Worship Instructions (to the worshipper)

Instruction in worship is a vital part of the worship service. When you do anything corporately (in a group), you must have instruction. This week's topic is written from two different perspectives. It is written to the worship leaders, and then it is written to the worshippers. For this reason, I will make two posts today. This one will be to the actual worshipper who is standing in the congregation. The next post (the one below) takes this topic to the worship leader.

I have heard people say, "I don't like it when the worship leader tells me to lift my hands or to clap". We have to understand that in any given service, there are people from various mindsets, backgrounds, and knowledge levels. There will be people who are trained in worship who will just go with the worship team as they are escorted. There will be people who will be uncomfortable with the people around them who are clapping, shouting and lifting their hands, and there will be people who will watch and think, "hey that was a cool guitar lick" as they enjoy their concert experience and get no deeper. We recognize this in the preaching of sermons, but we have somehow neglected this train of thought when it comes to worship. People need instruction. What this must create in the worshipper is an awareness that he or she is not alone. You are in a corporate (group) setting. If you do not need that, just know that there are people there who do. How many times have you been sitting in a service and listening to someone preach and think, "I wonder who he is talking to right now". You know he is talking to someone even if it may not be you. We as worship leaders have taught that we should forget about everyone around us and abandon it all to worship. This is true when it comes to allowing people to distract you, but we also must realize that there is someone next to us who may need encouragement or instruction in worship. So, when you hear from the stage, "come on, clap your hands". Either, #1 lap your hands if you are not. The Word of God tells you to do this when you worship. Or #2 know that there are people out there that the worship leaders are looking at that need to get on board, and he/she is encouraging them to.

Then there are those who just do not want anyone to tell them how to worship because that is between them and God. Well, to that person I would say that there is a deeper issue here than worship. There is an issue here of spiritual authority. Understand that whoever is conducting worship for that 30 - 45 minute time frame before the Pastor gets up to preach the sermon is the one who is carrying the authority in the service. I am not saying that that authority superceeds that of the Pastor. I am merely saying that within those bounds of what the Pastor has given him/her, they are the current appointed authority. Noone has an issue with the Pastor telling them how they should live, worship, think, etc. This is all part of instruction. We recognize that God has given that Pastor a Word for that day to speak to the congregation to move them from point A to point B. As the authority of the church, we listen to that man of God and accept what he has to speak into our lives. Why should this be any different with worship? As a Worship Pastor God has given a direction to go and a destination if you will. In that, the leader must give instruction on how to get there. It is in your best interest to follow that in order to get to that destination. I believe that a big part of why the children of Israel were stranded in the dessert for so long is because they had issues with authority. Examine your heart, and let nothing hinder you from entering in to true worship.