• Menu

Worship Wednesday: It’s Not About Me

I came across something yesterday that concerned me. It was a blog post written about some things that this particular author doesn’t like about worship music in our churches. She meant well… but in a way, her well-meaning words came across as criticism to worship leaders. Then the comments just added to the fire, as others started to add their “pet peeves.” (But let me emphasize this… I really like this author and I guarantee that her intent was positive.)

The post (and the comments) gave me a desire to talk about something that has been on my heart for a long time. Criticism of leadership decisions is one of the greatest problems in our churches today. The “I” syndrome. We all think we know the answers to why people aren’t connecting with God during the services. “We need to add more hymns.” “It’s TOO LOUD!” “It’s not loud enough.” “Too contemporary.” “Too much tradition.” “Too much repetition.” Etc… etc… etc…

And we all do it. We all judge. We all critique. The question is… Are we spending more time critiquing than focusing on our Creator God?

If we believe we are serving in the church where God has called us, we’ve got to let go of our criticisms of the “stuff” (what I lovingly call the tools we use) and just worship. Trust that the person on that stage leading us is who God has placed in our lives. And by the way, that worship leader (who is not perfect… just like the rest of us) is listening to God, trying to lead the way God is calling him to lead. He could use some encouragement for being willing to serve in the way God has called them. Too often our worship leaders hear what people don’t like… but they never hear a positive word.

Maybe our fix-it mentality comes from a trust issue deep down. Or maybe we would just rather have some control. What do you think?

Back to the blog post I was talking about… one comment stuck with me: “The only ‘bad’ worship services I’ve ever been in are the ones I enter critical, resentful, or sinful. Every time I seek God’s face and hallow His name, the worship service is good!” Amen. And the same is true for me. Before we can have any concept of what worship at church “should be” we must be spending time in genuine private worship. I’ll be talking more about private vs. corporate worship in weeks to come.

So for this week, just think about this: Do you spend more time actually worshiping? Or critiquing how worship is done in your church? My challenge to all of us is that we will seek God’s face this week and find His leading in our own private worship. Wouldn’t it be amazing if every person on the worship team and in the congregation worshiped so much during the week… that when we all came together on Sunday, it was truly all about Him?

Here’s a great song reminding us that it’s all about Him:

Want to start a conversation about what God is teaching you about worship? Join us!



Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

12 comments