Worship

1. What is Worship

to give worth, to pay homage, to reverence or venerate [from the English Saxon - weorthscripe] to prostate oneself, to bow down, [from the Hebrew word Shachah, Greek word proskuneo] its all about honouring and submitting to God Praise is thanksgiving and an expression of gratitude not only for what God has done but for who He is worship has an object or focal point the one being esteemed as being great and worth of devotion worship has an expression this is an expression of devotion in response to His revealed truth it is revelation centred, it involves the known (John 4:24) its a response to God's revelation of Himself worship has a hierarchy or dependence God the focal point is greater than the worshipper dependence is on that of created on Creator worship has a context the context is being in the presence of the God and relationship that is initiated by Him. Its a context of covenant relationship Worship is not location bound (John 4:1-26) only the spiritual alive can worship because its done in the spirit worship is our purpose and destiny (Eccl 3:11) also involves the concept of service (Deut 6:13, Rom 12:1) worship starts with God (gen 8:19-22, Gen 17:1-8) worship is for God (Ex 20:3, 2 king 17:35-36) worship is our destiny (Psa 86:6, Isa 66:23) worship is good for us (Psa 42, 43) worship is not just a preliminary to the preaching, it deserve considerable thought and preparation worship is not a concert or a form of entertainment

2. Objectives of Worship aim is to move the church to a point were everyone: sees the Lord ministers to the Lord Is transformed by Him they key is worship leadership with: ability to allow spontaneous worship after a song or period of silence creativity in leading people into different forms of worship sensitivity to God and allow the Spirit to change the direction of the service ability to know when it is time to hear the Lord in the ministry of spiritual gifts have a strong vision for worship, humble, teachable, committed to excellence, accountable strong personal devotion to Christ do all things to the Glory of God least effective way is: poor leadership, insincerity, flippancy and the sing your favourite attitude 3. Responsibility of Worship Team Members get together to: Plan and Prepare and Practice its advised to use the planning sheet be willing to learn, attend worship conference, seminars and technical training 4. Responsibility of Worship Leaders develop and train and lead team of worshippers mature in Christ as a person do pastoral duties for team members develop new songs

build a library of tools for worship

5. Old Testament Worship Leadership Asaph , a man that prophesied (1 chron 6:39), a man that wrote psalms (Psalm) Herman, the king's seer (1 chron 25:5) Kinaniah, a skilful man (1 chron 15:22) Jeduthun, also prophesied and was the king's prophet (1 chron 25:3), (2 chron35:15) most worship leader prophesied or spoke under inspiration most psalms are prophetic utterances most worship leaders were distinct from those responsible for other aspects of worship. At times if you are a preacher simple concentrate on preaching and delegate worship 6. How to lead worship best worship leader is a good worshipper who sets an example the purpose is to direct people attention away from themselves to God call the church to actively participate be prepared to lead but allow for the Spirit to interrupt lead clearly and effectively know the difference between leading songs and leading worship know why things are done the way they are in worship reduce noise and maintain order during worship nurture believers into different worship experiences, lead them into such be attentive to the flow of worship, identify anyone drawing attention to themselves by singing / praying loudly in your team avoid centre stage, reduce attention getters on your team make sure the songs are picked out before hand and instruments are well tuned develop signs to communicate to team members, be cautious in leading worship be aware who your neighbours are determine a worship theme that is pertinent to what God is doing focus on Gods nature as your theme (e.g. His love, holiness, power) get a scripture to focus the people's attention on the theme for the day its better to have a theme and let the Holy spirit change it than to float throughout the service train the team to pray together, ascertain the theme together write down your worship plan (see example attached) order songs in such a way that they flow naturally from one to another and have uniform direction be aware of who the songs are addressed to be aware of the keys in which the songs will be sung, learn to link songs in the same keys and of the same theme realise that upward key modulation can direct people upwards and further in. pray hard meet early to pray go over the worship plan, wait on God together Lead worship with one eye focused on God and the other eye focused on the the congregation your role is to make people worshippers, prepare and involve them call them to be open to be used in the gifts of the Spirit speak with confidence if you have anything to say listen carefully to what God is saying, pray all of you in the team are sensitive and let His creativity flow sing heartily, enjoy it, concentrate on the meaning of the words of your songs remember you are the donkey not the king! 7. How to Build a Worship Team A. Choosing look at faithful servants, not just people who want to be on stage we need to distinguish between musical ability and call to worship ministry some are specifically called and gifted to lead worship, not anyone who can sing automatically qualifies set discipleship goals for your new members, coach them on life of prayer (Prov 15:8) staying in the word (John 6:68) life if integrity (Psa 15:1-2)

