Its so often easy to get in the habit of looking at worship as the 15-20 minute musical experience we have at church on Sunday mornings. We are a people routine, and our worship can easily become just that – routine. This is not at all how God intended. In the psalms and in examples of heavenly worship, we see that worship is not simply a ritualistic activity nor is it confined to music and singing.

It is easy to get in a rut of repetitive patterns that become mundane habits and before you know it, you’ve forgotten why you’re doing what you do. We need to have the goal constantly in sight. As worship leaders, this is very true. If we have the goal in sight, and know what we are looking for, we can be more effective in our ministry.

Our Priestly Function
As priests, under the high priest, Jesus, our number one goal should be to draw near to God. Whether in our personal lives or in leadership, it is our priestly function and our chief responsibility to pursue the presence of God. In worship ministry, that function takes on two main forms that should be the goals that drive and define everything we do. These are, in my opinion the two main goals of any worship ministry.

1) To lead people in a Moment of Worship.
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2) To lead people in a Lifestyle of Worship. Moments of Worship.

Moments of worship are more familiar to us and are the common form we experience in our weekly worship services. We are called to lead Gods people into the throne room of God.

1 Chronicles 16:4 David appointed the following Levites to lead the people in worship before the Ark of the Lord – to invoke His blessings, to give thanks and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

This chapter goes on to talk about the more specific roles that were set in this early worship ministry. This is a model for us to use as we engage in our own worship services. Though there are differences in our songs, instruments and worship forms, the goal remains the same. Everything we do in a worship service should support the goal of leading people into His presence, and drawing near to God.

So is that it?
Frankly, its easy to stop at the ‘Moments of Worship’ and most worship leaders do. Understandably, it is not unusual to feel that if you’ve done your job after a good Sunday worship service. I mean, you had your solid set list, the band was tight with all the musical hooks, people were singing and raising their hands, the pastor even went out of his way to say “great worship this morning,” to you. So why not call it good and continue on planning great services and pursuing those “spiritual goosebumps” moments?

I ask this question: When people walk out the church doors, does that 15-20 minutes of worship change their life? Does it change their job? Their family? Their marriage? It would be nice to say that those congregational moments of worship are enough for christians to run on – to come to church on sunday, get filled up, and head out for the week, but its not. Thats not what the church, or worship ministry should look like.

Lifestyles of Worship
Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

I love this passage so much because it throws out the typical Christian’s preconceived notions of what worship is. Its not about just music or even congregational singing and those “moments of worship.” Do you see that last sentence? “This is truly the way to worship him.” By giving our whole lives, every part, and not just the 15-20 minutes on Sunday. We need to spend time throughout the week praising God and thanking him for all He does. Not only that, but we are to give every part of our lives to God. Our family, our marriage, our career, our hopes and dreams, everything a sacrifice of praise to God.

Thats a big thing. And what exactly does that look like? How can we be worshipping God while we are at the office or at home, or with friends?

The second and perhaps more important goal of a worship leader is to answer these questions and lead people in a lifestyle of worship. I will discuss this further in the next lesson, ‘Lifestyles of Worship.’