How to lead
A Church Congregation
HOW TO ENGAGE THE CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP
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today I'd like to share with you a few
things that have helped me in engaging
the people that I'm leading in worship
when I first started leading worship it
wasn't the most comfortable thing to
stand in a group of people and actually
lead them
my buddy language actually wanted to
sort of come in like this okay so I had
these tics I suppose you'd call them
where I would like want to close my eyes
keep my hands closed usually stationary
stand in one position and then when I
would watch like footage of myself
leading worship it didn't actually match
up to what I was feeling inside okay
when it came to worshiping Jesus and
being in his presence that should be
such a freeing experience where we feel
excitement we feel joy we're thankful to
be liberated you know having that sense
of freedom and so that was really
interesting for me if you haven't ever
just had someone lovingly capture you on
film maybe you should have someone do
that for you the next time you lead
worship or you're on the team and it's
actually really interesting I did that
with my team for a lot of years we're
not in a sense where it's like American
Idol and we're voting you off the island
or something like that but just like I
think we are our own worst critic and
we're trying to balance that out here
but sometimes we can't actually see what
we look like when we're leading worship
because we're leading right or when
we're on our instrument playing and it's
a real shock when you see yourself maybe
you know in a photo or on footage
somewhere and you're surprised how not
engaging you are that the reality of
Jesus Christ setting you free from the
inside looks like this okay so on a
Sunday morning you know we've got the
bass player up there and it's really
engaging when the musicians are actually
singing isn't it rather than just
totally focused on what their part is so
even if they're not a vocalist we
encourage our musicians on the stage
sing through the song and one of the
things that that does is just helps
loosen our body language to begin with
because we're not about performance but
we are
getting people into the reality of who
Jesus is okay so we do want what's in
our hearts to actually be magnified and
expressed on the outside because God
sees the heart but we see one another
okay so a few things just going down the
line encouraging you to maybe open your
eyes once in a while
eyes are very engaging when I'm doing
this and I'm not looking at the person
that I'm talking to and I'm staring off
over to the side it's communicating
something that isn't I'm engaged with
you in the same token staring down
someone in the third row like I know
your sins and you will worship the Lord
we don't want to be staring people down
we're you know it's kind of scary
now I've worked with quite a few few
singers who have done this they don't
realize that their resting face is you
know when they're singing they've got
quite a furrowed brow they've got this
going on or they're really intense like
this so they look sort of scared we're
just wanting to create an atmosphere
where we're relaxed okay so one of those
things where opening of our eyes looking
around not disengaging from who we're
worshiping but just making sure that
we're not the only one in the room
worshiping if there's anything that I
can do to help somebody else encounter
Jesus I'm going to do that me personally
so that just means opening my eyes to
make sure like hey you're welcome here
as well you might not have ever stepped
into the building of a church before and
worship Jesus but I hope you feel
welcome so you can smile again I don't
want to plaster on anything that's fake
I think that this should come from a
place of you know genuine authenticity
but if I'm in the presence of Jesus you
can't help but smile you know and one of
the things that you know keeps us humble
is thankfulness if you're ever needing
motivation on a Sunday morning to help
engage the congregation just think of
ten things that you're thankful for
Jesus for okay another couple of things
just even vocally you know we talk about
just relaxing our shoulders roll your
shoulders back you know just have a
relaxed stare
maybe move your feet a little bit I'm
not talking about like you know pasting
and doing all this stuff but do
something that helps you relax and that
communicates to the people that you're
leading
hey let's engage let's worship here
there's some movement this is an active
thing we are worshiping you know some
150 says let everything that has breath
praise the Lord and you know if you're
leading a group the congregation they've
got breath in them the Bible mandates it
that he wants they praise and we want to
engage them in that so you know if this
is where you're comfortable raising your
hands I want to encourage you maybe in
your own worship time try lifting your
hands a little bit higher you know if
you're used to keeping your eyes shut
really tight maybe just stop opening
them every 10 seconds and just trying
that feeling if you're standing still
you find yourself quite stagnant maybe
just try a little knee bend little
little feet moving and you know what I'm
talking about just get relaxed and help
engage people by letting your body
language feel inviting and relaxed okay
so I hope this was helpful in engaging
the people that you're leading
