Worship Leading- How Long?

When worship leading one of the principal questions you cope with, indeed one of the supreme sources of condemnation for worship leaders in general, is how lengthy the worship time should be. A second and related subject is, "How long should you leave people standing?", which will be deal with in an added post"

The primary thing to point out is that we worship leaders come from a different perspective to most of the congregation, and also the pastor. We love to worship, it is our eagerness and that's why we became worship leaders in the first place, so as far as we are concerned, lengthy worship times are just excellent. Nevertheless, not all the people in church share our eagerness, so for a lot of of them the worship time is the beginning act to the chief show, which is the preaching. Most pastors feel this way too, because to their perspective, the preaching is the chief part of the service.

When you are called to worship leading you may believe that your most principal task is to lead people into worship. That's not exactly true: it is your chief task, but it is not the most principal role! The most principal task is to serve, the Lord, the pastor and the congregation. So, as a general principle, if a large number of your congregation, and your pastor believe the worship service was too lengthy, then it most likely was!

I have written hundreds of pages on worship leading in my manual "Worship In A Nutshell," to teach sensible, useful and easy to apply techniques that will change your worship leading starting the very next time you lead. I would now like to share an extract of that discussing this very subject...

1. Length of worship service
While we all want to be accommodating enough to allow the Lord to work in our church service, we cannot break away from the fact that everyone has an opinion as to how lengthy a worship service should be. Be aware that worship leaders and musicians will constantly believe it needs to be longer, while many of the congregation believe it ought to be shorter. Most churches I visit have very lengthy worship times, which look like survival tests or in some cases even torture as people are made to stand with their hands in the air for hours.
To take a seat during one of these sessions seems to communicate either fragility of lack of spirituality! The truth is it most likely conveys cramps and commonsense. Any fool could see that this is not appropriate, but apparently not some worship leaders, who continue to protract worship times to the max.
One time I ministered at Hills Christian Life Center, the Mecca for Aussie musicians (do we all face Hills when we pray?), and saw Darlene lead worship. It lasted 20-25 minutes. Shock, amazement! They were straight into the Lord's presence from the first song, and they did not labor the worship as some do for over an hour. This should speak volumes to those of us who lead worship. Worship needs to be ENJOYED, not ENDURED!
So, in the name of time management and common sense, here are a few thoughts on timing in worship:
1. Start on time:
Despite how many or how little are in the room, START ON TIME. This may not be applicable in some 3rd world situations when people travel hours on foot to be there, but for the rest of us, let's get it correct and start on time. It is not a performance, and you are doing this as unto the Lord, so it should make little difference how many are in the room. To start late and then trespass on the pastor's sermon time is disrespectful to the pastor.
2. Be prepared to trim down the duration of the worship time.
You are there to be a servant, not a star, so at all times be the first to volunteer to cut back. If something else goes overtime, you should volunteer to condense what you are doing. When I lead worship at Bill Newman meetings, if time is tight I am every time the first to volunteer to cut back, because that's what real servants do! And, at least half the time, Bill gently refuses the suggestion and asks me to sing my full quota of songs. You see, there is a blessing in serving a Man of God!
3. Have a couple of songs up your sleeve:
It is often a good plan to have a couple of songs aside, just in case you require them. So, when you pick out the songs for the service, you don't have to play them all!
4. Don't get tied into a programme:
Be accommodating enough to modify songs, scratch songs or even add songs if the Spirit leads. I am continually wary of the printed orders of service. At times they are timed, which is even more terrifying! Now, I know we need some sort of order of service, and that everything needs to be done in order, but let's not surrender the move of the Spirit on the altar of an orderly programme! If something happens, we need to be free to change.
5. When do you bring to an end the worship?
I always tell the pastor, "Please come up on to the platform at any time for any reason and feel free to take over." I am subject to the pastor, so at whatever time he is good and ready (or if he feels things have changed) he needs to feel free to stand up and join us in worship or take over. Again, it is all about being a servant, not having your own way!
6. Question yourself, "How many times do we require to do this song?"
One of the most repeated criticisms of worship leaders is that they repeat songs or parts of songs to the point of irritation. It is a song of worship, guys, not a mantra!
So, when getting ready for for worship leading in a service, believe these thoughts and be sensitive both to the Spirit and also to those in the people attending church. You are called to lead worship, not perform and not torture. In the end less is usually more when it comes to worship leading.
For Fantastic Worship Leading Training Compiled Especially for Worship Leaders visit Amazing Worship Leading Training Resources.