To Be Like Christ: 2 Healthy Worship Team and 2 Healthy Song Selection Disciplines

In our zeal for passionate worship of God it’s easy to get caught up in finding and using the next great song. In doing so we can fail to establish sound worship team and song selection disciplines that can help the team and congregation to become more like Christ.

As I completed my homework on Your Church Experiencing God Together by Henry and Melvin Blackaby, I was convicted. And then again in the study with the rest of the group, I was convicted again. Why? The main point that stood out to me is that the primary ministry responsibility as the leader of the music team is to assist each member under my care to be like Christ. It implies that even when the music on Sunday morning is outstanding and congregation participation is overwhelming, if the team members aren’t becoming like Christ, I am failing in my primary ministry responsibility. That is a sobering thought. So how can I make my primary focus the spiritual growth and development of every member on the team? Following are two practical ways:

Healthy Worship Team Discipline #1
Have a short Bible Study and Prayer Time before every practice.

Our time typically lasts about 30 minutes. The time is lead by the worship leader or a team member. A handout is provided to every team member that has the passage text and discussion questions or a devotional (Oswald Chambers for example) with discussion questions. For a season we skipped this devotional time, and our practice sessions were often marked by more conflict and interpersonal tension. We learned our lesson. Bible study and prayer sets the tone for a great practice as we learn, work, and grow together.

Healthy Worship Team Discipline #2
Have a short Bible Study on Sunday along with the practice.

We have about 30 minutes after practice on Sunday morning during the Sunday school hour. We could easily just hang out and chat, or we could do something more constructive. I have chosen to lead a Bible study for the team, and anyone else who wants to join us. I open the session with an icebreaker question to get everyone talking and at ease. I provide a handout with the passage and the discussion questions I have planned. I often add additional questions on the fly as the discussion progresses.
The value in these times is that we build relationships among the members of the team as we discuss the Word of God, spiritual matters, and applying our faith to our lives.

As our team ministers to the congregation by leading the singing part of our worship service, clearly our primary goal is to worship God. Yet at the same time we should also be aiming to encourage and stimulate everyone to be like Christ. Whether intended or not, the songs we sing teach. The real question is what do the songs we sing teach those who sing them?

Our songs teach who God is.

• Is the God revealed in our songs consistent with the one revealed in the Word of God?
• How comprehensive or selective is that picture of God?

Our songs teach what the proper response to God is.

• Are the responses to God in our songs consistent with the ones revealed in the Word of God?
• How comprehensive or selective are those responses to God’s call on our lives?

My pastor and I recently finished The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell. My takeaway is that the narcissism epidemic is affecting the Church and individual believers. I would suggest that our worship of God in singing can easily become narcissistic (more about us individually and less about God) if we aren’t careful. I think some songs have elements that are unintentionally narcissistic.

For a thought provoking discussion of and help in recognizing narcissistic elements in worship songs, I recommend reading Worship Lyrics and the Hidden Narcissism  by Manuel Luz.) I try to be discerning in the songs we sing, and yet, my eyes were opened to what I had been missing.

An individual song with an unintentional narcissistic element is one thing; however; if many or all of the songs sung on a given Sunday are like it there may be a problem. For example: I love dessert, and if my meals regularly consisted entirely of different desserts, I think you would agree that would be an unhealthy practice. I believe songs have different purposes and, if we aren’t careful, we can unknowingly create the dessert scenario I just described. It’s one thing to recognize the problem and another to come up with practices to prevent or avoid the problem.

Healthy Song Selection Discipline #1
Categorize every song based on content,
and balance the use of songs in each category.

I categorize all the songs we sing and use a categorized song planning template. This helps me make sure we are not leaving out themes that should be covered regularly. When I identify ones that have unintentional narcissistic elements, I will begin using other songs with a similar purpose that I think will be a better choice.

Healthy Song Selection Discipline #2
Balance the use of congregational and individual songs
(We-I Ratio of 0)

I pay attention to the overall We-I Ratio for a song set and try to keep it close to zero on most Sundays. It sounds very mechanical because it is. Because personal songs (I, me) are very popular, they can dominate our worship sets. It was true for me before I started paying attention (keeping score)! The solution also entailed having congregational songs (we, us) we want to sing. That meant finding and learning new songs. Now that we have plenty of them, it’s not hard to do at all.

I try to be strategic in choosing songs. Instead of focusing on one Sunday at a time; I try to build sets with their effect on the long term in mind. For the health of the congregation I use these two disciplines to avoid all dessert Sundays.