B. Equipping a team use a small group format make it your job to train them and release them, (Deut 31:22), (2king 17:28) have consistent practice time that focus on a balance of scripture, technical, practical preparation train more than one worship leader and more than one team pray with them, let them be filled with the Holy Spirit C. Preparation let members go through seminars, give them study material make a copy of song list for each team members consecrate the meeting to the Lord, rebuke the devil maintain balance between planning and spontaneity learn new songs, sing a new song to the Lord, (Ps 33.3, 69:1,144:9, 40:3)

8. Role of Instruments Players these are not leaders of worship, they are under the direction of the worship leader they don't decide which song to sing or play next, its the role of the leader they are responsible for making sure the instruments are well set before the service and that the instruments are in order, stored up appropriately after service the volume of the keyboard or drums must not be set higher that the volume of the singers microphones always aim for technical excellence PA problems, faltering musicians, unclear leaders all discourage and disrupt worship aim to acquire skill do a sound check before the service practice with the worship team make sure the instruments are played at a good pitch/speed in line with the song, bridge smooth and make it interesting 9. Principle of Delegation for Team Leader A. Why Delegate it is at times necessary to delegate task to team members who are gifted to do a task for example lead worship or praise on a given day. (1 Chron 16:7) Jethro taught Moses this concept (Ex 18) David delegated Asaph (1chron 16:5) the one who is delegated is still accountable to the one that delegated (1 chron 25:2) delegation is an important leadership skill but its easier to get it wrong delegation save time, develops team members, groom successor and motivates if done badly, it can cause frustration, de-motivates, confuses and may lead to failure to complete task its not just about telling someone what to do remember short term training investment will pay off in the long term (look at Jesus and his disciples) they are people in your team who will help you if you approach them in the right way

B. What to Delegate don't delegate what you can eliminate or is not that necessary delegate that which is not your core competency some things you just cant delegate create a plan to delegate don't do it haphazardly remember someone/ others can do a better job or find out how to do a task easier and fast delegate, don't abdicate, you are still responsible for that task though someone is doing it, manage the delegation process there is varying freedom you can give to the one you are delegating, understand this freedom C. Steps to Delegation step 1: define the task be sure its worth delegating step 2: delegate the individual what are the reason for delegating to this person? what is the one being delegated benefiting? what are you getting out of it? step 3: Assess ability and training needs is the one you are delegating to capable of doing the task do they know what to do, if not, don't delegate step 4: explain the reason tell them why you are delegating to themselves

tell them why its important, its relevance tell them how it fits into the whole picture step 5: state the required results what must be achieved how will the task be considered successful step 6: what resource are need to get job done discuss resources needed to complete task step 7: Agree deadlines if applicable when is the job finished when are the review dates if its an on going duty what are the priorities step 8: support and communicate who else needs to know what is going on, inform themselves and involves them, its not the duty of the delegated to inform other team members or leadership. step 9: Give feedback on results let them know how they are doing deal with problems absorb consequence of failure, pass on the credit of success

10. Delegation Instructions delegate the objectives not the procedure, outline desire results not the methodology delegate to the right person, not necessarily the strongest, experienced or first available spread delegation around, give team new experience as part of their training obtain feedback from those you delegate to, delegate the authority along with the responsibility, don't make people come back to you to ask for approval for minor things trust people to do well don't look over their shoulders or check up with them along the way unless they ask be prepared to trade short term errors for long term success give praise at the end of the task.

RCM SAMPLE WORSHIP PLAN

LOCATION: WHO LEADS PRAISE: WHO LEADS WORSHIP: OTHER TEAM MEMBERS: _______________________ __________________________ __________________________ 1._________________________ 2._______________________ 3._________________________ 4._______________________ 5._________________________ 6._______________________ WHO PLAYS GUITARS: WHO PLAYS KEYBOARD: WHO PLAYS DRUMS: WHAT IS THE WORSHIP THEME: 1._______________________ _________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ SCRIPTURE TO READ: POSSIBLE ORDER OF PRAISE SONGS: 1.____________________________ 3.___________________________ POSSIBLE ORDER OF WORSHIP SONGS: 1.____________________________ 3.____________________________ 2.______________________________ 4.______________________________ 2.____________________________ 4.____________________________ __________________________________________________________ 2._______________________ Date: ______________

HOW WILL WE CLOSE: ________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ COMMENTS: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________