Worship leaders, it’s easy to think certain things about our worship services are common knowledge…
…When you’ve been a part of church for a large portion of your life.
…When you spend so much time thinking about, preparing for, and leading worship.
…When your heart beats for leading people in honor and adore God.
But, sometimes you just need to give people permission.
Permission to:
- Sit, stand, clap, raise their hands, etc… or to not.
- Feel pain, hurt, sadness, or grief because we often focus on joy.
- Be silent because it’s easier to listen to God that way.
- Pray their own prayers because we don’t always know what’s on their hearts.
- Lean on Jesus and to focus on Jesus instead of those of us in the front.
- Not be afraid to have questions. David had them.
Don’t be afraid to give people permission.
It’s not about people needing you to grant permission to worship in the context of life. It’s about simply confirming the freedom people already have.
You may need to even do it repeatedly because people forget. New people come not knowing the ‘culture’. People have different church backgrounds or none at all. They may have been gone for a while. The heaviness of life may be weighing them down.
I know it can feel that we end up saying the same things over and over. But, it’s better to be thorough, then to assume everyone knows the routine and what’s acceptable.
I’ve found that when I’ve taken the extra step in leading to give people permission and acknowledge freedom, it’s a huge relief.
So, this week, if you haven’t done so in a while, give people permission. If you’ve never done so, practice what you will say during rehearsal.
I bet you’ll find that people will really appreciate it and be able to worship a little more freely.
For Discussion:
Have you ever done this? What happened?
Or have you ever been given permission? How did it make you feel?
Share your experience with a comment.
I understand your point and it makes sense to me, but I wonder how you give people permission to feel pain, hurt, sadness, or grief. The music is overwhelmingly happy, lament psalms are skipped over or verses excised from the psalms we do read, and sermons are positive, uplifting, and encouraging us that we can do better. Not only is there little room for pain, etc., but few services I have ever been in have given me the tools to express those emotions. What tools do you use as a worship leader to help hurting people give voice to their hurt?
Tim, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I completely understand your point. It is valid. It takes a conscious cooperation between the worship leader, pastor, and others to create space for this to happen. For me, I try not to excise verses from psalms. We’ll have times of quite reflection/meditation and give specific opportunity for people to bring these hurts before God. Often in a call to worship or opening prayer I will acknowledge that there are both people present who have had good weeks and bad weeks. Both groups need to draw near to the cross. We’ll build in times for people to share hurts and troubles and then have others pray for them. It takes a measure of sensitivity and discernment. I don’t always balance well, and not every service necessarily lends itself to this. But that is also why it is vital that people are plugging into small groups and Bible study to be able to have a place to wrestle through life together.
This past Sunday I experienced a chance to just be given permission to openly rejoice or weep. It was freeing,and I truly worshiped by listening to God in those quiet moments granted. I was completely broken…going from prideful, strong will to complete surrender.
Thanks for sharing, Kim. Glad to hear that God met you in that time. If you’d like to share, I would be interested in hearing more.