Thanks to http://cartoonchurch.com
I get emails —
This is a first grade question, but it seems to be a topic of concern in my church family. What exactly is a worship leader? How does his job differ from that of a song director. Our talented song director retired recently and there is the desire of the part of some to employ a worship leader.
Okay, as you surely have surmised by now, this is one of the all time great Church of Christ straight lines — at the same level as “How many Church of Christ members does it take to change a light bulb?”
[Answer: “Change??????!!!!!!!”]
I’ll give a straight answer later, but before that, QUICK! What’s the difference between a song leader and a worship leader?
Answer:
* About $20,000 per year.
* A goatee or soul patch.
* Song leaders sing with their eyes open.
* Song leaders think you can understand the lyrics without having them explained to you.
* Worship leaders sing the third verse along with the first, second, and fourth verses.
* Worship leaders never wear leisure suits or comb their hair into a pompadour. [I know the leisure suit reference dates me terribly, but I still have nightmares about those things.]
* Song leaders wear shoes, not sandals.
* 20 years in age.
Whew … I’m glad we got that out of the way!
Now for a more or less straight answer. Consider, if you will, a continuum — a straight line representing it — with “Song Leader” on one end and “Worship Leader” on the opposite end. Actual song/worship leaders will rarely appear at the extremes. They appear somewhere on the line but in between the endpoints. But by describing the extremes, perhaps I can paint a picture of how to tell the difference.
At one extreme, a song leader begins his preparation for the Sunday morning service at around 8 o’clock Sunday morning. He calls the preacher to get the sermon topic. He had to wait this late because the preacher prepares his sermons on Saturday night before church.
The song leader then picks five and only five songs, one of which is an “invitation” song (“There’s an Eye Watching You”) and one is the closing hymn (“Blest Be the Tie That Binds”).
He gets to church a little early, puts the song numbers into the stained wood placards in the front, and awaits the end of announcements to begin leading.
He leads three and only three verses of each song, typically skipping the third.
If there’s a baptism or responses, he has a couple of extra songs picked out to keep the church singing.
And that’s it. The song leader’s job is to pick out and lead songs.
In contrast, at the opposite extreme, the worship leader meets with the preacher at least weekly and considers how to design a church service to best mesh with the lesson. He may begin planning 3 months before the service, and because the preacher also plans far ahead, this is no problem.
The worship leader meets with a committee of creative, devoted Christians and brainstorms how to best design each service. The committee suggests new songs and methods. They visit other churches and otherwise try to cast a wide net looking for creative ways to aid the congregation in its devotion to God.
The worship leader settles on a plan for worship, which he presents to the preacher and the elders days in advance. He may re-order the communion service, pick songs to be sung during communion, arrange for testimonies to be given, prepare for an occasional solo at a key moment in the service. He may arrange for congregational responsive readings and may close the service with a benediction rather than a “closing prayer.”
The worship leader is an artist and the Sunday morning assembly is his canvass. He paints not only with songs, but new arrangements, solos and duets, creative structuring of the communion service, creative alternatives to the invitation (perhaps we ask those needing prayers to go to an elder in the back of the auditorium for private prayer), benedictions, and responsive readings.
He is comfortable trying out scriptural ideas that are not traditional in the Churches of Christ. He happily borrows from other traditions, so long as the methods are true to the scriptures. This, of course, can lead to controversy, which is why he preclears his plans with the preacher and elders. (Elders hate surprises.)
The price of creativity is risk. The traditional song leader doesn’t change the order of worship and so can only be criticized for his choice of songs (which always happens, of course). The worship leader is open to far more criticism, but then he has the opportunity to bring the church to entirely new heights of worship. But sometimes his efforts will bomb. It’s a given that failure is an option, but his leaders see that the advantages exceed the disadvantages.
QUICK! What’s the difference between a song leader and a worship leader?
Answer: A worship leader is only welcome in churches that are willing to get out of the traditional rut and are willing to experiment a bit with the order of worship in hopes of bringing a new level of creativity to the experience. After all, we worship a creative God, and so the worship of God should be a creative experience.
