They are more of God-pleasers than they are people-pleasers. They therefore seek the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit through their singing before excitement and a sense of “feeling”.

As a warning to most of us who care less about worship as a ministry that plays an important role in the spiritual growth of a church, and one which cuts across all the major offices of the church, Christ Jesus our LORD said the following in Matthew 15:13 (NKJV) “But He answered and said, ‘Every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch…’”

Till next time,

Bonface Morris.

Musings And Observations Part 2 (Church Edition)

If you have not yet read part one of this series of blog posts, read it here.

In the recent past, I have had spontaneous "micro-debates" with random people about the Church, sound doctrine and the universality of religion. These discussions may not have been conclusive enough - to the point of deriving meaningful inferences - but I have (at least) come to understand a few things about how people interpret and understand religion and matters of Faith.
There is a certain conclusion though we all came to: that the Church is diverse in its approach to both evangelism and mode of worship; and although we are all this diverse, unity is not so much lacking as far as doctrine and sound Christian teaching is concerned.
Here below are some of my observations on the Church - of which I am part of;

We mutually wear a certain disguise called "pettiness"
A few weeks ago, we were presented with a controversial discussion on “the Church and Morality” - so to say - as was depicted in a certain poster outside a mega church in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

The poster is here below (courtesy of UlizaLinks);

"Blurred Lines" - A sermon series courtesy of Mavuno Church

Many claimed that the poster was very controversial (put "very" in CAPS) (and of course it was controversial) as far as Christian values are/were concerned, condemned it and blatantly claimed that that church’s leadership (Mavuno Church) was misguiding our young people (and of course talking of young people, I should be one of them), and that they should apologize for doing so.

The discussion emanated into 2 weeks of funny internet memes and GIFs, and I am very sure that you either retweeted, commented on, or laughed at all those twerkusifu jokes.

But this was not funny, my friend. It was not.
 
These were serious issues in our society - issues affecting ALL young people - being tackled by the church... Just in a different way altogether...
Okay, I gave my two pence on what I felt (and still feel) about the Mavuno Poster (as it came to be known) and moved on. Some people hated me (“caught feelings”), some supported me, and it went on the way it did... And if you were to tell me right then - and even right now - that Mavuno Church was/is not addressing current challenges amongst young people, (saved or unsaved), I would/ I will drag you to the ground with it...

See, today, I have had a few Christians (including myself) complain about things they see in other Christians - things they think are just wrong. You know it, right? It is a common thing. It mostly has been due to “not liking how the other person is serving God” by claiming that they are not capitalizing on the “basic, major and fundamental parts of the Christian Faith”, or on how bad they are as compared to us.

Note: Differentiate between pettiness and differences in doctrine as in cases when we attack, speak against and refute false teachers, heresies and teachings. In this case, I am talking about our petty reactions towards other normal Christians.

I have been a victim of such accusations. People claim that because I am a leader in many capacities, there are things I should not talk about, and that there are things I should be silent about. Some of these things include; love relationships, politics, humor, commenting on certain TV Shows, current news, affairs and on secular music (although I don’t listen to secular music or have any of it on any of my gadgets).

All these critics claim that I should base my christian influence on teaching Scripture and being the blunt and stoic Christian they are. But in retaliation, I have always asked, “Are we here to only reach out to the saints or also to the unsaved? Is my service to God (including this blog) only meant for the "cherched" or also to the "uncherched”? Why do we like to spiritualize everything? Huh?


If I have to reach out to anyone at all, the tools I may use need to make sense both to the believer (in line with Scripture) and to the unbeliever (for them to gain an understanding of what Christianity is all about.)

People have different needs as far as general life is concerned; some just need encouragement, some need Scripture full time, some need humor, others need music; some seek for news while others are attracted to weirdness. End point? Christ should be preached. Christ should revealed. To all people.
Anyway, am I sinning by doing this, by using all tools available to me to reach out to as many people as possible? No. Okay, does Jesus Christ, my Lord, feel offended when I do it? No. So what? Why do we have to make the Gospel so unreachable and so hard to pursue and love? I love being saved. I love it. I cannot imagine myself without salvation. I want other people to love it through seeing me as I enjoy it. That is all I want - for all people to know the Jesus I know, relate with Him and thereafter come to love Him.
The Mavuno poster unveiled our pettiness - how we choose to react to issues without basing our view on Scripture but on how we feel. When did the Gospel become subject to how we feel and what we think (our opinions)?

