A few weeks ago I posted a blog about asking the necessary questions in ministry. You can find it here: Asking the Necessary Questions
Today I am going to talk specifically about the number one question worship leaders should be asking themselves. The reason this is necessary is I personally feel the tug to be concerned with many areas in a “creative” ministry. Sometimes we get stuck asking: What songs should I do? What creative elements can I add? How can we improve as a team or ministry? Etc.
All of these questions are good and at some point need to be asked… but if you lead worship, there’s a question you should be asking first and on a constant basis.
You see… we can be so caught in our worship subcultures and the idea that our worship has to “fit” in certain boxes, remain relevant, and/or look attractive from the outside that we don’t see clearly enough to ask the most important question.
What is God doing in my church?
Think about how obvious that is but how often we totally miss it! If you are anything at all like me then you understand the struggle it is not to get so caught up in what we are doing, our music and all things that accompany it, that we disconnect ourselves unintentionally from the life of the church.
It’s easy to get stuck on the “how” and neglect the “why.”
Depending on your leadership style this may be a side effect of organization and always looking ahead. I know that is the case for myself, so in order to combat that I have to look ahead but remember to seize every moment for what it is… an opportunity.
We can too easily chase the “doing” of worship ministry, rather than loving and serving God’s people.
The simple but necessary question gets overlooked… “What is God doing in my church?”
Let’s talk about worship, at its essence. If you think about it, worship is about transformation. We need to worship God more than God needs our worship! He is self sufficient, all satisfying and all satisfied. He has no needs, no beginning, no end, no ego problems that cause Him to demand worship. We worship because it transforms us. Worship can transform our churches.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says,
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
God desires transformational worship.
Let me ask you for a second to set down your instrument, turn off your Spotify worship playlist, and for a moment, stop brainstorming ways to make your ministry more “cutting edge” or relevant. What would change if you looked at your congregation through this lens? What if rather than it being about our music and our creativity, we were more focused on seeing what God was doing in our midst and partnering with that?
What is God doing in your local church? What season are you walking through? What breakthroughs are on the horizon? Because, fellow worship leaders, this is be the most important question you can ask this week regarding your ministry. You will serve God’s people better in worship when you know what God is doing.
Tanner Royalty 