An Open Letter to Worship Leaders
I’ll admit, I’m probably the last guy who should be writing to worship leaders. So, full disclosure, I’ve never led a worship team. I’m a mediocre singer at best. You’re not going to get a list of the top 10 ways to get get your congregation to engage in singing from me.
But, as a person who loves the church, let me share with you the burden of my heart.
Your position, whether you are a paid worship leader who has albums available to stream or you are just a person brave enough to sing loudly in your house church, is important. Paul tells us in Colossians that part of the way we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly is to “[s]ing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts,” (Colossians 3:16). We need the whole body of Christ to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs so that God’s message can dwell in us deeply. You are important to helping us do that.
Now, here’s my admonition:
The days ahead for the church are going to be difficult. I’ll let you interpret what I mean by that, but let’s just say for now that I don’t foresee the job of the church becoming easier and I don’t foresee the church’s position in society becoming more revered. I actually see the church becoming less revered and our job becoming more difficult. Paul says “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,” (2 Timothy 3:12) and I believe that will become more and more real in the days ahead.
Because of that, worship leaders, we will need you–yes you–to lead us in songs that prepare us for that season. What sort of songs prepare our hearts for that type of event? In my head, there are two emphases that will be important. We need to sing songs that tell of the greatness, glory, and beauty of Jesus and we need songs that emphasize the importance of faithfulness to Jesus in the midst of hard times.
Why songs that emphasize the greatness, glory, and beauty of Jesus? Well, we need to constantly remember that Jesus is the pearl of great price. No one lays down their life for things that aren’t of great value. It’s important for us remember over and over again what Jesus did and why he is worth our lives, whether that means a life lived for him in hardship or a life lost for him to physical persecution. Singing songs about the worth of Jesus doesn’t make him more worthy, it just causes us to remind ourselves that he is as great and glorious as we thought he was at first. If Jesus is more valuable than anything else we have, then laying our lives down for him is an easy thing.
What about songs that emphasize faithfulness to Jesus in the midst of hard times? I think its obvious why such songs are important. However, in our Western culture where very little physical persecution has happened, the theme isn’t often sung about and so we think about it less. In cultures where persecution is more prevalent, this isn’t the case. In fact, Paul quotes an early hymn when writing to Timothy in order to encourage him to be more faithful:
“If we die with him,
we will also live with him.
If we endure hardship,
we will reign with him.
If we deny him,
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny who he is.”
These were words that the early church used to sing to encourage each other to be faithful. We need to recover this ancient practice for ourselves today. Singing these types of songs won’t in and of themselves make us more faithful. There are plenty of people who sing songs about things they will never do. But as we sing them, we meditate on the importance of faithfulness in our walk with Christ and that will help us in the days ahead.
I never like writing without actionable advice, so before we close, let me list some songs that I find helpful in these two areas. You may not like their style, so I’m not saying you have to sing these songs, but these are examples of songs that make much of Jesus or stress the importance of faithfulness in times of trouble.
Songs About the Greatness of Jesus
When You Walk Into The Room by Bryan and Katie Torwalt
Jesus You’re Beautiful by Jon Thurlow
Songs About Faithfulness in the Midst of Trouble
Even Unto Death by Audrey Assad
The days ahead are going to be tough. My hope is you can become a part of strengthening the body of Christ for the days ahead. If we all do our part, we’ll all stand a little stronger and shine a little brighter when hard things come.
Photo Credit: Hands on the Keyboard by Puk Khantho
Skin in the Game: Leaders
This week I’ve been writing about the concept of “skin in the game” and how it relates to the Kingdom of God.
Today, I want to look at one of the most crucial areas for believers to have skin in the game: leaders.
Leaders are a funny thing in the body of Christ. Some people get angry that I acknowledge that they exist. Others get mad when I say that not everyone who calls themselves a leader is one. The truth comes down to skin in the game.
Yes, leaders exist. But not everyone who calls themselves a leader is one. Neither is everyone who is called a pastor, bishop, elder, or apostle a leader. Leadership is determined not by who has a title, but who is leading. The critical element to understand about leading is that it’s not primarily a title or a position. Leading is a verb.
Leading happens when people do something that others haven’t. Leaders are those who pave the way for others, allowing them to do what they couldn’t on their own. Because of this, only the people who have skin in the game are truly leading. It’s impossible to lead people in teaching the Bible if you have a weak understanding of what the Bible says. Only people with skin in the game can truly lead.