******************
Jesus, in His time, used examples the people around him could relate with so that He would drive his message home. He wanted them to understand Him - to understand the message of the Kingdom in the easiest way possible. The Pharisees called it crazy, but God called it awesome. They called unorthodox, but the Father called it obedience. Note the difference.

The Apostle Paul had “a fight” with the Apostle Peter on this same issue in Galatians Chapter 2 (please read the whole chapter to get what I am saying) when Peter claimed that the Gospel was only to be preached in a certain way and only to the Jews. Paul on the other hand felt that the Gospel was to be preached by all means possible to both Jews and Gentiles. End point? God intervenes in Acts 10 by showing Peter that the Gospel was not limited to the Jews alone but that it was for the Gentiles too, thus justifying what Paul had earlier preached in Romans 9:15 (and what Peter had been knowing all along because it was written in the very Torah he ardently followed - Exodus 33:19 (ESV) “And he said, 'I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.'”and in Hosea 2:23 (ESV) “...and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”)

The argument between Paul and Peter presents to us what the modern church has become: petty. We have become like the Corinthian church which Paul wrangled with asking them in 1 Corinthians 3:4 (ESV), “For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human /petty?” (the word 'petty' is my own addition).

My observation is that the greatest opposition the church is facing today is not from the world but from within. We are fighting amongst ourselves more than we are fighting against sin and the many atrocities in the world. Our pettiness - not based on the Holy Scripture - is our spiritual backlog.
We are acting like the fella below that Jesus once talked about

You got a speck in your eye!!

This is how I think we should act around a fellow Christian when they are not doing things the same way we do them (putting in mind that our way of doing things is not law as far as the Spirit of God is concerned.)
We should ask ourselves;

1. Are they sinning? If not, why criticize them?
2. Is what they are doing positively changing someone's life- both in the Church and in the world? If yes, why oppose them?
3. Are they being guided by God in what they are doing? Are they glorifying God? Is the Spirit of God and His Word being involved?  If yes, then why stand against ourselves?

If we were to read and understand the message in Romans Chapter 14, and read it over and over again with an open mind and allow God's Spirit to speak to us, our pettiness would become less and less by the day.

People make mistakes. People sin. You also sin and make mistakes. They need a break. We should give them some breathing space - because we expect the same of ourselves when we err.

Note: These two articles reveal and describe how good we are at being petty: “Why People Really Like Jesus More Than Christians” and “Why I Quit Church (and the Surprise That Brought Me Back)”

Baseless blame games
Then in some other contexts, I have met numerous people (both believers and unbelievers) complaining about Church leadership and how they are falling away from the Church because of leader so-and-so or pastor-so-and-so.
Wait. So people are refusing to be faithful to God on the account of others? Is one's life tagged within another's life? Is spirituality a matter of an individual of a society or of a group? Will I go to heaven because my pastor (or another person's pastor) or leader is going to heaven or on the account of my own life and commitment to God? Why do people blame pastors and/or church leaders for fallen saints or any other sins within a congregation or a given denomination? Are pastors or leaders supposed to be gods so that they may jump like saving angels at some sort of an alarm and save church members from willful sinning?
Okay. Would we blame Jesus Christ for Judas Iscariot’s eloping, greed and love for money? Or blame the apostle Paul for Giaus’s leaving or the apostle John for Deotrephes’s weird mannerisms? Were all these leaders “unspiritual”? that some few people around them fell back and went back into the world? Why then do we call our pastors and leaders "unspiritual" because of some other person's sinful life? Isn't obedience to God's Word an individual's responsibility?

