This is a question we ask all worship leaders in our Essentials In Worship Leading Course during our week 2 class on The Roles Of The Worship Leader. We’re studying lots of things around it, but we hope it’s helpful to you on its own.
WORSHIP LEADER ROLE PERSONAL EVALUATION
www.worshiptraining.com
This evaluation we developed at worshiptraining.com can either be done on one’s own, or in tandem with a pastor/overseer. In the latter case, it would be good for each to fill out their perspective on the following answers, then compare notes.
PART 1
Reflect on the many roles the worship leader must fulfill among those who we lead in worship.
Which roles come more naturally to you by personality, and which are areas of challenge for you to grow in? Use the following list to help you answer.
- Priestly (building bridges for people to connect with God)
- Teacher (communicating themes without music)
- Storyteller (retelling the realities of the Kingdom in music)
- Evangelist (leading others to a place of challenge and commitment)
- Pastor (relationally nurturing our teams, communities)
- Prophetic (challenging Christians to go to new edges in their faith)
- Administrative (organizing worship, planning, details, events)
- Intercessory (committed to pray for those we lead/lead with)
PART 2
When working with a worship team or group of musicians, what is your greatest strength? Your greatest challenge? How about when working with your pastor or those in oversight roles (small group pastors, etc.)?
Copy and paste the following in your answer, and rate yourself 1-10 beside it. I.e. 10 is “amazing at this,” and 1 is “oh my goodness, this is a rough patch for me.”
In cases where you’re not sure how the “w/pastor” rating fits, rate how you think your pastoral leader would rate you in this area.
- Honest communication? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Submission to another’s leadership? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Musical strength/leadership (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Pastorally supporting others? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Conflict resolution? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Being a team player? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Supporting another’s vision? (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Being easy to get along with/likeable (w/team: w/pastor: )
- Mentoring other leaders/musicians (w/team: w/pastor: )
If you’d like to join our course, go to Essentials In Worship Leading at WorshipTraining.com to register.
8 Comments
Dan,
Do you do training or an exploration of what it means to be a worship leader in completely non-church contexts?
To be missional in worship though not necessarily overtly evangelical.
The reason I ask is that I find myself on the most interesting journey of having led worship in local and wider church gatherings for many years but now increasingly in ‘mainstream’ contexts because of my music.
Bars, nightclubs, house concerts and even a brothel of sorts once – really!
I find that the human instinct to worship and respond to the unveiling of His presence, even though folks wouldn’t articulate it in those terms still gets expressed in these places. It draws people closer on the journey that often they don’t realize they’re on.
I find that in performing I’m actually instinctively leading the crowd in worship even though they don’t realize it, even though they’re just out for a few drinks and a good time!
Anyhow, for me it’s pretty much uncharted territory that I’d love to explore with others.
I’d sign up for a course like that.
I posted a video about my observations so far in doing this missional ‘guerrilla worship’ as one of my friends calls it here:
http://www.andyrogersmusic.com/worship-leading-have-you-noticed-these-trends/
Any resources you have or could point to on that would be great.
Andy
P.S. being part of a very missional community at Causeway Coast Vineyard has been a major catalyst in this adventure.
Andy,
Great question. I’ll answer this in two ways. First, I’ll paste in an article by great friend and partner in Kingdom crime Norm Strauss. Then, some comments from me on how we understand the activity of “worship.”
Connecting Worlds: Outside Worship
Norm Strauss
http://www.vineyardmusicusa.com (Inside Worship magazine)
Spending over 14 years working in the realm of contemporary worship music, and the last 7 years as a concert artist in the ‘secular’ music scene, has been quite an interesting (and sometimes disorienting) experience. Through the whole journey, however, I feel like the Holy Spirit has been inviting me on a process of discovery.
One of the things I have been discovering is that God is not limited to being active only at church or conference events. In fact, I have found out that He likes to hang out at folk clubs, festivals, music industry trade shows, blues bars, coffee houses, songwriting forums, recording studios and house parties. (And I have the feeling that this list is not exhaustive!). The more places I find God hanging out in, the more places I want to be.
I have had the honor of being invited to lead worship at dozens of conferences over the years, and I love worshiping with God’s people. But, to be honest, I have also walked out of conferences after my set was over and headed straight for the local karaoke bar, or ‘open mic’ night – because I was constantly fighting the feeling that as an artist I was being too insulated from the everyday. I want to keep my perspective sharp as an artist and as a worshipper. I think God is inviting me on a journey of co-laboring with Him in what He is doing in the lives of local musicians and artists who may never come to any of our church services.
I am no expert, but I do know this: a healthy church is filled with people who feel a direct connection to the civic life of their community at large, which often includes the poor and disenfranchised in their cities. For me, this is what God is doing in worship. He is weaving it into our everyday lives (and I don’t mean just singing worship choruses while you change your tire). As a worship leader, you have a very unique and powerful gift mix. You are an artist who can lead others. You are a ‘feeler’ who causes others to feel. You are a lover of God who can powerfully compel others to love.
As far as outreach is concerned, it is never about making our church services cool or palatable to the outsider. It is always more about us joining God in what He is doing in our cities, as well as our church communities. God is alive and well in the streets of your town and he speaks with vigor beyond the boundaries of our in-house efforts. I don’t know about you, but I think its time I joined Him in that discourse.