I like your answer; I also like your non-answers.
Per singing with closed eyes, I strongly recommend against that. I am sure readers can submit stories about things that happened in church service because the song leader, a.k.a., worship leader, didn’t have eyes on the congregation.
Song leaders sing with their eyes open.. LOL.. coffee is bad for you when it comes out your nose !! That was funny right there…
It seems to me that if singing is a way to “teach” as Paul said, then consistency of song and sermon would be preferred rather than just singing some random song.. To hear the message and sing the message clearly helps establish the message in our minds. Perhaps there are some that need to spend just a few minutes in coordination each week… doesn’t seem like a crazy demand…
Hey! I led “Blest Be the Tie that Binds” last night as a closing song 🙁 Though it was to highlight a point of community given in the sermon. And it was after a young lady had come forward asking for prayers. And I asked everyone to join hands. And it was beautiful. 🙂
Oh and yes we still have Sunday night services and when I am leading I try my best not to make it “Church Lite” or “Diet Church” as a friend once called it.
Who knew? When I was a teen … back when computers were made by Wang, Western Union or International Business Machines … we were a church of Christ already well along the continuum towards full – fledged worship leaders. That is to say we had a number of songs more determined by who was leading songs that week than by any set liturgy or pattern. The number was as few as 3 and as many as 25 one Sunday when we had a Sunday Sermon in Song. Songs during the minutes running up to the start of the service, as well as songs during the passing of the communion trays and offering baskets were chosen and led by the high school and/or college youth.
And here I thought it was just a thing we did in the 60’s and 70’s. We called them camp songs because we learned them at Christian camp each summer and a few more at youth rallies throughout the year. (We didn’t realize that we were singing a capella versions of early CCM worship songs.) -NOTE: all that stopped when folks who knew about CCM got old enough to be deacons and elders and learned how using ‘those kinds’ of songs would ruin good Christians by seducing them into denominationalistic singing.
Again … who knew?
G
PS … Now in my early 50 I have been a song leader and a worship leader. Jay, you nailed me.
G
It should surprise us that people “of the book” don’t realize that worship services are foreign to apostolic Christianity. Early Christians met together for varying purposes, but their worship was done in the home and in the hearts of individuals moment by moment throughout the week. All the comments about “worship leaders” are based on the totally false premise that Christians are to do their worshiping at particular times and in particular ways. Even “song leaders” are not known as being apostolic. The ONLY directive we have as to how we are to conduct our services is found in 1 Corinthians 14:26. And does anyone know of a church like that today? Is our goal actually to restore ourselves to apostolic Christianity? Our actions surely say that is NOT our goal.
Why not love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself in your own time and culture ??
whats funny Jay…. is to ask a question like this U must be on drugs….:-)
BLESSINGS …GET WELL SOON…..RICH
Ray,
The thing about worship leaders and song leaders (6 of 1 and 1/2 dozen of another) is not whether we MUST have them in order to comply with the mythical command to assemble for ‘worship’, but rather whether it is permissible to have such an assembly. Nobody is forcing you to accept 5 (and only 5) acts of worship. Tradition is the only binding force here … which is usually a molehill of mountainous proportions.
Having been both a song leader AND a worship leader (the difference in my case was about $1200/year … which was my ‘salary’ as a worship leader) and having also been a cofC preacher person, I am fully qualified to say that none of those positions is absolutely necessary AS PRACTICED OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS IN THE COFC to follow what Paul and other writers advocate/teach. Preaching is necessary. Singing is well-advised. Giving is intrinsic. Observing the supper the Lord gave us to remember His sacrifice by is actually commanded, though the frequency is not commanded. (I tend towards a much more frequent observance than just a weekly ritual.) And praying is lifeblood to our relationship with God. Communication is NOT optional. Even so, having a paid or unpaid designated preacher-person is NOT necessary. And having a designated paid or unpaid song leader or worship leader is NOT necessary. Paul said anyone who has a song should sing it. He also said when we psalm and/or sing to one another we are honoring the Spirit of God who fills us. (And yes, psalming includes the use of IM the way it was understood and used until at least the middle of the fourth century AD/CE.) Jesus psalmed and sang and so did anyone else who attended the Temple before it was destroyed. The Temple singers/choir/and players of instruments commanded/designated by the Lord were the forerunners to our modern song leaders and worship leaders.
