We get up on stage. We lead the congregation in singing songs. We pray. We give praise to God for all that He has blessed us with. Sunday in and Sunday out, it’s the same story, the same routine. We may do things a bit differently from week to week, but for the most part we stick to a schedule. So it would seem like we’re headed toward a trail of routine, motions, and boredom. However, it doesn’t have to be so. So I pose the question: how does a lead worshiper keep an on-fire worship service from going stale?
One way to do this is found all throughout Scripture. Keep a new-minded perspective on your worship ministry. We are new creatures in Christ. Therefore, our worship should reflect that life transformation we have experienced. Look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: “16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” God has not called us to just keep doing what we’ve always been doing. Our culture changes. Our communicating language changes from generation to generation. We have to continue to find new ways to minister to our congregation through our ministry. It doesn’t even have to be new. It can be old that is refreshed into something different. This can be done musically and in how you present worship. The Psalmist says, “1Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. 2Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. 3Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. 4For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise.”
Another crucial part of keeping worship fresh is our focus. We have to realize that it’s not about what we need or desire. Our worship shouldn’t be based off of how well we do things or how well the congregation responds. Our calling is to serve God and God alone. We are there to proclaim His glory and not our own. When we allow little things to get in the way of allowing us to freely worship in leading others, what we do becomes about us. It becomes playing/performing and not worshipping. We must take time as leaders to first prepare our hearts spiritually before we can spiritually lead a congregation. The more prepared we are to lead in worship, the more willing the congregation will be to follow and respond in worship.
In the end, we must realize that worship is a lifestyle. Worship is seeing every day as a new day in Christ and living each new day for the glory of God. Worship is not just going through the motions. Worship is an attitude of the heart that flows through everything we do. As we lead and as we minister, we must remember that we are to be “an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity”(I Timothy 4:12). Through these things we lead others not just to another church service, but we lead them to the throne of Christ in a new and amazing way because Christ is the One who has made all things new day after day.
Post written by Richard Shive