I could give a million examples of this, but let me start with one outside of the body of Christ.
Silicon Valley has been in the forefront of developing the technology that powers our smart phones, tablets, and the rest of our internet-connected world. These changes to society have particularly affected our children. However, when you poll those who are leading these changes to society and ask them whether they allow their children to have access to the technologies they develop, the answer is a resounding “no.” While these leaders profit from people being in front of “screens,” they know the harm that screens have on the development of children, and in a very real sense, they don’t have their “skin in the game.”
The opposite is true of every real leader in the body of Christ. In any way that a leader wants to make progress in the church, he or she must allow that work to be done in him or her prior to leading others. This costly process is the definition of skin in the game.
Christian leadership material abounds with admonitions to leaders that they must model the change they want to see. Leaders who want to see a group of people reach the lost must model the evangelistic heart they want to see others adopt. Pastors who teach submission to the body of Christ, must themselves submit, not just to a bishop or board, but to the body of Christ. Leaders cannot just tell the rest of body to serve. They need to serve and as they do, the body of Christ will respond and follow in their example of service.
Leaders can’t ask the body of Christ to do what they’re not willing to do themselves. Leaders can’t lead through slick speeches. That’s not leadership, it’s dictatorship. It lacks skin in the game. Skin in the game takes time, patience, and faith, and for those reasons, many make the mistake of pursuing other ways to lead. When they do, they step outside of God’s plan for His Kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, I leave this series the same way I started it:
“Have skin in the game.
Partner with others who have skin in the game.
Don’t waste a lot of time and energy on those who don’t.”
Photo Credit: Silhouette of People on Hill by Jehyun Sung
Skin in the Game: Evangelists
This week we’ve been looking at how the concept of skin in the game applies to the church.
Today, I want to look at how evangelists can have skin in the game.
For those of you who only think of loud preachers on television asking for money when you hear the word “evangelist,” let’s start with a definition. Evangelists are people who share the good news of Jesus with others with ease. Every Christian is called to be a witness to the greatness of Jesus. But not every Christian is called to be an evangelist. Evangelists are specially gifted to help people understand the Gospel and help other believers in the body of Christ share the Gospel. Most evangelists never get on camera or in front of a large crowd. Most quietly do their work of sharing the good news about Jesus in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces while helping the churches they are in get better at it as well.
While Evangelists love sharing the Gospel with lost people, they can have a tough time having skin in the game depending on their maturity level. Often evangelists are so at home with lost people that they are uncomfortable within the church. Church politics and religious veneers can frustrate evangelists who rightly understand that our emphasis should be on the good news of Jesus and getting it to the lost. Evangelists also sometimes struggle with discipling those that they lead to Jesus. Short conversations about the Gospel are easy for them. The long slog of helping a newly converted individual learn to follow Jesus over years of time is a lot harder for many evangelists.
So how do evangelists develop skin in the game?
The first thing evangelists should do is recognize that they need to be a meaningful part of the church. Even evangelists with traveling ministries should have long term relationships that function as church for them. The body is designed to need input from others with different gifts from ourselves. Evangelists are no exception.
But there’s another reason evangelists need to be involved with the church. The church needs them. As frustrating as the church can be at times, we need evangelists to pull us back to our call to be witnesses to the greatness of Jesus. This can be a frustrating process, but a mature evangelist knows they have much that benefits the church and will stay engaged in a church, not just for themselves, but for the good of the church. Remember, Paul tells us God gave us “evanglists…to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
Lastly, evangelists can have skin in the game by making disciples. One of the critical problems with evangelism is the lack of discipleship that often happens after a person has come to faith. Evangelists, as the people who have won someone to Christ, are natural candidates for discipling the new believers they have led to Christ. Some of these converts will naturally imitate their evangelistic mentors and become evangelists themselves. Others won’t and will struggle, and this is where a good partnership with pastors and teachers will help an evangelist struggling with discipleship. Regardless, it does us no good to lead someone in a prayer to receive Christ but not teach them how to follow Him. Remember, our commission is to make disciples, not converts.
Evangelists need the church. The church needs evangelists. But the greatest truth is that lost humanity needs evangelists with skin in the game.
Photo Credit: Baptismal Pool Prayer by Kaleb Tapp
Don’t Forget:
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Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 