Your traditionalism is showing when you single out worship leaders and disinclude song leaders, Ray. Just saying …
G
Here is my simple opinion: Having been a song leader in the past for many years, there is a huge obvious difference between a worship leader and a simple song leader. Most song leaders in my experience simply pick a set of songs from the blue shaped notes book, use a pitch pipe, and skip verses they don’t like that involve singing about Ebon Pinion. Traditional CoC song leading is like being in the Catholic church where traditions run deep and the members have no idea what the service is really all about but they like the stained glass and incense. In the CoC they like the old songs and would consider it heresy to actually sing deeper modern worship songs. We switch on auto-pilot because we already know all the words to the songs written many years ago. Often members get more into 4 part harmony than they get into the actual meaning behind the words.
On the other hand, a worship leader actually tries to keep worship fresh. They want to engage the hearts and spirits of the members so that they are deeply moved to be more grateful and to see more clearly the majesty of God. Worship leaders often use modern songs that have a very specific focus on creating real worship and praise. This sort of worship draws members to tears because they are reminded of the tremendous blessing it is to be loved by God.
Worship is not a nice addition but is God’s will:
John 4:8
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
The song leader also makes sure that the ladies in the congregation who know how to sing actually know the tune. Don’t surprise them with a new song or else you will be forced into singing a solo.
Part of the reason that verse #3 was generally omitted was that, if the song leader smoked, he only had enough wind to get verses 1,2 and 4.
From another veteran songleader-turned-worship leader:
The songleader’s job is to provide a key and tempo for the songs he has selected.
That’s pretty much it.
His efficient song-selection is, however, very important. First, it acts as a duration limiter when needed. For example, during the NFL season, a veteran songleader can use careful song selection and verse-shaving to knock 2-3 minutes off a church service, which directly impacts whether or not we see a TD return of the opening kickoff. Second, he can turn simple hymns into mood music, the first mark of a good songleader. The “opening song” is generally uptempo and bouncy (in the Broadway tradition), while the second song is the “elective song”, where the leader gets to pick something he likes without being limited by form. Third song brings us the “first downshift”, because you can’t take a Sousa-esque march directly into the Main Prayer. This song is medium tempo. The second downshift takes place in the “song before communion” and may be range from pensive to funereal in tone and lyrics.
Song before the sermon is topical, provided the preacher is not doing something off the wall like “Why David Would Lay Down His Harp Today” or “Animals of the Bible” or “Where Cain Got His Wife”. Advance notice of the post-sermon invitation song number is provided here, either before or after the “song before the sermon”. Which one is scriptural (before or after)is a matter of fierce debate, but forewarning is required in all cases. This is because, at the end of the sermon, a convicted sinner might be quivering at the edge of his pew, waiting to leap forward at the first strains of “There’s A Great Day Coming”, and having to thumb through his hymnal first might give him a chance to reconsider, thus costing the man his soul. (That is why God put page markers in the song book.)
This is a crucial moment in the service, so the songleader must be prepared to leap forward at the precise moment the preacher says the word “and” –in the obligatory conclusory phrase “as we stand and sing”– allowing said leader to hit his marks and belt out the first note exactly one beat after the word “sing”. Timing and pitch are important challenges to be met here. The veteran songleader should have a strong enough sense of proper pitch and meter to kick off the song without the pitchpipe distracting our teetering reprobate. Songleader must also ramp up his volume to cover the shuffling and book rattling involved in the transition from nodding peacefully to lustily encouraging the wayward sinner to repent in proper four-part harmony. (Singing in harmony, that is, not repenting in harmony.) Extra verses are not generally used in the invitation song, unless the preacher thinks he’s got a change of snagging a recalcitrant sinner with just a little more push. Evangelists in gospel meetings, however, are notorious for stretching the invitation, somewhat like a fisherman who can’t quit the stream until he catches SOMETHING. In extreme cases, deacons have been known to go forward during the 12th verse of “Just As I Am”, and confess to the most shocking of sins… just to get the service over with.
