Should Christian congregations have an office of "worship leader?"

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ResidentAlien

ResidentAlien

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#1
Apr 21, 2021
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#1
In many megachurches, worship leaders have become routine fixtures. Oftentimes they preach or even teach between songs. This practice has had a trickle-down effect on many other smaller churches.

Voddie Baucham believes worship leaders have a "pastoral responsibility" and should have sound theology. The only thing he laments is that today's worship leaders aren't qualified for the office. His views can be read here and here. These articles supposedly quote Baucham's Question and Answers section of his website: voddiebaucham.org, but it's either been scrubbed or I can't find it.

There is no office of "worship leader" mentioned anywhere in scripture. Have we given them more power and influence than they should have?
 
JStates

JStates

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Jan 5, 2022
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"A higher plane," hehe
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#2
Great opening post. I usually attend very old-fashioned churches that use traditional hymns in their worship service. The church I hope to attend in TN does use guitar sometimes but it's not a band/rock band environment at all, still very classical/traditional in style.

"Worship leader" is often synonymous with "band leader" and it's definitely not a Biblical position. Is it anti-Biblical? I think that depends on whether the music is sensual and becomes a distraction from the Word, which should be the central part of the church service. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth, not in the flesh lacking a firm foundation. "Thy Word is truth."

Personally I would not attend a church with a contemporary worship service. And I kind of doubt the wisdom of having someone whose main role is "worship leader" as a main spiritual teacher. My reasoning being that musical people tend to be aesthetic/feeling types. Not that this is bad necessarily (and not to say that these types cannot be truth/Scripturally rooted) but we've got to be careful not to elevate feelings above Scriptural truth even when we don't like those truths. Feelings should never be the emphasis... there will be many times we don't feel like doing what is right, worshiping God, serving, living godly, etc.

The church I hope to attend in TN has a good approach. They are trying to get their children more involved in serving, whether it be leading the hymn service, taking offering, etc. I like this way of doing things better than having a dedicated worship leader.

However, a great deal of leeway is left up to churches themselves to arrange their own services, etc., so long as the way they do it does not contradict the Bible.
 
Nehemiah6

Nehemiah6

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Jul 18, 2017
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ResidentAlien said:
There is no office of "worship leader" mentioned anywhere in scripture. Have we given them more power and influence than they should have?
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Absolutely. This idea is completely unbiblical. But will anyone listen if you tell them?
 
Dino246

Dino246

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#4
Jun 30, 2015
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Y'all need to take a good look through the Old Testament on this matter.

1 Chronicles 15:22 Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.

While there is no "title" of worship leader in Scripture, there most certainly is a role of worship leader, as the verse above shows. Let's not make the error of rejecting a concept because the word doesn't appear; we'd have to toss 'trinity' if we go there.

Lots of congregations go overboard in this matter, while some don't do enough. What megachurches do is often irrelevant or even inappropriate in a small-church context, so we can't expect to import ideas from the former to the latter without careful consideration. There is nothing more or less spiritual about a large band, choir, and top-quality music. We would expect a large church to have a highly competent preacher; why is it wrong to have a highly competent lead musician with a position title (and a salary)?

We have no right to judge the qualifications of a 'worship leader' without knowing the person. Further, if their teaching is biblically sound, and it is approved by the local eldership, then we have no business judging that person.

By the way, personal preferences on music style are absolutely irrelevant to this discussion.
 
R

RichMan

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#5
#5
Why do they call what we call a song leader a worship leader?
Seems to me that the worship leaders I have seen are more into entertaining and less about leading the church is songs that have a message in them.
 
Dino246

Dino246

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RichMan said:
Why do they call what we call a song leader a worship leader?
Seems to me that the worship leaders I have seen are more into entertaining and less about leading the church is songs that have a message in them.
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Nehemiah6 said:
That's the whole idea.
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Lemme guess... neither of you is a musician who serves in their local church. Neither of you has ever actually spoken with a song/worship/music leader about their biblical knowledge or motivations. In other words, you don't have a hot clue, but are happy to toss around generalizations and slander others with no actual evidence.
 
