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TO THE GLORY OF GOD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Study No 9
LEADERSHIP IN SINGING AND WORSHIP
I. Importance and Responsibility in Leading a Meeting
Significant fact to note that most leading Evangelists have a
chosen leader to lead all meetings - illustration of Billy Graham and
Cliff Burrows.
1. Leader can either make or break a meeting. Dr. Dale Carnegie
tells us: "We hold them in the hollow of our hands. If we are
lackadaisical, they will be lackadaisical. If we are reserved,
they will only be mildly concerned. But if we are in deadly
earnest about what we say, and if we say it with feeling and
spontaneity and force and contagious conviction, they cannot
help from catching our spirit to a degree."
It is a great responsibility
It has been estimated that 86% of the success for venture depends
on leadership. We have already seen how important leadership is
and how it is relevant to the church.
There are two main faults that occur in leading meetings of the
church :
a. A routine programme - rigid and unimaginative, lifeless. It is
unrelated to God.
b. A super-spiritual emphasis. This type of emphasis is unrelated
to the people.
Not everybody is able to appreciate, comprehend, or function in
the "spiritual" high developed by those who place an unbalanced
emphasis on extremes of spiritual ecstasy.
2. The leader prepares the way for the ministry of the Word or
whatever special feature is planned for that meeting; like the
preparing of the soil by the plough in readiness for the planting
machine to follow.
There are three things which the leader of the meeting must learn to
cultivate :
a. A sensitivity to God's presence and desires. The special
manifestations of the presence of the Lord need to be treated
carefully so as not to offend the Holy Spirit, and to fully
experience all that God is bringing to the congregation at that
point in the meeting.
The leader needs to be constantly asking the Lord, "What do you
want us to do now?" What song should we sing? Is there a gift
of the Spirit to be brought forth? Is this the right time?
etc.
b. Sensitivity to where the people are as far as their experience
of and openness to God is concerned. It is difficult to
immediately take the congregation into a new realm of worship.
They need to learn the way to go. The leader who tries to put
too much on the people will end up bringing frustration and
dislocation into the service.
c. Sensitivity to spiritual influences, both angelic and demonic.
Not everything that happens in a service is necessarily of God.
The leader needs to be aware of spurious powers and how to deal
with them. Often the strong manifestations of God's presence
are accompanied by angelic visitation visible or invisible.
Because such things are "different", "out of the ordinary", it
is easy for an inexperienced leader to usurp such a time with
his own rigid programme and spoil what God would have done in
the service.
3. The leader directs the meeting. He knows the objective key
before the meeting commences and directs the meeting toward
reaching that objective.
There are different people and differing conditions for each
occasion and the leader is foolish to attempt to totally
duplicate a previous programme. In this respect a plan for the
service is vitally important. The leader (and the main
participants) need to be "tuned" to the Holy Spirit and their
sensitivity opened up to His plans for the meeting. The leader
should know which way to take the service and which songs will
"fit" in before the service starts. Of course he must also
be flexible to any change of direction the Holy Spirit indicates
as the service progresses.
II. Some Suggestions Towards Successful Leading
1. Be prepared:-
a. Programme - see to it that all details have been arranged
well in advance - organ, items, ordinances, etc.
b. Prayer - be well prayed up.
2. Aim to lead in the spirit. This is a must.
If the leader is not in the spirit, there is little hope for
the congregation. This means you are leading with a humble
dependence upon God.
3. Be bright and smile - never be dull and uninspiring.
Turn that frown upside down.
4. Speak up reasonably loud and clear: not too fast - not too
slow. Always make sure that everyone knows the number of the
hymn or the name of the chorus you are about to sing. Announce
it twice at least.
5. Hide your nervousness.
Lift your head up and look your congregation straight in the
eyes. Remember - you are contagious whilst in the front of an
audience. If the audience becomes nervous and on edge with you
- you have lost the grip of the meeting.
6. Make sure your appearance becomes you as a leader of a meeting,
always neat and tidy and modest. Bad or sloppy appearance
gives a complex and adds to your nervousness, making you
inefficient; also not good for new folk attending the meeting.
7. Put all you have into it.
At no time be half-hearted. Never approach this matter in the
negative - such as, I think, etc. Be positive.
8. A special word of caution.
No sermonettes between verses of hymns or between various
items, choruses, on programme. Unless definitely led by the
Spirit. This is a No. 1 killer to any meeting. Remember you
are not the guest speaker whilst you are leading.
9. Always aim to develop to bring the people into a consciousness
of His presence - into the anointing of the Spirit.
Wisely lead people into praise and worship subject to the
atmosphere and tenor of that part of the service. People want
to be led, and need the fulfillment in their Christian
experience.
a. Don't force worship. Forcing actions of worship - to be
effective all worship must be voluntary and in the spirit.
