Worship team freedom

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Permalink Reply by Wayne on July 19, 2009 at 4:19am

This is a cool question. And actually, I don't know if I/we have that kind of liberty. Thank you for asking this because I have been wondering about it and I will be asking my Pastor in the morning.

Blessings!

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Permalink Reply by Doug Barker on July 19, 2009 at 8:27pm

Well, this morning I stepped out of the norm a little bit. I had spent 2 days praying about what I felt God was leading me to do. Normally we do 4 songs and turn it over to the pastor to do the preaching. Today, we did 3 songs and then I shared about the significance of the 4th song ("I Worship You Almighty God") I then opened the alter to anyone who wanted to come to the front and either kneel or stand and just pray or worship. Quite a few people came down and worshipped freely. We then added another song which was not in the original play list and just took the time to let the Holy spirit minster to the congregation. What an amazing time. Afterwards as the praise band walked off the platform we were hugging, and praising God all around. We give God the glory for His presence in the service this morning. For me it was an awsome experience and learning to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Cogbill on July 20, 2009 at 3:31am

I think what you just described was a great thing. I'd love to see more of that, including at my own church. The only caution I'd add is to make sure your pastor is okay with it. Believe it or not, some pastors would turn something like this into a power struggle. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like that at your church!

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Permalink Reply by Mark J Rieger on July 20, 2009 at 12:29pm

I've been involved with worship for over 30 years. Although I am not currently leading worship on a full time basis, I have in recent past and would like to reply.

I've seen many different ways of conducting Sunday services. But the answer to the question you posed is going to determine the direction of the church. I'll say it again, the answer to the question, determines the direction of the church. Any church that turns the worship loose will experience an outpouring of the spirit and power of God, because he wants his church back. Doug's reponse is typical of what I have experienced anytime we go with the spirit and allow him to lead us. Any church that seeks to organize, order, dictate, or in any other way keep the worship "in it's proper place" will go forward with a certain amount of lack. Now I know I will probably catch some heat for that statement but for the past 9 years that I was actively leading worship, the power of God was realeased when the worship was released - when we stopped being concerned about how it looked or sounded, about how long it lasted or when the announcements would fit in, or the order of service or all of the many things that we do that consist of "worship" or "church" on Sunday mornings.

To be sure this is not something you just do. You MUST have the right people in the right place in order for this to work. Immaturity in any of the key positions will cause a disaster of various sizes and proportions depending on the individuals involved. Also you must maintain it. The altar of sacrifice in the tabernacle of Moses was lit by fire coming from the holy of holies when the tabernacle was dedicated. But it had to be maintained by the priests. You always have to guard freedom by watching for those who through immaturiy or lack of understanding would mishandle what is happening and derail the moving of the spirit.

In my past church the ministry team consisted of the pastor, the worship leader, all members of the worship team, the associate pastor, and any recognized prophets or intercessors who through consistent and obvious mature lifestyle before the Lord were recognized by the leadership as hearing from the Lord with accuracy and timeliness.

On Sunday mornings, the spirit led the service, it may have begun with a song or a word or a prayer depending on who the spirit wanted to use that morning but it was not managed or ordered beyond letting the spirit lead and flow. As a result each member of the leadership team had total freedom to move as the spirit directed. The results were out of this world. Now that was a small church of less than 70 on a Sunday morning. My previous church allowed the same type of freedom but with some 750 in attendence. The power of God that was released shifted the whole church into new levels of ministry and new directions.

I was leading worship a few weeks ago and the minister that invited me specifically stated that the worship was released to go in what ever direction the Lord wanted. The spirit only allowed 2 songs.....

it lasted for an hour and everything that happed after was under a heavy annointing because the Lord had come to church.

This type of freedom comes with a price. To achieve it requires mature broken people. People who have allowed their albaster jars to fall to the earth and shatter that the aroma of the spirit could be released. It is awesome, it is costly. The things of heaven always are. Only salvation and grace are free, everything else comes with a price. This type of ministry will cost us our versions of church and most of our views on how God moves. When we take the reigns off God will move but like Vivian Hibbert teaches, he stays too long, he talks too loud, he shakes too hard, and he smokes too much. In addition this type of freedom scares the enemy senseless. He will fight tooth and nail to prevent the worship from breaking out because he knows what will happen when it does.

Finally, please don't misunderstand. I am not suggesting that a church that does not have or allow this type of freedom is wrong or missing God. Each pastor, each ministry, each leadership team is responsible before the Lord for what happens in their church. None of us can dictate how or when or why the Lord moves in certain ways and he is on the throne. I only hope and pray that as things go from bad to worse in our nation and the world around us, that the church will respond by seeking God fully with open hearts to hear from him, however he chooses to respond.

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Permalink Reply by Rachel Dwinal on July 20, 2009 at 1:10pm

I truly believe that whoever your pastor is there needs to be a constant communication between the worship leader and the pastor. God has annointed both of you for the purpose of lifting him up in the church. You working together to achieve God's vision is pivitol. I have built a wonderful relationship with my pastor so if there is a point where I feel the spirit is leading I will know if the spirit is leading her in the same direction. So I don't necessarilly agree that the service belongs to the worship leader until the time of the sermon. The service belongs to the spirit and as long as both you and the pastor are in communication with each other and in communication with God you will know where the spirit is going.

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Permalink Reply by Lori Cerdeiros on July 27, 2009 at 9:54pm

Amen Preacher Girl!!

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