The closing song is traditionally reserved for benedictory or “sending” songs. “Blest Be The Tie” is a standard and is only sung in this particular slot. The more ambitious songleader may attempt “The Lord Bless You and Keep You”, with the sevenfold Amen. A more forceful leader may launch the brethren into the world with “Go Into the Field” or even a more martial tune like “The Fight Is On”. The younger songleader may take this opportunity to introduce another elective song here, almost always some complex polyphonic number that he’s been just dying to lead. This flouts tradition, but they get over this pretty much by age 40. Which is fortunate, because if this practice were to catch on, “Blest Be The Tie” would join the Gregorian chant in the dustbin of church music history.
Every exhortation concerning worship is apostolic and has nothing to say about “a worship service” or our doing the worship as a group. We who love Jesus surely are called to worship Him and to SERVE Him. And we’re encouraged to assemble as Christian worshipers. But what we’re told to DO when we assemble is to edify and encourage ONE ANOTHER. Who will point to a verse which calls for Christians to assemble in order to THERE together worship? Who will point to a verse which reports that Christians assembled in order to be led in worship? Where are the apostolic instructions regarding Christian worship services?
It is somewhat of a moot point to argue that since we can’t find a specific injunction in the NT commanding the church to worship when they are assembled, then we shouldn’t really consider worship in the Church seriously. There are over 600 scriptures in the Bible on worship. The Psalms are replete with worship as an individual and as a collective. In Revelation all the saints are falling down in worship– constantly. I think it is unnecessary to look for a specific command for the Church to worship as a group. There is no specific command to kiss your wife often but a husband in love does. When you bring together saints who regularly worship the Lord in their daily life, then worship will almost certainly happen when the group is gathered.
“Okay, as you surely have surmised by now, this is one of the all time great Church of Christ straight lines — at the same level as “How many Church of Christ members does it take to change a light bulb?” [Answer: “Change??????!!!!!!!”]”
Replace “Church of Christ” with Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, et al. There is nothing unique to churches of Christ change.
There is nothing unique to churches of Christ about resistance to change.
Oh, and lest I be faulted for only seeing one side of the coin, has anyone else noticed the similarities between the worship/sermon transition in a modern “contemporary service” and the way David Letterman opens his show? Fortunately for me, I was never in a worship band that had to back up the sermon with musical bed and stings. (Although I do love that Hammond B3 organ.)
Song leaders lead songs while Worship leaders lead worship. And no… singing is not the only worship a Worship leader leads. If he is doing it well, a Worship leader leads us to communion, to prayer, to giving, to (Hold on to your hats) sharing. Moreover, a Worship leader senses where those he/she (yeah, I said she) leads are at corporately as far as worshiping goes and tries to lead them corporately into deeper worship. If that takes singing verse 3 three times… so be it. Usually, a Worship leader is an ordained minister while a song leader usually is not.
Charles
needles to say i was serious about Jay’s “condition” or may now be considered an “ISSUE” BY song leaders such as yourself…
🙂
🙂
u need help!!!!
RICH
by the way
…
great post
UR
WIFE BETTER NOT GED A GRIP ON HOW U SPEND UR MOMENTS OF SO CALLED LEISURE
ABUSING POOR JAY!!!
🙂
TOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN
P.S.
“& OTHER”
HOLY INSTITUTIONS…..
🙂
sometimes i just cannot help myself
oooo sombody stop ………………………………….ME
BLESSINGS
RICH
Anybody know what happened to the marvelous site acappellaworshipleader.com? That was a site which listed all coc’s that had acappella praise teams. I used to go there to hear wonderful acappella singing even from Pepperdine. But now it’s gone.;(
R.J. TRY THIS IT IS
” PRO. RON HIGHFEILD’S ”
BLOG FROM Pepperdine
http://ifaqtheology.wordpress.com/about/
RICH
RJ,
Is this it? http://acapellaworshipleader.wordpress.com/
Kevin wrote,
“There is nothing unique to churches of Christ about resistance to change.”
