The goal of any worship service is to magnify God’s greatness and goodness in Jesus Christ in people’s hearts and minds (Ps. 40:3; 2 Cor. 4:6). We want people to walk away thinking, What a great Savior! and not, What a great leader, band, vocalist, etc.
But worship leaders aren’t invisible. We have to be the focus at some point in a service, or else we’re not really leading. So it’s more accurate to say that our goal is to make sure people focus on us at the right times and for the right reasons. Here are three ideas for making that happen.
Sing Songs that Say Something
Congregations will tend to focus on leaders when we don’t give them more to focus on—that is, when we sing and talk about how we feel rather than about what God has done and said. So rather than being impressed with the glory of Jesus and his substitutionary sacrifice for their sins, they’re wowed by the size of the choir, a cool guitar solo, the smooth mix, or their own passion. People are starving for the greatness of God, not the greatness of our music. And that greatness comes through most clearly in theologically rich, biblically faithful lyrics.
Say What You Need to Say
If I’m traveling on a road for miles until I make a turn, the nice lady in my GPS doesn’t remind me every hundred yards, “Keep going straight!” She simply lets me keep heading in the direction I’m going. It’s only as I approach a turn that she lets me know what to do. Similarly, we don’t need to say something between every song or constantly interject phrases while we’re singing. I generally take time to share one brief thought, Scripture, and application that will help people understand why we’re singing these particular songs.
Focus on Substance, Not Surface
If we really want to minimize the focus on the people leading worship, we need worship leaders who truly want Jesus to receive more glory than themselves. No change in technique, lighting, or structure is a substitute for a heart set on making Christ great in people’s eyes. That kind of attitude inevitably leads to facial expressions, body gestures, and verbal or musical contributions that take the focus off us and direct people’s eyes to the glory of God.
John Piper calls it “undistracting excellence.” It’s when we use our talents, gifts, and skills as mirrors to reflect the grace and truth we’ve received in Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 4:10-11). The result is that whenever people look at us, they see the One we’re worshipping.
