5 Keys For Effective Congregational Support In Worship - Part 2

September 25, 2025•5 min read

"Worship leading should never be about you listening to me sing a song and play my instrument, joining in as you can, or about watching a worship band “perform”. Rather, worship leading is about doing what I can to support and serve you as the congregation, in recognition that you are the main instrument."

Last week, we began a new series looking at the subject of cultivating effective congregational support in worship.

Covering the first point, we were reminded that it's important to know and understand the role you play.

The next point, then, is...

Lead by serving and serve by leading

I personally love this principle. Sadly, it's so foreign to the world outside the church walls, but it’s so rooted in the character and nature of Christ who Himself came not to be served, but to serve.

This is a church leadership principle first and foremost, as those who lead in the church do so as servant-leaders, modelling their leadership after Christ.

However, the principle still applies in other situations, such as in our role as church piano players.

What this means then, is that we will always do the best job in leading when we are willing to truly serve, and put the needs of others above our own, seeking to do what is best for the church as a whole rather than what we prefer or desire to do for our own gain.

One example of this would be not only choosing your favorite songs, because that would be a selfish use of your role, rather than a servant-hearted view that seeks the best for the church as a whole.

So how do we lead by serving? Well, we do that which best helps the congregation to worship with minimum distraction. A few examples would be doing what we can to help them sing the songs well, and easily, without being hindered by bad timing, lots of wrong notes, poor song selection, or keys that are too high to sing.

To lead by serving means that we take a fully supportive role in relation to the congregation. One of the most important things we must understand and acknowledge, is that the congregations' collective voice as they sing is the main instrument in the worship service.

That’s so important to understand, and you can tell when a church doesn’t understand it. This is normally when they've set the music up in such a way that you never hear anyone in the congregation sing, because the other instruments or lead voices are too overbearing. That’s a situation we really want to avoid at all costs because we can’t truly have and experience congregational worship if we can’t actually hear them sing.

Worship leading should never be about you listening to me sing a song and play my instrument, joining in as you can, or about watching a worship band “perform”. Rather, worship leading is about doing what I can to support and serve you as the congregation, in recognition that you are the main instrument.

We lead by serving, but paradoxically, we also serve by leading. This means that we do recognize that most of the time, in our role as church piano players, we are the horse, not the cart. Of course, there is the rare exception when the voices of a congregation might be so overpowering, in a good way, that you just have to follow along. However, for the most part, you serve best by leading in such a way that helps the congregation know when to come in, where they’re going, and when they’re finishing a song too. And all these things are helped with simple playing techniques which we're looking at in this series. Playing like this best serves your church and helps them to worship with minimum hindrances.

Be sensitive to each song's style and lyrical content

As we’ve discussed when looking at song selection in previous posts, there are many varied types of songs in different styles and genres, and it’s important, as church piano players, that we reflect that variation in the way we play.

For example, we don’t want to play a very jubilant, victorious song like it’s a reflective song at someone’s funeral. Neither do we want to play a verse that speaks about the suffering of Christ as if it was the finale chorus of a resurrection hymn, because the music and the content won’t match the way they should.

Just be aware of what the words are that are being sung, and be sensitive to that as you play.

And always remember the foundational principle...

...minimal distraction = maxium (potential) worship.

Next week, we'll be looking at the final two points of helping cultivate effective congregational support in worship.

[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]

This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back from New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.

Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.