R

RichMan

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#10
#10
Dino246 said:
Lemme guess... neither of you is a musician who serves in their local church. Neither of you has ever actually spoken with a song/worship/music leader about their biblical knowledge or motivations. In other words, you don't have a hot clue, but are happy to toss around generalizations and slander others with no actual evidence.
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Well, you would be wrong.
My wife plays the piano, I play the guitar and I have lead in song service in the past.
 
R

RichMan

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#12
#12
Dino246 said:
Golf clap. Then you should know better.
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Yes I do.
It is about leading the church in hymns that have a message, not loud upbeat music that gets people to waving their hands and dancing to the band.
That is not worship in my book. That is entertainment.
 
Dino246

Dino246

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#14
Jun 30, 2015
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#14
RichMan said:
Yes I do.
It is about leading the church in hymns that have a message, not loud upbeat music that gets people to waving their hands and dancing to the band.
That is not worship in my book. That is entertainment.
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Then either you have the wrong book, or don't adequately know the right one. I'd encourage you to do some homework on the different forms of expression of worship found in Scripture. Dancing, waving, loud music, and 'singing a new song' are all there. If you want to sing only hymns, that's fine, but you have no biblical basis for your criticism.
 
Magenta

Magenta

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#15
Jul 3, 2015
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#15
ResidentAlien said:
In many megachurches, worship leaders have become routine fixtures. Oftentimes they preach or even teach between songs. This practice has had a trickle-down effect on many other smaller churches.

Voddie Baucham believes worship leaders have a "pastoral responsibility" and should have sound theology. The only thing he laments is that today's worship leaders aren't qualified for the office. His views can be read here and here. These articles supposedly quote Baucham's Question and Answers section of his website: voddiebaucham.org, but it's either been scrubbed or I can't find it.

There is no office of "worship leader" mentioned anywhere in scripture. Have we given them more power and influence than they should have?
Click to expand...
My church could not in any way be described as "mega", but we have a worship team, and that team *gasp* has a leader. What the leader actually does I have not asked, though I have sat in during pre-teaching rehearsals while they were last-minute practicing, and the leader was guiding the other singers and musicians through tempo and key changes, how/when to end the song, etc. Years ago we used to regularly have about forty adults attending each week; since then we amalgamated with another church, planted a third church in a different neighborhood, moved locations to be more visible in our community, and grown substantially, but we still could/would not be considered "mega" by any standard. We sing modern praise and worship songs that stay with me throughout the week, and I love it :)
 
Nehemiah6

Nehemiah6

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Jul 18, 2017
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#16
posthuman said:
should it have no relationship at all?
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The Psalms would be common to both, but there would be no "worship leader" since the whole congregation would participate. See 1 Corinthians 12-14.
 
P

pottersclay

Guest
#17
#17
I believe a worship leaders responsibility is to lead the congregation in worship.
This is also in the greeting as well as setting the mood sorta speak.
He should also pray for the presence of God (joy) be felt and for Gods peace be upon them.
The Lord inhabitants the praise of his people.
 
JaumeJ

JaumeJ

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#18
Jul 2, 2011
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#18
That would be a perfect congregation, close anywho. God bl3ss you always.
 
ResidentAlien

ResidentAlien

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#19
Apr 21, 2021
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#19
JStates said:
Is it anti-Biblical? I think that depends on whether the music is sensual and becomes a distraction from the Word, which should be the central part of the church service.
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Is the "office" of worship leader prescribed in the scriptures? That's the question.
 
ResidentAlien

ResidentAlien

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Apr 21, 2021
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#20
Dino246 said:
Lemme guess... neither of you is a musician who serves in their local church. Neither of you has ever actually spoken with a song/worship/music leader about their biblical knowledge or motivations. In other words, you don't have a hot clue, but are happy to toss around generalizations and slander others with no actual evidence.
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I know Matt Maher, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and David Crowder; I don't know them personally, but I know what they're about—they're all Catholic loving ecumenists. These guys are all popular recording artists and are the ones (among others) influencing how song worship is supposed to be done these days.

My argument isn't so much against any worship leaders in churches that aren't effected by this phenomenon, but against the so-called office of "song or worship leader." And should they have the same responsibility as elders or teachers?
 
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