Philosophy of Worship

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My primary focus regarding worship ministry is that the church is worshipping with a right heart before God. This would include the worship team, as well as the congregation. Worship that honors God is worship that is focused on Jesus, and is not a distraction to others. Our worship should be done in Spirit and truth, as Jesus said this is the type of worship the Father is looking for (John 4:24).

 We should approach our worship experience in humility, and remain flexible as to what God is leading our particular congregation in. I believe that there are many great hymns from the past, that have been introduced to our culture in a modern way, which has turned out to be a tremendous blessing for all of us, especially the Millennial Generation, a demographic who may not have had an opportunity to experience such great hymns, if the hymns hadn’t been reintroduced in a modern, culturally relevant context.

 At the same time, there is a strong argument in Scripture to always remain culturally relevant in the way we worship Jesus. In fact, the Bible tells us in Psalm 33:3, “Sing to Him a new song”, which seems to indicate that God finds pleasure in the creative process we go through to create new songs that express His greatness and love for us. The most important part of congregational worship is that we are passionate when worshipping God together, and our hearts are united as we do (Ephesians 4:3). 

 Therefore, as a congregation of worshippers, we can respect the great heritage of our past while at the same time remain cognizant of our current culture and context. Once again, the main thing should always be that our hearts and minds are in the right condition when we do worship God, which means we must always seek to passionately worship God in Spirit and truth.

 My thoughts on the Worship Team Leaders

 I believe it is important to encourage worship leaders to choose songs that point people to Jesus as Savior, exalt Jesus as Lord, and inspire greater love for Jesus in each of our lives. If God the Father has “highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9), we should give God our best effort to create an environment that strives to do the same as well.

 I believe when worship leaders cultivate an atmosphere where people have the opportunity to fall more in love with Jesus and grow deeper in their relationship with Him, by offering a worship setting each Sunday that is not only culturally relevant to our times, but also theologically correct for all times, we can best lead our congregation into incredibly fruitful times of worship, where He is exalted and we are blessed.

 The Bible tells us in Psalm 33:3, “Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.”

 This verse gives us two key insights as to how our God desires us to worship Him.

 1. Play Skillfully - I believe worship leaders and worship team members, should seek to play their instruments “skillfully” before the Lord. This means that we should be committed to giving God our very best by serving Him with excellence in this area of ministry. Playing skillfully before the Lord is lived out practically, by being the very best we can be for Him on our instrument, as well as taking great care in learning each of the songs for each particular service we are involved with. ​

 2. With Loud Shouts - I also believe worship leaders should set the example of worshipping God passionately. God desires us to worship Him with loud shouts, which means God wants our worship for Him to be a passionate endeavor that is experienced by all. Therefore, worship leaders have been given a great responsibility from God to inspire worshippers to sing praises to God with all of their hearts, minds, soul, and strength.

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