Song Transitions and Flow in Worship
In the end, short and
simple is best. Anything too lengthy and you might lose people by creating a
distraction from God rather than an attraction towards Him. As worship leaders
we want to build a comfortable environment where we do what we have to do, not
what we want to do, so that our church can easily follow along, paying
attention to us briefly, only to quickly forget about us and go back to
deflecting all glory to God!
4) Encourage – Don’t be afraid to encourage the congregation! Might seem
weird at first, but for that one person who’s too afraid to sing out, it just
might be the nudge they needed to give their all to Jesus this Sunday! Even a
simple “You guys sound great this morning! Let’s continue to lift our voices to
the Lord today with this chorus.” can really do the trick!
5) Silence – Many worship leaders may dread this because it seems like a
mistake… But it’s not! Just being still for a moment can actually help your
congregation connect with God. Remember that when Elijah was waiting to hear
from the Lord, it wasn’t through the powerful wind, the earthquake, or the
fire, but in the end through a whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13). Everything mentioned
above is great and may help your church to worship smoothly, without a hitch,
but once in a while it just pays to be quiet. This means no whispering to the
bassist, no noodling on your guitar (yes, we see your volume pedal is down but
your electric guitar still makes noise), and no laughing amongst yourself! Bask
in God’s presence… Again, short & simple is key here. And silence also
doesn’t mean “look to your bandmates and figure out what to do next”. If the
silence wasn’t planned, always be on the same page as your team. More on that some
other time (planning spontaneity)!
Just being still for a
moment can actually help your congregation connect with God.
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Useful stuff. All too often, we're scared of silence, or the whole set MUST be in the same key 'so it flows', even if half the songs become unsingable.
ReplyDeleteVery true Simon; and until we get out of our fears of inadequacy and the unknown, we cannot reach the greater greater achievable heights ahead of us.
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