We Are Worshiping On the Wrong Side of the Table

I’m a struggling worship leader.

I’m not poor or unable to find places to lead worship. I just struggle with the tension in worship leading.

For years, I have learned how to set the table for people to come to worship. Setup the right mood lighting, pick the right type of music, dress this way, talk that way, and people will come back to the meal you prepared. It’s like you are setting the environment for a nice restaurant, and you are just hoping you can serve a course that is so unforgettable, the people will come back week after week.

But maybe in churches, we have been guilty of sitting on the wrong side of the table. What if we stopped expecting to get your needs and wants met in every worship service we attended? What if we stopped obsessing over the service we were receiving and started focusing on the service we are offering?

We have turned worship into where we sit down at the table to be served by the people on stage. We ought to be on the other side of the table as the server presenting our very best to Jesus.

In our worship services, we have sound, lights, and video. The air is set to a specific temperature. The chairs are padded. The service is engaging. We make sure we are organized and ready to go. We can setup the environment. Our team can put on a great service, no doubt. I am surrounded by some of the most talented people you will ever meet.

But a fundamental shift will happen when you stop leading worship in order to make your attendees raving fans of your creativity and talent, and you start leading worship in which God is the raving fan of what the church as a whole offered.

For then, and only then, will worship stop becoming about us and finally become all about Him.