Whenever we blame others and make them responsible for our failures (or other people's failures), we are just being self-righteous, mean, judgmental and self-ish. Leaders and pastors are part of the body of Christ just as we are. They are no better than us. They have just been given a higher office of responsibility as compared to us, but that does not make them immune to sin or to the devil's temptation(s). They experience burn-out and feel weak, exhausted, betrayed and run down just as we often do. We should stop blaming them for all the things we see happening in our congregation(s) and instead pray for/with them. There, we will be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.
I don't deny that some of them deliberately sin and that others advocate for evil and wicked deeds amongst their followers, but why not pray for them instead? Yeah, we should rebuke them and correct them, but why not pray for them after doing so?
The body of Christ should be able to heal itself through forgiveness, love and prayer; and not tear itself apart through ridicule, factions and slurring...
That's my opinion.


I close my case.

Wait for Part 3 in the near future.


Bonface Morris.

3 'Must Haves' to Successful Christian Living

The world we live in today is very ridiculous. It is always expecting too much from Christians - quite too much. It knows what our standards should be - what the Bible says about Christian behavior - and it is not only holding us accountable for what we do, but also judging us for the same.

The world does not act with kindness when dealing with Christians. It is harsh. Intolerable. Merciless. Judgmental. And rude. It is judging us with the highest standards of scrutiny, the same of which if it is subjected to, it may fall down under before it even thinks of rising up. The balances it uses in sieving through what we do and how we behave are meticulous, and that is the truth.

But that does not matter. (At least not to the Christian who will consider what I am sharing in this post.) We know who we are. Christians know who they are. We know it and are not running away from it. We will not try to be petty over it either. We will strive to live to the measure of what God's Word says. Right here in this generation. We will strive to do it in the midst of scoffers and perjurers and in the midst of a world that is always running away from God.

The truth is that Christians are the yard stick of the world. We are to be emulated. We are to be copied (literally, and again not so literally). We represent God, and God is worthy to be emulated. We are to bring hope, and show love, and make people experience God. That is our duty on this earth. And we are in for the task.

Although there is no straight-on formula to "making it" in Christian life except that provided in the Bible, below are three BASIC things that are necessary when one wants to become the Christian they should be (or that God expects them to be);

1. The Word of God
It has been stressed upon countless times that The Word of God is the Christian's mantle. I am going to reiterate it more. Psalm 119:105 (ESV) says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.") There is no magic to successful Christian living. No, there is not. God is very clear that we need to know His Word in order to please Him (Read Joshua 1:8 (ESV) "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." and Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

I need to meditate upon it and delight in it (Psalm 1:2 (ESV) "...but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." I need to live it. It is not my Pastor's nor my leader's duty to know God's Word on my behalf, it is my duty. I should know it and seek to apply it in my life so that I may live the life I am supposed to live.

Here are reasons why every Christian should read, know, understand and live God's Word;

(a) God's Word are His instructions to the born again Christian on how He expects us to live in this fallen world. Only by heeding it do we understand His thoughts and plan(s) for us.

(b) God's Word contains revelation about God and ourselves. It reveals to us who and what God is to us, to the universe, and to mankind; and also reveals us to ourselves. We can only know who we truly are by reading the Word. We also are able to know who the devil (Satan) truly is and what all his plans against us are.

(c) The Word of God is the Christian's power in overcoming temptation and the devil. (Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart", Ephesians 6:17 (ESV) "...and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..." and Revelation 12:11 (ESV) "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

2. The Holy Spirit

We all understand that the Holy Spirit is part of the God-head: the third person in the Holy Trinity. It is very basic for every Christian to understand that unless we have the Holy Spirit, we do not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9b (ESV) "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.). There are three things that the Holy Spirit does;

(a) He helps us (gives us strength) in our daily living and mentors us towards holiness. He helps us pray/intercede, fast, read God's Word, meditate, speak the truth, attend church, dress right, speak graciously, love people, persevere/tolerate people, be gentle, be kind, be merciful, be less judgmental, think right//purely, practice self control, be joyful regardless of circumstances, be good to people, be understanding, put others first (be selfless), be humble, become wise, be faithful (both to God and fellow men), be generous... the list is endless. In simple terms, He helps us live the life we are called to live, because we can never make it on our own. (Refer to Galatians 5:22 (ESV) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness..." and James 3:17 (ESV) "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.")

