87 – Putting it all together: Starting to Lead Worship series
A weekly blog of Creative Ideas for Leading Worship
3 – Putting it all together
Starting to Lead Worship
This is the third of 10 updated posts that aim to give people new to leading worship the tools and confidence to get started. Experienced worship leaders will also find useful information in these posts.
The first 3 posts explore What’s in Your Toolbox? The last 7 posts provide guidance for Constructing a Service.
3 – Putting it all together
This post brings together the skills, experiences, and learning from the previous two posts, showing how they integrate into a meaningful ministry of worship leading, service, and community involvement. I show how my unique blend of talents supports preaching, music, design, technical work, and leadership – while also emphasizing the importance of balance, saying no to overcommitment, and giving back freely. Readers are challenged to identify their own unique “toolbox” of abilities to serve their congregation and local community.
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Introduction
This is the third post about assessing, acquiring, nurturing, and using your talents and skills to lead creative worship – and to support other aspects of ministry.
Using My Skills in Worship
Preaching and leading worship call on all my skills. My goal is to create services where prayers, music, children’s time, and the sermon work together as a coherent whole.
My decades of choral singing experience help me choose hymns – both traditional and new – that fit the service’s theme. My theological reading informs my sermons, offering the congregation fresh perspectives on the day’s Bible readings. Drama Christi experience helps me overcome my nervousness when leading a service.
Facebook, Posters & Programmes
Since October 2020, I’ve been posting service details on our congregation’s Facebook page: designing banner images, live-streaming services (now using YouTube). These posts help publicize our church and allow members who can’t attend to worship from home.
I also enjoy designing posters, flyers, and programme booklets for my choir Festival Singers and Drama Christi.
Commitments I Keep
I have two fixed weekly commitments:
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Sunday mornings at church – I arrive 30 minutes before the start (45 minutes if I’m leading), to help set up and run audio visuals for the service.
- Monday evenings at Festival Singers – 7:00 rehearsals in Newlands.
These commitments are non-negotiable. I make them because smooth-running services matter – technical glitches can distract from both worship and the preacher’s message.
Giving Back
I don’t charge for the work I do for the church, Festival Singers (where I’m also secretary), or Drama Christi. These groups have given me so much:
- The church provides a faith community.
- Festival Singers lets me learn and perform beautiful music.
- Drama Christi helped to shape me as a young adult – and now our son Alexander plays a leading role in the group.
Through my publishing business, I produce and sell resources – especially worship materials – that help ministers, worship leaders, and congregations. I also distribute the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust’s music in print, digital, and recorded formats.
Integrating Life & Work
At 66, I’ve found a fulfilling balance between my work, family, church, and choir involvements. I see this as a personal “ministry” of service to others. These parts of my life feed each other: music from Festival Singers makes its way into the Singing Group and sometimes into worship; book research for my publishing business sparks sermon ideas; and new theological insights flow back into the congregation.
The Power of Saying No
Maintaining balance means having the confidence to say no to requests that would stretch me too thin. A little pressure now and then is fine – but getting burnt out through ongoing stress and overcommitment helps no one.
I’ve declined administrative roles for the Lower North Island Synod and turned down offers to lead services at other churches, even when there was payment involved. My priority is serving my own congregation, especially during past times when we’ve been without a minister.
What’s in YOUR Toolbox?
Plenty of people I know are better at each individual skill I use. But no one else has my exact combination of abilities, creative energy, and experiences – and the same is true for you.
If you’ve been reading this series thinking, “I can’t do what Philip does,” you’re right – you can’t. And that’s the point. The question isn’t what I can do – it’s: What’s in YOUR toolbox?
What skills and talents do you have – or want to learn – that you can use to serve your congregation, church, and local community?
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The full content of this series and lots more worship ideas are included in my book The Creative Worship Leader’s Toolbox, available in print and eBook formats.
Ngā Mihi
Philip