When worship leading one of the important questions you deal with, indeed one of the supreme points of condemnation for worship leaders in general, is how long the worship time must be. A second and connected issue is, “How long must you leave people standing?", which will be discussed in an added post”
The first thing to identify is that we worship leaders come from a different perspective to most of the congregation, and also the pastor. We like to worship, it is our enthusiasm and that's why we became worship leaders initially, so as far as we are concerned, long worship times are just excellent. Nonetheless, not all the people in church share our enthusiasm, so for lots of of them the worship time is the opening act to the chief show, which is the preaching. Most pastors feel this way too, because to their perspective, the preaching is the chief part of the service.
When you are called to worship leading you may believe that your most important task is to lead people into worship. That's not precisely true: it is your chief task, but it is not the most important role! The most important task is to serve, the Lord, the pastor and the congregation. So, as a general principle, if a large number of your congregation, and your pastor believe the worship service was too long, then it probably was!
I have written hundreds of pages on worship leading in my manual “Worship In A Nutshell,” to teach sensible, useful and easy to apply ideas that will change your worship leading starting the very next time you lead. I would now like to share an extract of that discussing this very issue...
1. Length of worship service
While we all want to be flexible enough to let the Lord to work in our church service, we cannot flee the fact that everyone has an view as to how long a worship service must be. Be aware that worship leaders and musicians will constantly believe it needs to be longer, while a lot of of the congregation believe it ought to be shorter. Most churches I visit have very long worship times, which resemble survival tests or in some cases even torture as people are forced to stand with their hands in the air for hours.
To sit during one of these sessions seems to express either weakness of lack of spirituality! The reality is it probably conveys cramps and commonsense. Any fool could see that this is not appropriate, but apparently not some worship leaders, who continue to draw out worship times to the max.
One time I ministered at Hills Christian Life Center, the Mecca for Aussie musicians (do we all face Hills when we pray?), and saw Darlene lead worship. It lasted 20-25 minutes. Shock, amazement! They were immediately into the Lord's presence from the first song, and they did not labor the worship as some do for over an hour. This must speak volumes to those of us who lead worship. Worship needs to be ENJOYED, not ENDURED!
So, in the name of time management and common sense, here are a few ideas on timing in worship:
1. Start on time:
Despite how a lot of or how few are in the room, START ON TIME. This may not be appropriate in some 3rd world situations when people travel hours on foot to be there, but for the rest of us, let's get it right and start on time. It is not a concert, and you are doing this as unto the Lord, so it must make little difference how a lot of are in the room. To start late and then encroach on the pastor's sermon time is disrespectful to the pastor.
2. Be all set to reduce the duration of the worship time.
You are there to be a servant, not a superstar, so at all times be the first to volunteer to cut back. If something else goes overtime, you must volunteer to decrease what you are doing. When I lead worship at Bill Newman meetings, if time is tight I am each time the first to volunteer to cut back, for the reason that that’s what real servants do! And, at least half the time, Bill kindly refuses the proposal and asks me to sing my full quota of songs. You see, there is a blessing in serving a Man of God!
3. Have a couple of songs in reserve:
It is often a good idea to have a couple of songs apart, just in case you need them. So, when you pick out the songs for the service, you don’t have to play them all!
4. Don't get tied into a programme:
Be flexible enough to change songs, cut songs or even add songs if the Spirit permits. I am constantly cautious of the printed orders of service. Sometimes they are timed, which is even scarier! Now, I know we need some sort of order of service, and that the whole thing needs to be done in order, but let's not sacrifice the move of the Spirit on the altar of an orderly programme! If something happens, we need to be free to change.
5. When do you break off the worship?
I always tell the pastor, "Please come up on to the stage at any time for any reason and feel free to take over." I am issue to the pastor, so at whatever time he is good and ready (or if he feels things have changed) he needs to feel free to stand up and join us in worship or take over. Once more, it is all about being a servant, not having your own way!
6. Question yourself, "How many times do we need to do this song?"
One of the most frequent criticisms of worship leaders is that they repeat songs or sections of songs to the point of frustration. It is a song of worship, guys, not a mantra!
So, when getting ready for for worship leading in a service, believe these ideas and be sensitive both to the Spirit and also to those in the people attending church. You are called to lead worship, not perform and not torture. In the end less is usually more when it comes to worship leading.