John 4:24. You may get people to do certain things and
still not release God's presence upon them.
b. Excessive standing. Let the people sit after a few choruses
at the most. If they wish to stand as a voluntary act of
worship that is fine, but do not require it.
The Song of Solomon 2:14 gives a clue to our approach to God's
presence. His countenance is seen in the secret places of the
stairs . . . a continual rising to further heights in God.
This atmosphere can and should also be built from week to week.
The tabernacle of the Old Testament also shows us how to
approach the presence of the Lord, ie. through the Way, the
Truth and the Life - the three doorways speak of these three
stages and they, like the stairs, are a progression to better
things.
10. Allow the Spirit of God to operate in Gifts of the Spirit. Be
sensitive to this realm, and train yourself in heart and mind
to flow, and encourage the supernatural realm in the body of
the meeting.
We miss too much because we are not in tune.
11. Careful with testimonies. Many testimonies are
counterproductive in that the people get carried away, get off
the point, begin to preach, or are unable to effectively
communicate and so "lose" the congregation. Sometimes people
will share things of their previous life which are more
glorifying to Satan than they are to God.
III. Chorus Leading
Quite a lot of the principles above apply here also - but I will
mention a few keys to successful leading of the inspiration of the
service.
1. The choruses are a part of the service . The moment you
commence, whether it be with prayer or choruses - the service has
commenced.
2. Chorus leading is a ministry.
3. Prepare for this ministry. Prayer and Preparation are a
must. It is not sufficient to come depending on the congregation
for favourites. Select your choruses before the meeting.
4. Balance your chosen numbers with an occasional favourite.
5. Adhere to the allotted time for choruses. If it is ten minutes,
make it ten and not twelve or fifteen minutes.
6. Approach chorus leading with enthusiasm. Bright and vigorous.
7. Acquaint yourself with time of music:
eg. 4/4 - 3/4 and 6/8 etc.
Practice at home before a mirror.
8. A Question :-
Is it sufficient to give everyone a go at chorus leading in your
group? Why, or why not?
9. A helpful suggestion for training new chorus leaders . . . Have
two chorus leaders - one experienced and one beginner. Have the
experienced leader to lead and then allow the beginner to lead a
bracket of choruses.
10. Be able to laugh at yourself.
11. Give clear direction to musicians.
12. Learn from your mistakes.
13. Be an honest leader.
IV. Pointers for Good Meetings
Many points will have been brought out in discussion, but at the
time of writing these general points seem to me to be of vital
importance.
1. Meetings must be well prepared. The amount of work put into a
meeting has a lot to do with its success.
2. The blessing of God should be sought for prior to the meeting -
not just mechanically in the early part of the meeting, either.
3. A meeting must be kept moving - not with long pauses and filling
in. It must be positive - sincerely alive, not brittle.
Encouraging, uplifting, not dragged on.
4. A meeting should start on time!
5. Duration of meeting would vary, but a time should be adhered to.
Also consider circumstances, eg. winter, families, children at
school etc.
6. If required, an approximate time schedule should be worked out
for the different parts of the meeting and kept to. Carelessness
and verbosity should not interfere with this schedule. The only
one who has the right to change the programme is the Holy Spirit
Himself.
7. A meeting must have purpose. Not merely entertainment. People
should get something from the meeting.
8. There should be variety in the programme of a meeting, NOT all
singing until the message or messages - or same routine, meeting
after meeting.
9. Meetings should be such that the audience is frequently
participating in some way.
10. Meetings should be vital, uplifting, inspiring, challenging, etc.
according to the purpose and need.
11. Meetings should be geared so that the Holy Spirit can minister to
needs of the people - make room so this can happen.
12. Look out for stale expressions.
eg. Let's lift the roof off - leave roof alone.
13. Don't run people's looks down - leave looks alone.
14. Don't flog your favourite songs - consider the variety of the
people.
15. Vary your style of meeting - be an encourager, be careful not to
run people down. Consider different moods for meeting - ours is
a God of variety.
16. LEAD! Don't push, you are not a figure-head. Start first note.
17. Always act in harmonious co-operation with the pastor(s) and
church.
18. Always be ready to be a part of the smooth running machinery -
not go against or run in another direction.
19. Be an encourager to the people, so they will share and
participate. Col. 3:16.
20. Be conscious of the people's comfort - they respond better eg.
Don't leave them standing too long, or long period of raised
hands.
21. Deal with meeting interruptions or interference -
a. Babies crying or children running around.
b. Spiritual oppression , satanic interference. Judson
Cornwall - rebuke satan, or glorify Jesus, apply blood.
c. Nervousness - stage fright. If you want to be a leader, learn
to live with stage fright, for all leaders, public speakers
suffer stage fright or nerves. Nervousness is the price the
racehorse pays for not being a cow.
END of STUDY NINE