Well, actually, there is.
I readily concede that other denominations also struggle with change. They do. But only in the Churches of Christ do we automatically doctrinalize our disputes and damn our opponents.
When someone first led a song during the communion service, the church periodicals quickly filled with articles arguing that we can only do one Act of Worship at a time — which is more than little bit silly. Really. But we can’t just say “I don’t like this” or “This hurts our outreach” or even “This is not the best way to honor Jesus’ command to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.” No, we have to invent (no exaggeration) doctrines in order to make those who agree with us the only ones going to heaven.
It’s a really bad habit and attitude, highly divisive, and very contrary to the Spirit of God.
Matt,
I actually like BBTT except when it’s over-sung. Even The Messiah gets old if overplayed. I sure dislike BBTT when sung for 20 minutes to guilt the members into “coming forward.” But disassociated from some very bad memories, it’s a great song with powerful, moving lyrics. (I prefer the black gospel version, however, to the traditional. (You’d understand if you’d listened to the YouTube version.))
The video of the Sisters was the high point of the post and comments.
I believe that Skip has hit the nail on the head, The majority of the congregation need a lot of encouragement as what is worship because they do not practice Skip’s message. “When you bring together saints who regularly worship the Lord in their daily life, then worship will almost certainly happen when the group is gathered.” The event has to excite them because they have none in daily life.
Great answers. BTW, where are worship leaders or song leaders mentioned in the Bible? I was unable to find them.
Tom,
Jesus led worship at the last supper (Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26 “singing a song of praise.” ).
Miriam led worship (Ex 15:20,21), Chenaniah was the worship leader of the Levites (I Chr 15:22), The Kohathites in the OT led worship in the Holy of Holies….
Jay said,
“They do. But only in the Churches of Christ do we automatically doctrinalize our disputes and damn our opponents.”
We seem to have trapped ourselves, our hermeneutic has been our downfall. When you believe you have it all figured out, then everything you’ve” figured out” becomes sacred, right down to how the singing is done(worship leader-song leader-praise team). I know folks who while traveling out of state stopped at a CofC for Sunday worship, saw they had a praise team, and left to find “a real church of Christ.”
If you seriously think that the way you are doing church today is how they did it in the Bible then nothing is on the table. To even contemplate change is to contemplate heresy. What my experience has been is that smaller churches are generally comprised of family clans. Most everyone there is related somehow, or the families there go way back(2-3 generations). Many of my group have only had one place of membership their entire lives. Reminds me a lot of that movie(forget the name) – The Village? – Where this small clan of people living like it was the 17th century Jamestown or Plymouth and they were taught they couldn’t venture out into the woods, because monsters lurked one the other side of this great hedge surrounding their village. Come to find out at the end of the movie someone was brave enough to venture out, and she wondered onto a highway and it was our present day. There is a lesson there somewhere.
Other tribes don’t seem to have the problem with change IMO because, not as many things are nailed down. They aren’t concerned, or believe it to be critical, that you have to follow a blueprint, like most of the CofC. Or, for example,If you doubt the miracles, the resurrection, the inerrancy of scripture, that the devil is real, then there isn’t much to be dogmatic about. Of course there is a lot of wiggle room in between the two extremes. For some, their view, perhaps is, If you are saved by grace and you cannot fall, then why all the fuss about the do’s and don’t?
Jay’s point about change points out a common tactic in having our own way. At the poker table, it is called “raising ’em out”. That is, that one player bets so much money on a hand that the average opponent would rather fold than take that risk. When every possible change becomes a matter of fellowship (or worse, a matter of salvation), this is what is happening. Change is effectively blocked by the fact that other people are more reasonable that the ones resisting the change.
