Ten Reasons Every Church-Planting Team Needs a Worship Leader

Many Evangelical Christians have a very truncated understanding of worship. When asked to define it, they respond, "It's singing," or "It's praising God." Worship, from a biblical perspective, is far more than merely singing or praising God in the assembly of the saints (as right and wonderful as that is).

For years now, I have collected definitions of the word. One of the best I have found was penned by Dr. Bruce Leafblad. I have expanded it slightly and hope that it will provide a framework for our understanding:

Worship is both an event and a lifestyle in which believers, by grace, center their mind's attention and their heart's affection on the Lord, humbly glorifying God in response to His greatness, His mighty acts, and His word.

One might also ask, "What is a worship arts leader?" This is someone who is uniquely gifted, called, and trained to lead the people of God into the presence of God. I incorporate the word "arts" into the role because, both historically and biblically, all the arts have played a major role in corporate worship. They should, therefore, continue to play a major role, especially in the cross-cultural church-planting context.

As those committed to church planting, our strategies and practices must be built on firm, biblical foundations. Much work remains to be done to better understand the implications of worship in regard to our theology and missiology. I humbly submit to you the top ten reasons every church-planting team needs a worship arts leader.

Every church-planting team needs a worship-arts leader because.... Read More

Every church needs worship leadership, which may differ in form from church to church.