When we get worship leaders together in the same room, I always ask them how things are going. I ask them what they need, whether they have questions — and what their top obstacles are.
Isolation and loneliness are the leading answers, every time.
This might seem surprising to most churchgoers. The worship leader is easily recognizable to most people. They certainly don’t look isolated from the outside.
The problem is that worship leaders are often known casually by many but known deeply by very few or none. If we want healthy, joyful churches sustained by creative and biblical worship, we must ensure our worship leaders are in community and have the support of staff and congregation.
There are three roles every worship leader fills, whether people realize it or not: musician, minister and multiplier. And every one of these roles requires unique support and training.
The requirements of the musician role are intuitive enough. There’s musical ability to consider when choosing a worship leader. Can they sing? Can they play? Can they understand music theory? Can they lead rehearsal? If the answer is yes, most churches are desperate enough for worship leadership that they often overlook the lack of experience and spiritual maturity in the leader.
Churches often hire within the narrow scope of skilled musicians. The role is not less than that, of course. But it’s so much more than singing and playing an instrument.
The second role worship leaders fill is that of minister. Knowing and communicating the word of God is essential in worship ministry, but often overlooked in the job description. I didn’t learn how to sit across from someone who’s asking me to pray for them, or who’s sharing something profoundly personal, at music school. But I’ve had to do just that many times.
And I learned how to minister to others by being taught how to minister, as well as by spending a lifetime listening and living in God’s Word. Worship leaders must be taught how to provide theologically sound, sensitive and prudent ministry. It’s the responsibility of the local church and the capital C Church to raise them up in sound, biblical education and training.
The third role worship leaders inhabit is that of “multiplier.” This means not only discipling the volunteers on your worship team but developing them as musicians and leaders. The days of having one primary leader with a supporting cast are fading. Plurality of leadership with intentional discipleship and development are essential in modern worship ministries.
It isn’t enough to have a musical gift to share with your congregation. It isn’t enough to be a loving and attentive minister to those who seek you out, either. You have to draw people in. You’re often expected to make more disciples, all while raising other leaders within the church and worship team.
This is a tremendous amount of pressure. And our worship leaders are telling us, again and again, that it’s too much pressure with too little support.
The fact is that if we believe worship matters, our worship leaders must matter too. And our worship does matter. It mattered enough that Paul directed the early church to sing. It mattered enough that song appears again and again throughout the Psalms as a way to praise God, to ask for His help, to minister to yourself and to others.
The Worship Initiative even named its “Community 3:16” program designed to support, train, empower and encourage worship leaders after a passage from Scripture that demonstrates this; namely, Colossians 3:16.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” Paul writes, “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
This single passage is a powerful, enduring reminder that the singing of God’s word has eternal impact, and the work of leading worship is vital to every congregation.
We aren’t just singing. We aren’t just praising God. We are teaching each other, thanking God, using our bodies and minds and communities to prepare for the eternal song we’ll join in Heaven. Revelation 5 tells us “they sang a new song” when Jesus, the Lamb, receives and opens the scroll of God’s judgment. Someday, we will join them in worship. We will join them in song.
That’s why our worship culture is, in many ways, our church culture — and a healthy worship culture starts with healthy worship leaders.
Here’s the good news: God is inviting us to work together to do something about it.
It’s time to build church cultures that support, disciple and educate worship leaders in sustainable, biblical ways. Let’s raise up gifted musicians, trained/biblical ministers and multipliers who are investing in others as they lead. It’s time to witness the joy and power of spiritual, creative worship driven by leaders who have everything they need to thrive.
Robbie Seay is the EVP of Leader Development + Content at The Worship Initiative.