We have become acclimated to being threatened with reprisals for change. Our fellow church member -or family member- puts a gun to his own head and threatens to pull the trigger if you change anything, placing his wounds or his spiritual demise on your conscience. A few elderships have finally decided to reject such emotional blackmail (and that is just what it is) and tell these members directly to go in peace and with their blessing. Most elderships, however, (and many family members) have endured this coercion for so long that they consider it easier to wait for the extortionist to die than to confront his actions.
Which is more distressing, facing a conflict with my brother, or sitting around waiting (even, dare I say, hoping) for his homegoing to occur soon, so that the church may benefit? If we expressed our actual feelings in public words, which would shame us more?
It is argued by reasonable people that some resistance to change is an honest matter of personal “conscience”, excusing even clearly flawed ideas which do not pass biblical muster. Frankly, the test of this “conscience” is after you make the change. Am I really willing to break my divine relationship with you because you let a sister speak or let a brother play the violin? If so, my “conscience” is not to be respected as a guide. It is not the Spirit, but has been corrupted into little more than the sum of my opinions with proof texts attached. Even if I insist upon following this “leader” in my own life, my brothers simply cannot afford to let themselves be ruled by it.
Monty,
the last sentence of your last post is what I find believed and expressed in old folks homes and at death beds of older folks. Most have become tired and frustrated with the arguing among us and have just come to trusting God to do the right thing and upon that trust, they close their eyes and die.
Those with a real belief in the love of God believe He loved us enough to give His own son and that expression is enough for us to see how much God really loves us.
What a difference in the earlier, while younger thinking, and that fear of not being among the few but among the vastly higher number of us going to hell while fighting death hoping to somehow become good enough and getting everything just right before dying.
Alabama John
I have seen it go both ways, I’ve seen the elderly who realize death is near with real doubts, and I’ve seen those with incredible optimistic faith. Both attending the same church for a number of years. Some people carry the baggage of the past to the grave. I know one sweet, gentle, dear old saint who on her death bed confessed to me that she had always had a hard time forgiving someone (I believe who abused her as a teenager)who “hurt her.” People facing death have real gut level feelings to deal with that they may have buried for years. Like atrocities committed against them or the horrible failure to live up to -( “be Holy as God is holy”),knowing that they haven’t, and knowing they will soon stand before the judgment seat of Christ. It is my opinion that just because a person has misgivings about the past, doesn’t mean that they were taught a perverted gospel. How many of us have more than once or twice asked for forgiveness of some particularly gross sin? ANd yet we know that Jesus is willing to forgive. I’d be real curious(no way to find out I suppose) if any elderly Calvinist ever have any doubts on their death beds. My guess is some do. May the Lord increase our “little faith.”
Monty,
I have been told by a long time church of Christ preacher just before his dying that he hoped he had been good enough to be allowed to enter heaven. Have heard that from others over the years that had high office in the churches of Christ and it always takes me by surprise.
1) Why not take the position God will want you and welcome you into heaven when you go before Him even with all your mistakes, bruses and misunderstandings?
2) Rejoice if you were right and told to enter in, and if you’re wrong and all the ones that taught you were bound for hell if some rule was not followed they taught was absolutely required and the list is long, were right, nothing will change but you will have lived a much happier life.
I and as time goes on, more are believing number 1 is right and I’m glad to of lived to see it.
http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVstudies/TrainingClass/04Songs.htm
Always remember that the purpose of our singing is to worship God and edify one another (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
Charles wrote,
I recently was involved in a negotiation where the point was made, there’s a negotiating advantage to being a little bit crazy. Whoever is most willing to destroy the local church is often the winner — and obviously, this is exactly wrong.
Tom,
I don’t find ushers either. Or Sunday school teachers. Or parking lots. Or water fountains. Or pews. Or church buildings. Or hymnals. Or janitors. Or church bulletins.
The argument from silence really doesn’t prove that much, you know. We use it very selectively and always subjectively. We really need a better hermeneutic.
Royce,
I was hoping the readers would listen to the Sisters singing and enjoy their humor. Of course, the plan was for my humor to be even better … but any laugh is a good laugh.