The Worship Leader

So I’ve been enjoying reading Bob Kauflin’s book, Worship Matters, which is directed to worship (in song) leaders.  Yes, I guess that’s what we have to call them. The truth is that all who are involved in the church service are our leaders in worship, that is, the preacher, the one who prays, the one who plays the guitar or organ, etc. I imagine the head pastor should be called the worship leader if indeed you are looking for someone to fill that role. Anyway, I did enjoy the quote Kauflin shared by D. A. Carson.

I would abolish forever the notion of a ‘worship leader.’ If you want to have a ’song leader’ who leads the part of  the worship, just as a preacher leads part of the worship, that’s fine. But to call the person a ‘worship leader’ takes away the idea that by preaching, teaching, listening to and devouring the Word of God, and applying it to our lives, we are somehow not worshipping God.”

D. A. Carson via Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters

I don’t want to be picky about the terms that we use these days, and I imagine it’s nothing to divide over, but they seem to be right. We are to worship God in all the things we do, and even through our actions, our loving our neighbor or enemies, we can be leading others in worship; in prizing God more than anything else. We probably are stuck with this term “worship leader” but let us not forget that we should all be leading others in worship of God, with or without a guitar in hand.