SMALL GROUP WORSHIP LEADING HINTS

especially for guitarists

There is no biblical record of worship leaders in the New Testament church. Some compare worship leaders with the Old Testament priests, yet scripturally every believer is a priest today. A worship leader does not act as an intermediary between God and the flock. A worship leader just heads to the water where the sheep can drink for themselves. As a worship leader, you are really a kind of teacher, a teacher that uses songs and brief moments of sharing, scripture, and prayers to teach through example how God's people can come to Him. A good worship leader gets things started and then gets out of the way!

Prepare a song list. It's ok to deviate from the list, but have one ready. Keep your list easily visible (e.g. tape to top of guitar).

Be Early. If we are late, we tend to be less sensitive and more likely to rush through songs and not share what we originally intended. Also, guitars need time to reach room temperature.

Make sure your instrument is in tune. It should be an aid to worship, not a hindrance!

Make sure your heart is in tune.

Enter worship yourself. How can you "lead" people in worship if you aren't worshiping?

Sharing: use a short word from Bible reading, what the Lord has shown you recently, your journal, what you read in a book that touched you, or an experience. Often it is better to just sing without saying anything.

Selah - pauses, meditation times. Often it's nice to just be silent and wait on the Lord. Or you may continue to play your instrument without singing.

Advanced Worship Techniques: All the following depend on improvising a melody and singing to the Lord during a predictable chord progression. Most people are terrified at the thought of doing this, but it can be great with groups who are very comfortable with each other.


©2004 Roy Osborn Copy freely for non-profit use.