No Invitation

Regardless of the church size, there is one glaring similarity between a lot of churches I see.

---

In my travels with music, I have visited numerous churches. A long lasting result of these visits is that I stay connected with different ministries by watching their live stream services.

Christmas Eve night, 2021, my wife and I stayed up late to watch multiple worship portions of various live stream services. In those we saw the devotion to excellence—the added stage production, decorations, skits, and song selections. However, there was one glaring similarity between all of these services, regardless of the church size: No invitation in worship.

The worship teams played their sets well. And the singers were great. But there was little-to-no connecting with the congregation. Everyone stayed in their fixed position on the platform, and either kept their eyes closed or—reading lyrics from the screen on the back wall—they had that “deer in the headlights” expression. 

The only interaction singers had with the congregation was in clichés: “Sing this out. Come on church! Lift your voices.” Nothing is wrong with these commands, but there first needs to be an invitation or a call to worship. Worship leaders must set the tone of the service by inviting the people into worship and by providing an atmosphere of freedom for the Lord to work. 

Setting the tone is done by verbally addressing the congregation—welcoming them, inviting them into worship, and giving them freedom to express their worship in their own way. After verbally communicating to the people, we should then focus on visually and emotionally communicating with them by demonstrating our expression of worship. 

As scripture tells us that there is a time and season for everything, there is also a time and a place for our worship. There are times to get caught up in our own worship with God, and there are times to LEAD the congregation in worship. As worship leaders, we are to lead with love and devotion, not only in our personal worship but through demonstrating our worship by leading the people. 

I love the old quote, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” We are to use our gifts well and should play skillfully unto the Lord, while taking great joy in doing so. We just can’t forget about the people God has entrusted us with. We’ve been chosen by God for such a time as this. Let’s make the most of it.

Are you interested in diving deeper into these areas for YOUR show? I’d love to get to know you and learn about your journey in music! Let’s schedule a FREE consultation call today!

SCHEDULE MY CALL

For more great resources, visit my FREE DOWNLOADS page!