Minimum Distraction = Maximum (Potential) Worship - Part 2
“As we seek to lead the congregation in true worship, let's always be mindful that while we should try to do what we can to aide this, we can't make or force it to happen. True worship is a genuine, heartfelt response that is motivated by a desire to praise our Creator and Savior.”
How should worship be defined? How do you measure the quantity or quality of worship?
Well, it’s actually very difficult, isn’t it - because only God can assess and endorse the worship offered to Him by His children. And while we can get a sense of it, we need to be careful as we do it that we're not just focusing on externals.
In other words, if you are trying to get an idea, in your church setting, of whether or not you have been successful in minimizing distractions and maximizing worship potential, make sure you don’t only focus on the externals.
What do I mean by that?
Well, if during the worship time, most of the people in a pew have their hands raised and are showing expressions of deep joy or intensity, that could be a sign that those people are really worshipping the Lord with their whole hearts, in spirit and in truth.
However, it could also just be a sign of “most of the people in a pew with their hands raised and showing expressions of deep joy or intensity”. Simply put, this is because we cannot see the heart.
But don’t worry! As church piano players or worship leaders, we haven't been called to be “worship inspectors” who are meticulously looking around to see if everyone is worshipping as they should.
My point in saying these things is not to encourage you to get better at analyzing if people are truly worshipping or not - again, this isn't anyone's job. Rather, it is to encourage you to not place too much weight on external signs in a way that causes you to also think that those who are less expressive in a visible way are not truly worshipping the Lord. Both mistakes are to be avoided if possible.
I say this because I know it’s easy to look at certain people who are more demonstrative in worship, and think "oh, look at them - I must be leading people in worship well then." However, in my opinion, that's a narrow view, as worship is first and foremost a response of the heart - which may or may not result in certain outward expressions.
Having said all this, I think it’s safe to say as far as we’re concerned, that if we are doing our best to play in a way that is least distracting and doesn’t hinder worship potential, then generally speaking, we can assume, hope and pray that most people are worshipping as unto the Lord. And if not, it doesn’t really need to concern us, because that is between them and the Lord!
Full sounding, robust singing is most likely a good sign of heartfelt worship. Hands raised is also a legitimate worship response, along with many others we see in Scripture (yes even clapping hands is in there, for those of you who struggle with that). And also, let’s not forget that in addition to our responsibility to not create distractions, church members themselves are also responsible to worship “decently and in order”. This certainly doesn't mean robotically or without any emotion at all. It simply means we shouldn’t be drawing attention to ourselves as we worship, and some of that comes down to the dynamics of each church.
As we seek to lead the congregation in true worship, let's always be mindful that while we should try to do what we can to aide this, we can't make or force it to happen. True worship is a genuine, heartfelt response that is motivated by a desire to praise our Creator and Savior.
And let's also keep this foundational principle constantly in mind...
...minimum distraction = maximum (potential) worship.
Next week, we'll be looking at how godly communication affects our role as church piano players.
[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.
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