Worship Leading- How Long?

By Author: Darin Browne
Total Articles: 13
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When worship leading one of the significant decisions you confront, indeed one of the greatest points of disapproval for worship leaders in general, is how lengthy the worship time must be. A second and related question is, How long must you leave people standing?", which will be deal with in another post

The primary thing to mention is that we worship leaders come from a different perspective to most of the worshippers, and also the pastor. We love to worship, it is our interest and that's why we became worship leaders in the first place, so as far as we are concerned, lengthy worship times are just first-rate. Nevertheless, not all the people in church share our interest, so for many of them the worship time is the introduction act to the most important show, which is the preaching. Most pastors feel this way too, because to their perspective, the preaching is the most important part of the service.

When you are called to worship leading you may consider that your most significant job is to lead people into worship. That's not exactly true: it is your most important job, but it is not the most significant ...
... role! The most significant job is to serve, the Lord, the pastor and the congregation. So, as a general principle, if a large number of your worshippers, and your pastor consider the worship service was too lengthy, then it almost certainly was!

I have written hundreds of pages on worship leading in my manual Worship In A Nutshell, to educate realistic, useful and easy to apply techniques that will change your worship leading starting the very next time you lead. I would now like to share an extract of that discussing this very question...

1. Length of worship service
While we all want to be compliant enough to allow the Lord to work in our church service, we cannot escape the fact that everyone has an opinion as to how lengthy a worship service must be. Be aware that worship leaders and musicians will continually consider it needs to be longer, while many of the worshippers consider it ought to be shorter. Most churches I visit have very lengthy worship times, which look like survival tests or in some cases even torture as people are forced to stand with their hands in the air for hours.
To be seated during one of these sessions seems to express either frailty of lack of spirituality! The reality is it almost certainly conveys cramps and commonsense. Any fool could see that this is not appropriate, but apparently not some worship leaders, who continue to protract worship times to the max.
One time I ministered at Hills Christian Life Center, the Mecca for Aussie musicians (do we all face Hills when we pray?), and saw Darlene lead worship. It lasted 20-25 minutes. Shock, amazement! They were immediately into the Lord's presence from the first song, and they did not prolong the worship as some do for over an hour. This must speak volumes to those of us who lead worship. Worship needs to be ENJOYED, not ENDURED!
So, in the name of time management and common sense, here are a few techniques on timing in worship:
1. Start on time:
Regardless of how many or how few are in the room, START ON TIME. This may not be applicable in some 3rd world churches when people travel hours on foot to be there, but for the rest of us, let's get it correct and start on time. It is not a concert, and you are doing this as unto the Lord, so it must make little difference how many are in the room. To start late and then infringe on the pastor's sermon time is an affront to the pastor.
2. Be all set to decrease the duration of the worship time.
You are there to be a servant, not a celebrity, so at all times be the first to volunteer to cut back. If something else goes overtime, you must volunteer to diminish what you are doing. When I lead worship at Bill Newman meetings, if time is tight I am always the first to volunteer to cut back, because that's what real servants do! And, at least half the time, Bill kindly refuses the offer and asks me to sing my full quota of songs. You see, there is a blessing in serving a Man of God!
3. Have a couple of songs up your sleeve:
It is frequently a good scheme to have a couple of songs in reserve, just in case you want them. So, when you choose the songs for the service, you don't have to play them all!
4. Don't get locked into a programme:
Be compliant enough to modify songs, remove songs or even add songs if the Spirit leads. I am constantly cautious of the printed orders of service. At times they are timed, which is even scarier! Now, I know we need some sort of order of service, and that everything needs to be done in orderliness, but let's not surrender the move of the Spirit on the altar of an orderly programme! If something happens, we need to be free to change.
5. When do you stop the worship?
I always tell the pastor, "Please come up on to the platform at any time for any reason and feel free to take over." I am question to the pastor, so whenever he is good and ready (or if he feels things have changed) he needs to feel free to stand up and join us in worship or take over. Once more, it is all about being a servant, not having your own way!
6. Ask yourself, "How many times do we want to do this song?"
One of the most repeated criticisms of worship leaders is that they repeat songs or sections of songs to the point of aggravation. It is a song of worship, guys, not a mantra!
So, when getting ready for for worship leading in a service, consider these techniques and be sensitive both to the Spirit and also to those in the congregation. You are called to lead worship, not perform and not torture. In the end less is usually more when it comes to worship leading.
For Fantastic Worship Leading Training Compiled Especially for Worship Leaders visit Amazing Worship Leading Training Resources.