(b) He is our inspiration, comfort and motivation. Matthew 10:19 (ESV) says "When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour" and Acts 9:31 (ESV) says "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."

(c) He is our guide. John 16:13 (ESV) says "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come", Judges 11:29 (ESV) says "Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites" and Psalm 143:10 (ESV) says "​Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!"

3. The Congregation of Saints

Many of us take this for granted. We think that it is useless to meet other Christians and worship together. Some avoid meeting other Christians in the name of "protecting themselves from gossip, back-biting and intolerable Christians", and others because "the Church has become a market place - it is better if we live this life on our own." Some have even insisted that "I can watch/listen to sermons on TV/radio all day and still be more blessed and nearer to God than you guys who went/go to church..." 

Whenever we make these assumptions, we deceive ourselves and are driven away from the Church itself. 

There is an important point to note about the Early Church that is still relevant to the Church and Christians today: they used to fellowship with one another more than we do today, and that kept them stronger and focused on living a godly life. Find reference from the verses below;

- 1 John 1:3 (ESV) "...that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

- Acts 2:42 (ESV) "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

- 1 Corinthians 16:19 (ESV) "The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord."

The apostle Paul also insists in Hebrews 10:24-25 that "...and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Whoever tries to defend themselves against this matter is only but being prideful and conceited.

Attending fellowships and church helps us in the following ways;

(a) Encouraging one another, support, companionship, affection and socialization. Of course every congregation will have its own "bad sides", but it should serve the purpose of an extended Christian family. The church is a home to every soul that needs godly company.

(b) Accountability - when we lose out on attending church, we miss the opportunity to be accountable to a community of people that can positively shape our thinking, desires and daily personal behavior. We miss our on being trimmed to become better Christians in the society at large. The congregation of saints provides us with real mentors and consultants in real life experiences.

(c) The congregation of saints helps us in our positive personal growth, transformation and change. When we meet people with like minds, who are seeking to worship and serve God like we do, we are challenged to become better in serving fellow men and God. We stop being limited to our views and take on life.

The above points are very BASIC and are meant to help us kick-start living a life that is worthy the calling we have received in accordance with Matthew 3:8 (ESV) "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance" and Ephesians 4:1 (ESV) "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called"). Use them to impart something useful into the lives of the people around you.

God bless.

Bonface Morris.

Do Not Come Alone!

More often than not, a question pops in my mind: "Do I really do the things I do in the manner that they should be done when it comes to worship and leading worship?" "Do I follow the right steps and the prompting of the Holy Spirit in order to have the right impact on the audience I am serving?” “Am I too apt or too exotic?”

I do ask myself such questions because, first, most of the time, I am concerned about how I lead worship; and second, it is because this is what happens to every worship leader or singer out there (or anyone interacting with the public from time to time). We always feel insufficient on how we deliver whatever we are assigned to deliver.
Last Sunday, I was privileged to visit a certain church in a remote area some few kilometres from where I stay, and good enough, with it came the opportunity to finish writing this blog post that I had started writing a few months back but still needed “enough inspiration”.
Just the day before Sunday, I had been talking to a friend of mine about something I call “the music style of a church or a congregation.” I was telling him that it is not possible for all church congregations to have the same music style. (Music style in this case being the way a worship team within a congregation sings, the type(s) of songs they sing (whether English or vernacular or Swahili or local contemporary or hymnals or African or songs with an Afro fusion), the musical instruments they use in worship, their number of singers, song arrangement, the way they involve the congregation in worship or dancing etc).
This came about after realizing that my church (after being here for a while) has a certain music style ardently followed by the members, and although I know that most of us are in limbo of its reign upon us, it is a reality we can’t evade. The truth is that only certain songs sang in a certain manner blend well with us. (This is not to mean that we can’t sing “other types of songs” or “other types of songs in another kind of way”, but that singing them would complicate the whole issue that I am addressing in this post.)
It therefore means that any kind of creativity being introduced in my church will still have to flirt with the baseline that is its music style. Only then will any new songs being introduced be “acceptable” by at least 90% of its members. This “music style” depicts what songs and how songs are sang in our church, and also if these songs can still be needed (be on demand) or liked whenever we come to worship in singing.

