A help for struggling worship leaders

I’m going to pass on the Childlike Wonders thoughts, as I’ve been distracted lately and I’ve got my mind somewhere else. This post is the introduction to a short series, and the posts that follow will be looking for input from you. Thanks.

There’s a popular worship blogger that, I believe, has taken a great leap into the unknown.  He is currently writing a book aimed at worship leaders in their mid-twenties who want “to grow in [their] effectiveness.”  On his blog, he has left an open-ended question: What are “the greatest challenges you face as a worship leader”?

As of this morning, there are 14 comments; and the number of direct e-mails he has received is unknown. But one of the commenters made a statement that struck me as interesting. “…is there a way to determine if people actually worshiped rather than were entertained? My goal is to point them to Christ and help enter into God’s presence, but how do we know if we have been successful?”

I have made available the Theory of Philosophy chapter from my last project, Worship Theory.  If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to please do so; not so that I can sell something (after all, that is available to you free), but so that you can start the dialog, the research, the thinking about worship you might not previously have seen the need for.

My first response to the question posed above is one of my own: What is your philosophy of worship?  How have you defined worship?  What is its purpose?  How do you get from walking in off the street to the destination of your worship experience?

As I read through the comments on this blogger’s post, I couldn’t help but think, “If you knew this theory, it could help you figure that out;” If you knew that theory, you wouldn’t be so concerned about that issue.”  Most of the answers – keeping in mind the individuality of each person and congregation – come from your Philosophy of worship.

Please, read these few pages on developing a Philosophy of Worship.  They’ll be helpful to you, really.  Begin the journey of searching the Scriptures, discussing the basics and the complicated sides of worship, and growing deeper of what so many of us just “do” in a services, instead of having a greater of understanding of what worship can be.