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Do you lead worship with your eyes open or closed?
When you lead worship or play in a worship team do you tend to close your eyes or leave them open? I have heard arguments for both but would be interested what you find most helpful...
Tags: eyes, eyes closed, eyes open
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brenda Hannah on -
Be intentional about what you do and how you do things. Most of the time, during really intimate times in worship I have my eyes closed, sometimes because of the hot lights, but most of the time, my eyes are closed during those times, but open when I am communicating something that needs to be conveyed eye to eye and I am trying to get a point across, I make eye contact. If people see that you are being sensitive and you are not staring at them to see if they are worshiping, I think that they are most likely not to feel self-conscience about it, if they are ones that have a hard time with raising their hands or singing out loud. Just be sensitive.
But mostly closed because during sensitive worship, it should be between you and the Lord, and when people see you worship they will. You don't need to watch, you have ears to hear what the Lord is saying, because that is what intimacy is, listening to the Lord. Now I am not saying never, just be sensitive, and open and shut your eyes and make sure that you are being consequence and sensitive of what is going on and that you are not missing it.
During the fun times of the service I have my eyes open, not to see how people are worshiping but to stay connected, there is a difference between drawing attention to yourself by performance, and connecting with people by your excitement of the moment. We encourage our singers to do the things that the musicians cannot do, if we are singing something like "Dancing Generation" and we are stone still and do not look excited to be there then your congregation will not engage. Our musicians are encouraged to be performance aware, but still have fun!
Your job as a worship pastor congregation is to help them engage in the praise, joy and intimate moments with the Lord. There is not just one way! Everyone's church and atmosphere is unique, and everything that we do is based on how to be Christ like.
Have fun in your worship. If you are meeting God in your worship, then close your eyes. A person told me once, that they liked that I was having a relationship with the Lord on stage, and I was not just up there to add hype, but to minister, and in that service I happened to be crying on stage during worship, and they told me because I released my self to be vulnerable to the Lord, it helped them break free from self, to enter in. WOW!
Brenda:)
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Permalink Reply by Weldon Hailey on -
.Phil, you oft times open up some interesting topics that have staying power. Forgive me for skipping some of the pages so might repeat what others of said, but.....There is a difference between being a worshipper and being a leader of worship. How can you lead worship with your eyes closed and you don't know whether anyone is following.
When God moved me to my current position I had the opportunity to watch a couple of other worship leaders at my current church. It is in the same town where I have lived for the last nine years and I had heard thru friends that the worship was dying and people were starving for something fresh. They were playing music from 15- 20 years ago exclusively, it seemed the more po-dunk the better. One leader in particular never opened his eyes and later when I asked him, he was so afraid that people would focus on him as opposed to the One we worship. It was truly the most un-inspiring worship I have witnessed. He was a great worshipper but did not engage the congregation one iota. My wife and I both thought that through his approach it was more about the congregation getting to witness someone worshipping
than being exhorted, encouraged, or even asked to participate.
As leaders we have to be aware of our surroundings, are people staring at a blank screen because the projector or projectionist is having a problem. do we need to ask people to squeeze into the middle between songs as the usher are having a hard time finding seats for everyone. If eyes are shut tight how can we possibly be on top of everything that is required of us. Time to be lost in worship is when you are having your own personal worship time, maybe during practice and things are going good I will spend some time, with verbal cues to the TEAM that, man let's just spend some time in the prescence of the Lord. Not that we shouldn't lead by being that example of worship, but we have a responsibility to be aware so that we can also lead by engaging the congregation in worship.
My .02 on am interesting topic, blessings
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Permalink Reply by Angelica Black on -
Eyes closed mostly, because I sing to an audience of one. Sometimes I open my eyes, depending on the song, the spirit, the level of ministry needed. I feel that I don't have the capacity to meet the needs of the people or to carry their burdens. Therefore, I minister to Him and He shows up and ministers to the people.
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Permalink Reply by Ashley Hutchins on -
It depends. If i'm really in the spirit, closed.
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Permalink Reply by Chad Joseph Mills on -
Yes when I lead worship I lead with my eyes closed...especially the more the Spirit takes control...and leads through me...Usually when we start the service my eyes are open however as we approach the throne...my eyes close....
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Permalink Reply by Vinod Cherian on -
Me, eyes closed mostly ...... But i believe as worship leaders it should be the other way around.
There are a lot of things associated with worship. We are a team, we need eye contact with our team members and with the congregation. We need to know what is going on, and be sensitive to the situation.
Another thing is, when the eyes are closed you can be your own, and let yourself free. It also helps when you are new and are working on your confidence.
