Worship Revolution | Part four: Worship and community
Part four: Worship and community
Worship is a very intimate act.
If you have ever felt awkward in church, standing there, with nothing in your hands, singing a song & desperately wanting to put your hands in the air, but feeling too weird to do so, you will know what I mean. You want to be intimate with the Lord, but the distinct feeling of scores of people around you make it hard. But what if you were in a room with people you feel close to? Does this make it any easier?
If you felt safe around the people you are worshiping with, it might. I know it is for me. This ‘safe’ feeling, is one that only comes with a sense of community. Community, by the very nature of the word, implies a couple of things: commune (as in communing together, or ‘coming together’), and unity (being in union with one another).
Trust.
This is another key word. How many of us trust those around us not to, oh, let’s say, make fun of us when we do something stupid, or try something that makes us vulnerable like praying out loud, or maybe prophesying. Ever felt a little afraid to give someone a word of knowledge, or an impression you feel is from the Lord? These are all risk taking behaviors. And to take a risk, you often have to feel safe with those around you.
For the purposes of this article, when we talk about worship and community, we are talking about the risks involved in prophetic worship, prophetic singing, prophetic instrument playing & any act of contributing INTO the act of worship (prayer, scripture reading, prophetic direction, etc). When a team is working together to create the act of worship, there has to be a level of trust involved. Each team member has to trust the others to know the music, play it correctly, sing it well, etc. The congregation trusts the team to lead them in the time of worship. They also have to trust the pastor to guide any sort of prophetic revelation that might come. Lots of trusting to do, right? But how is this accomplished?
Our worship team, made a concerted effort to do one simple thing: spend time together. In any relationship, if you don’t actually just spend time together, the relationship falters & eventually fails. The same is true of a team that needs to rely on one another for a deeper level of worship. Our team spent time before every practice session, just either talking, sharing or praying for one another. Sometimes, this was a guided effort, with specific questions for each one of us to listen to and answer. Sometimes, it was a loose effort, where anyone could share anything. We almost always tried to pray for one another in some capacity. And I would try to spend ‘coffee’ time with various members of the team just to hang out and learn about one another. If you know your keyboard player is afraid of heights, doesn’t it help you to see beyond his or her faults & love him/her more? I
f you sit down and watch a movie with your rhythm section from time to time, you see how they interact with their families, and it can give you greater grace for the moments when they ‘blow it’. If you hear about the marital struggles of someone on your team, and everyone gathers around that person, stands with them in prayer & loves them thru it, wouldn’t your value on their prophetic word about marriage grow exponentially?
The main thing is: SPEND TIME TOGETHER AS A TEAM.
And this goes not just for the worship team, but ANY other team working to further the Kingdom of GOD. And spend time together OUTSIDE of the task at hand! You wouldn't’ spend time with your spouse just talking about marriage, would you? That would be boring at best, & damaging at worst. Get to know one another... Eat a meal together. Laugh together. The next time you are playing and hearing the Holy Spirit move, I guarantee it will be stronger & more powerful than before.
By the way, developing community is something the early church was pretty good at. The twelve disciples spent 3 years living, eating, drinking, traveling & ministering with Jesus. The early church was gathered together in one place at the beginning of Acts, seeking the Lord together about who should replace Judas.
They were in one accord & had things in common, which they shared with one another as the need arose (Acts1 & 2). They understood how much they needed each other. They did not just show up at church on Sunday, do their duty, or get something for themselves & then go home, only to spend an entire week without speaking to a single brother or sister in the Lord. We need each other. We need encouragement. We need prayer. We need words of hope, or a push closer to the Lord, and yes, even correction sometimes. This stuff should come from the Body, not just from the pastor. He/She cannot do everything. They were not meant to. We were meant to be a Body. We all have gifts & we all should be operating in them (I Cor. 12-14). It’s Biblical. One part helps another.
This is true community.
It’s what we are supposed to live life like.
Community is important. Programs aren’t.
Church should be a community, NOT a program.
So go ahead: live life like.....a commitment.
Live life like...a community.
Live life like...a family.
Live life like you were meant to do.
Follow Jesus!
Carol Kiger-Rice is a worship leader, song writer, lover of God living in San Diego with her husband Wayne, rescue dogs Winston, Salem & Moravia and her rescue horse Saint. Carol and Wayne founded and currently direct Voice of the Bride Ministries, a Missions Organization dedicated to worship, intercession and serving the poor.