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Charismatic Worship - How Do You Increase Congregation Participation?
As someone who's led worship in a charismatic church for a number of years I'm familiar with the struggle to get more people to 'contribute' (pray out, prophesy, start a song etc) during worship on a Sunday. I've been thinking about it a lot recently as I've been doing a series about it on my blog.
I probably should have done this before I started (duh) but I wanted to throw some questions out there.
Please feel free to pick and choose or come back at me (or others) with your own questions.
I guess I'd like to know -
If you'd like to read my posts so far you can find them at MattBlick.Com
I probably should have done this before I started (duh) but I wanted to throw some questions out there.
Please feel free to pick and choose or come back at me (or others) with your own questions.
I guess I'd like to know -
- What can worship teams and worship leaders those do to encourage more Spiritual gifts from the congregation in their worship times?
- What do worship teams do that hinders the flow of the Spirit?
- Is there a point where a local Church gets too big to have open worship? How big is too big? Is YOUR Church too big?
- How do you rehearse for meeting where the congregation could contribute anything? Is it even possible?
- Do you ever give people in the congregation feedback (either positive or negative) on what they brought in the meeting?
- Is there anyway to avoid (or minimise) trainwrecks?
- Do you do anything special on the technical side (eg PA/AV) to facilitate contributions?
- What’s worked for you best in encouraging more contributions?
If you'd like to read my posts so far you can find them at MattBlick.Com
Tags: charismatic-worship, spirit-led-worship, spiritual-gifts, worship-leading
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Toni Ertl on -
I've been thinking about this post for a couple of hours now, after some of the things I've walked through with our previous church.
For the congregation to participate in Spirit-lead worship (rather than front lead worship, even with the leader moving in the Spirit) requires a number of things:
* The people need to be trained (teaching isn't enough) to move in the gifts and under the guiding of the Holy Spirit. A little chicken and egg, but giving them opportunities in less formal, smaller meetings will help them recognise God's prompting. They also need an expectation that He WILL move and an opportunity to step out.
* The band and leader need to be sensitive to both the Spirit and the congregation, making space for both. They should already be used to following the leading of the Spirit and be active participants in worship themselves, able to exercise the gifts they hope to encourage others to use
In practical terms then, the worship band's side is to be watching for opportunities to move aside, rather than opportunities to lead. Having a 'simple' band, rather than a large and carefully arranged group will allow people to feel more able to interact in the worship process. We had a time where we cut back from a full band (drums, bass, 2 guitars, flute, violin, keyboard and 2-3 singers) back to just a guitar or guitar + keyboard in order to help the congregation feel it was less of a show and more something they could be part of. It doesn't have to stay minimal, but it may help start things moving like that. I'd also encourage the band to be close to the congregation, to reduce the feeling of them and us or pedestalling.
Song choice is important. Beware the ME song (if a song talks about me or I at all then treat it with suspicion). Choose songs that focus on God and not on how God has done wonderful things for ME. We went through a time of removing me worship songs (lost about 25% of our song list - one church I know of did the same and lost 75%) and it really changed our worship.
Practice worshipping together in the Spirit. Don't bring a song list to the worship practice and worry less for a while about arrangements. Instead have the worship leaders bring one or 2 songs to start you going, then see where the Spirit leads you, moving in the gifts along the way. If it feels awkward or difficult for you in practice then it's likely to in the meeting too. A set list that must be followed rigidly will not permit God to use other people in ways you did not anticipate or that you would reject in the natural.
Encourage your musicians to learn to play without music. A requirement to follow sheet music will be a hindrance and a stumbling block at times: if the people start singing in tongues then the team need to be able to improvise in a way that flows and doesn't cut across what's happening. There should be 1 or 2 in the band who are able to pick up a random song that's in your repertoire if someone in the congregation starts singing it, even when it's in the wrong key. If it IS in the wrong key then follow it through to the next verse or chorus and transition to the right key.
Do leave gaps between songs, particularly worship songs, rather than rattling through. If you have a couple of musicians that are gifted improvising melody then let them loose with a brief to play in the Spirit and in a way that leaves space too.
Don't be afraid of trainwreck. Having the odd song fail is a small price to pay for helping the congregation move in the Spirit. It will also reduce the feeling of watching a professional gig and allow them to feel like they might have something to offer too.
Make sure whoever is operating the PC/projector understands how the software works and is comfy with whatever search facilities it has. Our new church has songpro, and although it it a fast and flexible package in the right hands, for anyone unfamiliar it is a muddly and unintuitive nightmare.
In terms of wrong things coming from the congregation, you should have a meeting leader and other church leaders around to deal with real disturbances. If someone jumps up and starts going off on one out of the Spirit then just start playing something to re-focus the people on God while the church leadership sort them out (if necessary). Try to encourage those that participate with words, starting songs etc etc. afterward.
How big is too big? The Oxford CC celebrations can run to over 1000 and they still have contributions 'off the floor' though not so much. Probably 200-300 is the limit where someone can start a song or bring a prophetic word without a mic. There's no limit for singing in tongues together that I know of, other than the PA helping keep 10,000 people in time.
I would encourage you to have a separate meeting leader who oversees what goes on and is responsible for keeping everything in good order. This will allow the worship leader to focus on the worship and not have to worry about dealing with prophetic words etc from the people.
What's worked best? For me, just asking people to participate right at the start, then giving them opportunities to do so.
Sorry - this has become a huge essay.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Martin on -
Toni,
This is all very helpful stuff, a good balance between relying on God and giving Him room and practical facilitation, good one. One question:- in what way did removing "me" songs help your worship?