Now, back to talking about my visit to that small church…
There are a few things I learned in the worship sessions from that small congregation;

a)      The originality with which they sing their songs

b)     The coherence and unison in their “music style” – how well the members pick up a song right after the first line is sang

c)      The passion both in the worship leader and the congregation while engaging in worship

I learned that they are these “tiny” things in life that possess the greatest lessons we can ever learn. You don’t need “big congregations” or “thunderous voices” or “award-winning Gospel artists” (although they are all good in serving one purpose or another) in order to learn a lesson or two about worship. No, you just need your sensitivity to the voice of God.
Of course this church did music in a way that my church never does. In fact, I didn’t even understand or blend well with some of their songs and dancing, but you know what? they made me like it – they moved me within them until I was able to be like them - so I sang and danced along to what I didn’t even understand! And did it really matter that I did not understand what they were singing or their dancing styles? Or that their music style was “out of place”? I don’t think so. The worship leaders were achieving their goal: taking the congregation to their Father and their Maker – that is all that mattered! They didn’t go before the throne of God alone! No, they didn’t…
With the few lessons I learnt above, I realize that  role of a worship leader – whether they belong to the biggest or the smallest congregation in this world – is to lead people to God. The worship leader should achieve, at least in one moment of worship, the task of taking people to God. He/she should never go to God alone. After all has been said and done, God will still be sitting on His throne waiting to see the worship leader bring His people home - that is a worship leader’s responsibility.
There are a few things that may warp this great commission though;

a)    Lack of good communication or linkage between the worship leader and the congregation -  I am always of the opinion that if the worship leader realizes that the people in the congregation need him/her to be social with them and freed-up, interaction with these church members during or before worship, or yet still outside the confines of the church should be made more of a priority than a option. A cat can’t lead dogs to war nor can a horse race with donkeys. The results will be utter prejudice. If the worship leader is stuck “into his/her own world” from which they don’t want to get out of, how do you expect it to be a simple task, that one of holding people’s hands and leading them to their Father? If he/she can’t meet them where they are, taking them to where he/she wants them to go will be the hardest thing to do on this earth. He/she needs first to move with them at their pace, understanding them and tolerating them, and then pull them up to the unknown. They should start from the known to the unknown. Connecting with people before connecting them with God is the greatest thing a worship leader can ever do in the way of achieving the goal of not going to God alone, and it is the most basic thing every worship leader should ever understand.

b)    The viral desire to become like every other famous/modern church you know – most campus students (and mostly those who come from the countryside) will confess that the type of fellowship (or cherch, as many will put it) they have at campus overrides what they experience when they go back home during the holidays. This is also true with most people living in towns and cities when they go back home to these “small churches”. In such circumstances, or to the worship leader who happens to experience “another level of worship” in other churches, wisdom should be practised when wanting to change a few things in these “remote congregations” when they go back to them. Yes, it is not easy to change a church’s music style overnight and it may not even be possible, but it is important to be keen on the following things:

-      God’s timing - everything needs the intervention of God. Everything. Never override God’s intentions for your worship team by replacing them with your own selfish desires. Pray before commencing to effect any desired change in activities. Seek Him first. Let this always take centre stage, so that even if it fails (and it doesn’t have to), you will still be confident that it was of God, and that He had your back.

-      A church’s teachability - does your church take long to learn new stuff? What about the members of your worship team? Are they able to sing songs in the music style you are introducing? This will determine “how much change they can receive and tolerate” before it blows into your face.

-      Taking risks - Yes, it may not be possible for these people to adopt a new way of doing things, but you also need to learn to take risks. Introduce these new things in bits, ensuring that neither the worship team nor the congregation is overwhelmed by what you are bringing in. Remember that maintaining the status quo won’t lift you to a new level of worship, so always dare to do things differently even if it may not be mutually accepted by all.

My parting shot: always, as a worship leader, as you consider what I’ve said above, never ever go to God alone… because even right now, somewhere within me, I can still hear Him whispering to us, "The next time you come, boy/girl, don't come alone!"


Bonface Morris.