Worship

This is a new section that we're writing as of August 2011. Because our worship ministry is growing I thought it best to start writing our worship documentation in one place. We'll discuss what worshipping Jesus is all about, how to worship, and how to develop a worshipping church. We discuss and prepare our worship sets on our Facebook group.

Jesus discussed with the woman at the well that we must worship in spirit and the truth, that there is a better way to worship that conforms to what scripture says. We make every effort to worship the Lord in a fully biblical manner. I want to note that without the Word of God, there can be no worship. We worship in response to God's Word. We worship because of what He said and He has already done for us; especially dying for our sin.

Some people get hung up on worship being about music only, or only a certain type of music, but worship is really about honoring & loving God first. It's about giving thanks to God for what he's done and for being the great person that he is. We worship God with how we live our entire life at home/work/school/etc. 

Worship Service Schedule

Lead Worshippers

Isa 1st, 3rd week
Chris 2nd week of even months and 5th weeks
Jason 2nd week of odd months
Micah 4th week

Projection

Henry 1/3 weeks
Arthur 2/4 weeks
? 5th week 

Worship Team Guidelines

God's word commands us to worship the Lord. We have worship teams that play live music which leads the congregation in singing praise to the Lord. We have some basic guidelines that help facilitate a cohesive, unified worship experience.

Though we have several worship teams, we think of ourselves as part of one big team. Musicians tend to play for multiple worship teams and Worship leaders tend to play back up, or tag-team with other Worship leaders' bands.

Everyone on the worship team should help set up and clean up before they play any music. I'm starting to compile a list of tasks.

Worship Team Leaders (A.K.A. Lead Worshippers)

New Songs

Worship team leaders may introduce new songs but we have an interesting policy regarding this. When a leader brings in a new song, that new song must be done three times before that leader can do another new song. We are currently putting together a database of songs which will track what songs we've done and how many times they've been done.

Bring in songs that you and other people really like. If you bring in a song that's boring with poor theology, you'll probably be doing it the next three times you lead because no one else will do that song! You can't bring in a new song until you've done your latest new song three times unless Chris has mercy on you.

You must bring in printed sheet music of the new song for every team member to the rehearsal. The song should be ready to go before rehearsal time (I don't even do this yet). You must know the song yourself and be able to lead others in it. Having a CD or iPod loaded with the song is a bonus. It's also good to

Rehearsals

Worship leaders are encourage to develop their teams spiritually and musically. Lead worshippers are foremost, spiritual leaders. We have rehearsal time every Wednesday at 6:30pm. Check with Chris if you want to make use of that time. Priority is given to the team that is playing that week.

Leadership Among Leaders

As mentioned earlier. Leaders often play on other worship teams. The Head Leader might allow another Guest Leader to lead a song, but the Guest Leader is still under the authority of the Head Leader. Basically the Head Leader, or the leader of that worship team calls the shots.

Lead Worshippers In Training

From among our musicians, leaders of teams naturally emerge. They don't have to be an instrumentalist. They must have skills in music & leadership, a heart for the people, and a calling from God. Initially they're given parts of songs to lead, then whole songs, and finally entire sets.

Guest Worship Leaders

We like to play with people from other parts of the Church. Right now we're building our teams and I want to devote as much of our time developing our worship leaders and musicians. I prefer to have guest worship leaders play with our teams and lead a few songs.