Joe
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Permalink Reply by Toni Ertl on
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It seemed to draw us as a people closer to the Father: facilitate our entry into His presence in a way that singing songs about us didn't do. It's been interesting, having moved churches, that the new one has sung a lot of ME songs and it has felt at times like God is watching us, waving His arms and saying "hey guys, I'm over here" and that's been reflected in the way the Spirit hasn't moved in the people too. There was one meeting where the first 3 or 4 songs were all about us, and worship was going through the motions, when along came a God-focussed song and a spirit of praise just burst out. Often it's more subtle than that, but this was one of those occasions when you can almost hear the penny hit the bottom of the tin.
I'd not want to build too much on this, especially when you see the random content of psalms, but my experience is that songs about us are of limited value in a congregational worship setting. The exceptions can be for new believers who've not developed a relationship with God outside a context of their own wishes and will, for calling people together and for specific times when the words of the song express what God is doing with the people at that particular point.
BTW if you've not done it, I'd encourage everyone to look at Matt's blog link.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Blick on
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@Joe
I'd agree with Toni. By way of illustration -
Our church started with a self published songbook that we borrowed from another church, beacuse we had no worship team (or leaders really) at the time, just about everything was 'selected' by the congregation (apart from the pastor picking an opening song). It was a totally level playing field - no leader selecting songs on the basis of pet doctrine, theme of the meeting, or it being the hot new song.
What was facinating to see over time was that songs full of God - In Christ alone, before the throne of God, Giver of Grace, even Shout To The Lord (which is not that deep but is all about God) we sung over and over again. These songs feed people's faith and delight in who god is and get their eyes off themselves.
Other songs more me-centred hardly featured. Even songs that were 'God is doing something cool and prophetic in the world' didn't get a look in. When people were given the choice they wanted to sing about God....
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Toni - don't apologise - it's brilliant to hear your perspective and we're so alike people might suspect this thread was a set up!
Some points I really liked
"the worship band's side is to be watching for opportunities to move aside, rather than opportunities to lead" that's a really helpful distinctive
your suggestion to "cut back from a full band...to just a guitar or guitar + keyboard" reflects our journey at Grace Church. Somewhat unusually we started as a church plant with no musicians whatsoever (we had em in the congregation, we just didn't use em), even when we started meeting 'publically' on a sunday morning. We were gathering 65 people before we used 1 guitarist. It was 14-15 months before we used any mics and just over 3 years before we had a full band (bass and drums and a full PA). We were well over 100 peole by this time in a very poor room acoustically. It seems incredible now, even to me, but it did instill in our people the band is not here to do worship for you.
Proximity of band to congregation is important, not thought of that, even though our band is very close. Not having a monitor induced bubble of sound around the band is a related point.
How to do SongPro well, and encouraging people who contribute are things i've got simmering for next week's post.
You've certainly given me some food for thought. I've learned most about this stuff by struggling to work it out week by week - you sound like you've come by some of this wisdom the hard way too (or did you just read it in some cool book I missed!)
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Permalink Reply by emily changa on -
this is bravo.....very helpful and very true wat you are saying....
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Permalink Reply by Toni Ertl on
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I've just followed your blog link back. I think we're playing off the same tab here.
;-)
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Permalink Reply by Gav on -
great post matt,
toni's given you some great thoughts. on the I, me song situation i just think like everything balance is key.
i have no problems with i and me songs as long as there is a balance of 'only about God' songs as well.
i think the times that ive tried spontaneous worship times things have worked well when the congregation has been given persmission to start things up and the leadership have modelled it. ie praying out loud, prophesying out loud, even starting or suggesting songs out loud occasionally aswell.
leaving space is key. if theres no space people wont have opportunitys to start things. also dont worry about silence. were pretty impatient people and even a slight silence can make us feel awkward but its often the silence that gives space to people to step out.
one word of caution tho matt, spontaneity isnt necessarly more spiritual or more godly. dont underestimate the importance of rehearsal and sticking to an order of service.
God bless,
gav.
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@Gav
I agree leaving space is the key - we musicians really do abhor a vacuum a lot of the time!
Your caution is good. The word 'spontaneous' can muddy the debate a little. For me the issue is congregational participation. The former doesn't have much merit in itself, there's nothing sacred about spontaneity- it could just be an expression of our faddishness. However the congregation actively participating I would view as one of the key distictives of New Testament Worship and one of the few aspects that is mentioned explicitly (in 1 Cor 14, Col 3:16, Eph 5:19) and an expression of what the church is for (2 Pet 2: 4-5).
Most congregations that would contribute would do so spontaneously, but by way of contrast I would say a church where members bring individual premeditated contributions, (songs, prayers, prophecies they received before the meeting) are being far more New Testament than one that watches a talented professional (or team of professionals) being utterly spontaneous.
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@Toni
Same tab!
love it!
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Just added another blog post - thanks for all the comments and feedback
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Permalink Reply by Toni Ertl on
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That's a great post - thank you.
Matt - sorry not to respond more. It's an area in which I'm really struggling with the new church, but I'd really like to think it's something we might be able to move into in the future. All the stuff I popped into the first comment was based on stuff that we'd been through at Bicester Community Church (where we were until may '09) and things that God had shown us. This is an area of pain for me right now, and difficult to talk about.
There's a real danger if one consumes Christian worship DVDs, concerts etc that one thinks THAT is how worship should be at it's ultimate level, when really it's a long way from the truth. Not to knock Hillsongs etc. but that's not an appropriate way for a church congregation to worship together. Without that corporate dimension, each one bringing what they've been given then we might as well all just stay at home and sing along to the CDs or do God TV if we need a picture.
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