BIO
Norm Strauss (Our Father) is the Director of the Canada West School Of Worship (CWSW) in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. He is a respected singer-songwriter in venues around the world, and serves as the worship pastor of the Kelowna Vineyard. CWSW is designed to strengthen worship leaders to express their sacred artistry both inside the church and outside in the community. Check it out at: http://www.canadawestworship.com.
DAN’S COMMENTS
I would agree 99% with what you’re saying, and have a whole wonderful world of friends and partners (including myself and our Masters students) living out the same cry that is in your heart.
Here is the challenge – worship as activity vs. worship as possibility. Removing worship from the musical or artful aspects with which we commonly associate the term, we can use language more clearly to define what is happening in those venues.
First, worship is a posture of the heart toward God, ascribing value to Him – highest value.
I would suggest, based on this definition, that you are wooing the souls for whom you are playing, opening them up to the reality behind their reality, and creating doorways of worship through which they may choose to walk.
Their engagement with you in that space is unknown, their willingness to walk through the door in their hearts and minds is unknown to you and I.
Are they worshiping? Maybe. Are you creating the possibility that they may in the brothel and the pub? Definitely.
The human inclination to ascribe ultimate value and worth to a person, place or thing is indeed woven into the fabric of human nature.
You are calling to that instinct, reminding them of that for which they have been made. You are indeed directing their attention to God, the majesty of his world, and probably to pain and hope and myriad other ideas.
Them choosing to offer themselves to God, in that space, is the language of worship. I would say that you are worshiping among them, inviting the possibility that they may do the same when confronted with the astounding beauty of God lacing your poetry and music.
Well done, Andy. We are cheering you on from over here!
Dan
Thanks for that.
It’s really helpful just to hear someone else articulate a perspective on being missional with worship that resonates so closely with my own.
I have found it helpful to remind myself that the commission to ‘go and make disciples’ is bigger and very different to making ‘converts’.
The point at which someone exchanges their life for His is not the starting point nor the finishing point of the discipleship process.
It’s like we get to be a part of others discipleship by simply inviting them into what God is already doing, whether that’s tackling issues of justice and/or experiencing the goodness of His presence in an atmosphere of worship wherever that may be.
Thanks again for the response – I’ll keep an eye out for what Norm is doing.
Andy
Wow, going into brothels for worship! The nearest to anything public I get is open air worship on the seafront in Limassol Cyprus and attending a bible study in a Costa Coffee shop, or ladies breakfast in a hotel restaurant – we were singing ‘Be Still’, it was good to see people take notice. I think I need to remind myself about what worship is, its not just ’singing and music’. I thought about the questions above as a worship leader and feel my natural yearning is-
Priestly (building bridges for people to connect with God)
Prophetic (challenging Christians to go to new edges in their faith)
Intercessory (committed to pray for those we lead/lead with)
I may have the opportunity to use worship in support of a human trafficking organisation. The thought of giving of myself, to others and being able to intercede. I attended a pretraining seminar and felt compelled by the words of the speaker to write a song. I felt a heavy burden during the meeting and wrote some words and a tune when I got home.
I count it an awesome privilege to deliver worship to the needy and show them God’s mercy and love. Doing the Essentials training has pearced something deep within me I cannot explain. I am thankful and grateful to our God, that I can give something back.
Part 2 above is more challenging. Due to disagreements with how the pastor was leading the church, i struggled with the relationship and supporting them part. The conflict resolution – situation got beyond being resolved and the only way for me to keep my integrity and values was to leave. It was painful but God is taking me on a different journey to what I expected, I may now be in a position to mentor others which was not possible before, and be able to use ‘worship’ anywhere where God leads me.
Good to hear from you on this, Rosemaryje. There is a time and a place for every gift, and we all have our part to play.
The key is to know our strengths, and our areas of weakness, and to be strongly supported in all that we missionally do.
The challenges faced in conflict resolution with pastoral leaders and peers can be daunting – humility, I have found, is the best approach, coupled with utter honesty. Then, we make decisions based on a process of dialogue.
I see local churches as a river on many levels – some stream in, others out. However, all too easily people avoid conflict and opt for a baser solution – avoidance and backbiting. In all things, fight for love. When values are in conflict, we have to embrace that there may be flaws in our own as well – enabling us to humbly speak, act and make choices without needing a final resolve.
Thanks for the input here Rosemaryje.
Hey Andy
Great to hear your heart RE moving in some different contexts across the pond in Ireland. Just wanted to cheer you on like Dan in your journey into lands where your feet have not tread before.
There is this wise man who once said to me “Truth is self-revealing; tell it in a thousand stories.” (nudge* nudge* wink . . .cough . . .Dan).
It was a mandate for me to go – go and blur/smudge the contextual lines I/we create of church and non-church, and realize that every place my feet tread can be sacred. It was a mandate for me to be who I have been made to be and its okay that I don’t look like the worship leader who lives down the road.
When I’m being as true an image bearer as I can, whether I’m playing in a coffee shop or church, telling the truth in a thousand different stories, songs, words, notes, using the gift of music regardless of whether I say the name of Jesus or not . . . . the potential for God to encounter others is always there. Mystery shrouds the gifts we bear in many ways!
Anyway enough ramble – just wanted to say that I’m cheering you on, on the west coast of Canada.
Naomi
Naomi
Thanks for the encouragement and articulating your perspective on ‘guerrilla worship’ – I like that!
Andy
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