Having said that, I believe worship leading is different that worshiping. A worship leader should be done worshiping in preparation for the service and be ready to lead worship. A shepherd cannot lead with his eyes closed. Sheep can follow with eyes closed. Yes there are times in corporate worship when you as a worship leader have to worship as well, but the point is, the first few songs or for the first half of the songs make sure your eyes are open and you communicate the words of the song to the people. Living in the country that i live in, my congregation always comes in with different levels of stress, strain, pain and issues. They may not be as prepared to worship as I am, so i have to usher them in, lead them to the throne.
Cannot do that with eyes closed.
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Permalink Reply by Weldon Hailey on
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Vinod, thanks, that's what I was trying to say above.
Being a worship leader doesn't mean you have to be the best worshipper in the building and yes we do sing for an audience of one, hopefully we are not a voice of one as we do it. We don't have to be best voice or have the best leadership skills, or even the most annointed , What we have to have is a calling to LEAD others in a worship journey that goes straight to the Throne Room of God. We have to understand that calling and have a God given vision for worship in your Body of Believers.
Blessings
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Permalink Reply by Tricia on -
It's really funny to me - well, actually not funny at all if I can be honest - that so many of us are adding to this topic without adding to the whole conversation.
Uh-oh, here I go. Onto the soapbox ...
If a really good conversation is like a game of tennis - with a volley involved - this feels like 60 separate tennis matches. Phil served it up (great Q Phil), but so many of us are just answering his original question without regard to any of the convos from page 2 to page 7 ...
I don't know why this bothers me today - maybe because it feels more like a poll instead of a discussion? Maybe it is technically impossible to have a discussion with more than 20 people (don't they say that about Bible studies and small groups?).
I dunno ... I am here at WTR to connect and learn, but the polling-place answers feel disconnected and ... arrogant. Like ... pick me, pick me, I have the answer! There, I said it. Don't throw stones. :D
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Permalink Reply by Tricia on
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BTW, I had nobody in particular in mind when I posted my previous comment. Particularly, Weldon, just b/c you are right before me doesn't mean I was pointing at you!!
Wanted to clarify that.
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Permalink Reply by Weldon Hailey on
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Hi Tricia,thanks for not pointing me out, but as I had already admitted I hadn't read all the middle pages, so I went back and did read them all (yeah). And I realized that I came off a little heavy handed, like it had to be my way, sorry. I know that there are many wonderful worship leaders on this site and if it works for them, God bless them mightily. I am truly passionate about leadership not only in the church but at my job also. By the way I do lead with my eyes open most of the time but try to limit eye contact, and I do close my eyes tight sometimes to get the tears cleared so we can continue,especially when witnessing God move amongst His people. Nothing better.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Rossi on -
I do a little of both.
One of the main reasons I keep them open often however is that I keep an eye on my pastor or a particular elder (we have an elder prayer after worship on Sundays). There have been a few occasions where my pastor has really felt led to come up and encourage the body in the midst of our worship time (not often, but when he does, he's been completely right!) Those few times, I've had my eyes closed or focused intently somewhere else and the opportunity may be missed. So, I don't know.. it think we should have the freedom to also be joining with the body in worship, however, we have certain roles, responsibilities, etc.
One other thing I saw in a few replies here was making eye contact with people. I do this purposely on Sundays as often as I can. I will often times quickly look across the congregation and will give a smile to one person, maybe a nod to another, or I make a mental note of some new people and make an effort to welcome them to our church later on after service.
I find my eyes close more when I'm really really passionate about the lyrics I'm singing and really expressing myself or my heart before the Lord and the congregation. Another occasion would be if I have us repeat a chorus with almost no instrumentation and just our voices. Having the entire room singing together in unison with just voice is very moving sometimes.
Either way, as long as we are doing what we do to give God the glory, I don't really feel that God has a preference. ;-)
May the music we play/sing be a sweet sound in His ear.
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Permalink Reply by Chad Joseph Mills on
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I really like what Brian had to say here. Your eyes being closed when you are singing a phrase or a lyric that you are passionate about is very natural...There are a lot of mixed feelings about this whole question...and I have learned a lot from all of your perspectives...but for me it all comes down to this...
God knows when I am performing...and God knows when I am leading worship...and whether my eyes are opened or closed...if I am in the wrong frame of heart (performing) well...those of you who are leaders...you know what I am getting at...
I pray for all of us...as we lead the congregations that God has entrusted us with...that we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth...
Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty...Who was and is and is to come ~ Kari Jobe
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