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- Bringing Your Church to a Higher Level of Worship
Bringing Your Church to a Higher Level of Worship
- By Mark Cole
- Published April 1, 2008
- Leading The Congregation
- Unrated
Mark Cole
Mark is the "founding arranger" for PraiseCharts, having contributed over 350 arrangements to the catalog since 1998. Mark is a worship leader, arranger, songwriter, teacher and record producer. He has spent 18 years as a music pastor in three of the largest churches in Canada, and has lead evangelistic teams to over 40 countries with Living Sound and Charles Ndifon. Mark plays multiple instruments and has a Bachelor of Music degree. He has also produced several recording projects for various artists.You can find more information on Mark at www.praisecharts.com/markcole and www.markcoleworship.com.
- Start
where the people are. Begin with songs they know and love and worship God
with those songs. Gradually introduce new songs that especially lead people to
worship. Make sure that you, your musicians, and your sound people are doing a
good job musically with the songs.
- Be
a great role model for your worship band and congregation. People learn by
watching and if you’re the leader that means they’re watching you. Make
sure you’re just not leading songs but that you’re worshipping God as
you sing and play. Know the music so well that you don’t have to think about
it. Rehearsal time is for learning songs and worship time is for worshipping.
Be sensitive and loving to the people you lead. If they sense that you love them
and they feel God’s presence in the worship, they’ll be glad to follow
you.
- Ask your senior pastor to teach
on worship. As people realize that singing, shouting, clapping hands, raising
hands, instrumental music, bowing down and other acts of worship are in the Word,
they will be more open to doing it themselves. Encourage the other ministry staff
and your worship team to be great models of worship. People generally take their
worship cues from their leaders.
- Make sure your walk with the Lord is strong. Make sure your worship team’s walk with the Lord is strong. Are you spending daily time with God in prayer, reading the Word and loving people? God’s power in your worship time is directly proportional to God’s power in your daily life.
