Why Worship Leaders Should Spend Time in the Word
“Somebody told me something the other day. I don’t know if it’s in the Bible, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was…” That’s a real statement I heard recently from a real pastor during a real sermon. Then he went on to state what he wasn’t sure was scripture or not. That’s crazy to me.
Similarly, I knew a worship leader several years ago who after almost two years of leading together, I never once heard use scripture. She would say things that were based in scripture, or things that were true, but never things the bible actually said. That’s crazy to me too.
Of course, the first example is less common. Most pastors I know cite their sources, but the second example I find to be very common among worship leaders – they don’t always know the bible. Today, I want to challenge you to be different.
I fear our churches are becoming more and more bible illiterate because our pastors and leaders are becoming more and more bible illiterate. As a worship leader it’s not only important that you spend time in worship, it’s also important that you spend time in the Word. We can’t lead our churches effectively if we don’t. We can’t lead worship effectively if we don’t.
Don’t misunderstand. I don’t expect everyone to have a doctorate in biblical languages or anything like that. I certainly don’t. But we are not leading to the best of our ability if we are not using the tools God has given us to lead with - especially the Bible.
Very practically, there are two areas the Word can help us as worship leaders: worship and leadership. (I bet you didn’t see those coming…)
In Worship
Scripture tells us the story of God and man - the history of God if you will. It opens our eyes to see the truly unfailing love that we sing and speak about so frequently. It shows us that God is unchanging. It gives us glimpses into His character, His goodness, His promises and more. It helps us to look beyond ourselves and even our lifetime to see why God is the only one worthy of our worship.
Going to scripture allows us to not only worship God for what He’s doing in our generation, but also for what He did in the generations before us and what He’ll do in the generations beyond us. By going to scripture, we can continue the praise of the Israelites being set free (Moses’ Song in Exodus 15) and we can join with the angels singing holy, holy, holy through eternity (Revelation 4).
Scripture opens our eyes to who God is and how He engages with His people, it gives us reasons to worship and it expands our knowledge of God. If we are missing out on the Word, we miss out on furthering our knowledge of God and that limits our worship. We can only worship Him to the extent that we know Him.
In Leadership
Our bibles contain thousands of years of insight, of wisdom. I don’t know about you, but as a leader wisdom is what I pray for most.
Proverbs 2:1-6 says, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding – indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
King Solomon, the writer of the proverbs and known as the wisest man to have ever lived, thought it incredibly important that his sons seek wisdom. So important in fact that he wrote them a book full of practical wisdom to learn from. We have access to the same book every day. If the wisest man to have ever lived thought it was worth writing, I think it’s worth reading.
Beyond the proverbs we find the stories of the leaders of God’s people. We find the teachings of Jesus. We find the ministry of Paul. All of which will make us better leaders. As Solomon said in verse 6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Where better to get His wisdom than from His Word?
Wise leaders are leaders worth following. Wise leaders speak truth. Truth comes from knowing the Word of God.
As worship leaders, we have a responsibility to our churches to lead with wisdom and understanding. We have a responsibility to know who the God is that we are leading our people to worship. We can’t do either of those things without spending time in scripture.