Engaging Your

Congregation in
Worship
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

Introduction

If the congregation is not involved, it's music, not worship.

We've been there, right?

We pick the best of songs, practice and rehearse them like crazy,
and then play them flawlessly on stage. Everything goes well,
there are no musical shipwrecks, and we're feeling wonderful.

Then, we take a look at the people and... there's... nothing! No

one seems to be singing... and you're left wondering why the
congregation is unable to get into the ‘brilliant’ set-list we are
delivering.

As a worship leader, nothing used to deflate me faster than an

unengaged congregation. Frustration, anger, misery,
disappointment... I'd feel all of that and more... I'd also drive myself
crazy later analyzing it all, trying to figure out what went wrong.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

While this doesn't happen to me so much these days, I can still

remember my rookie years when I went through it... often.

Experience and time are good teachers, I guess!

Leading worship is more about “engaging” your

congregation than it is about “amazing” them with your
worship leading brilliance. - David Santistevan

Sometimes the microphone can be a barrier between the

congregation and the worship leader. It's not too difficult for the
band to get so caught up with the technical and the musical that
the people begin to feel disconnected.

Leading worship is more about engaging with people than putting

up a great Christian performance, right?

It's more about connecting together with the Lord than belting out
the latest musical chops.

But how do we get to that special place of going beyond the

functional and grasping the relational?

These tips will help you:

 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

Engaging your congregation before

the session

1. Pray
Seriously, many of us pray and worship only when on stage—it’s
the swiftest route to spiritual bankruptcy.

Worship leaders should be earnest and intense prayer warriors in

private seeking the Lord’s voice every day—frequently and
regularly. If we don’t spend time with the Lord, we are setting
ourselves up for disaster.

And when we pray, we need to also take time to pray for our
community—the congregation which we lead in worship.

Apart from praying individually, it’s also great to pray for our church
as a team—during team rehearsals for instance.

The point is engaging your congregation begins when you are

preparing for the session itself.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

2. Tune in
There's a danger in trying to keep up with every new song churned
out by the worship music industry every day.

Frankly, it's a losing proposition considering the sheer quantity of

new material being made available every day!

We can easily get too busy looking for the next great usable song
and lose the voice of the Holy Spirit. The natural next step is losing
the congregation.

We need to be striving to keep up with the Holy Spirit instead,

listening to His heart and finding out what He wants us to sing.

If we tune into the Holy Spirit, our congregations will tune into the
worship.

Engaging your congregation is ultimately dependent on Him, not

you and I.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

3. Imagine
How about spending some time in some much needed reflection
and (re)thinking?

I am talking about visualizing our people’s expectations and

experiences by putting ourselves in their shoes.

We have to know the people we're leading. The more we

become students of our audience the better we'll be able to
lead them. – Worship Rocket

Sometimes, it's not a bad idea to just walk into the place where we
lead worship and stand where they stand, sit where they sit and
look at the stage from where they are.

Do this to get some fresh perspective on our worship sessions on

engaging your church.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

4. Listen
How about talking to the people on our worship teams?

Asking them what are potential causes of disengagement and

discussing possible solutions to overcome them is a fantastic
leadership practice—sadly ignored by many worship leaders.

Each member is different, bringing different skills, gifts and

personality type into the mix. But when they work together,
they produce something greater than the sum of the parts.
- Jon Nicol

As much as we hate to admit it, we don’t have it all together—we

need help—and there’s nothing wrong in taking help—especially
from the very people we are ministering with.

I strongly believe, the people we are serving with can bring in

useful ideas on engaging your church in congregational worship.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

5. Consider the song mix

Do you also consider the needs of the people when you're
choosing songs for worship? Or is it simply, "I like the song, so I
will use it"?

Traditional hymns, familiar classics, a new song, and so on... have

a good mix of songs.

Let’s not become one trick ponies that can only pick and play one
particular type of songs.

Good set-lists tend to have something for everyone.

Additionally, consider the following questions too:

▪ Look at the lyrics... are they making sense?
▪ Are the songs fitting into the overall theme of the day?
▪ Are the lyrics worth singing together? Worth singing to
our Almighty God?
▪ Are the songs appealing to the culture and tradition of
our Church?
▪ Are the lyrics able to teach Godly truths and explore the
Gospel?
▪ Think about how people of different age groups would
feel about the lyrics that we are singing; would they
make sense to everyone?

The right mix of songs has a lot to do with effectively engaging

your congregation.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

Engaging your congregation during

the session

6. Smile
Sounds too simple? Maybe it is.

But a major turn-off for people is to see a stiff worship leader going
through the motions.

You may possess fine technical / musical / vocal skill, but it’s of no
use without a sense of connection.

Please smile, express happiness to be there worshiping with your

people and ask them to smile at each other too—after all, we are
supposed to be a community of brothers and sisters worshipping
together.

And while you’re at it, please open your eyes and look at your
people.

The more you keep those eyes tightly closed, the more aloof you
appear to be, preventing you from engaging your congregation
well.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

7. Focus on engaging
It's critical to work on connecting with our congregations over and
above just musical excellence.

Our musical artistry and pastoring of people need to work

together to create an environment that welcomes
participation instead of causing disengagement.

So don't just stand there and go through your set-list like a robot.

Do you have moments to pray, read scripture, be in silence during

your worship session? Or it is just song after song after song?

It's darn easy to go through a set like a musician playing a paid gig.

We on the other hand, need to be thinking more about drawing

people into worship.

Learn to speak to your church, open your heart to them, tell them a
scripture verse, your struggle, your aim for that session etc.

Remember we are in this together; it's never 'us and them', but
always 'we'.

Pro-Tip: Take a video of one of your sessions and watch it later

with your team; you will easily figure out most of your areas of
improvement—including how to better engage your church!
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

8. Use familiar songs

This is probably the no. 1 hurdle that comes in the way of
congregational engagement: they don't know the song!

It’s no big secret that worship leaders and musicians learn songs
faster than the average congregation, right. Unfortunately, we also
tire of songs quicker, and so we keep choosing more new songs,
thereby successfully compounding the problem!

Meet them where they are and then take them to newer songs.

If your people are elderly, throw in a hymn too now and then. To
repeat an earlier point—let there be something for everyone in your
set-list.

If you must use new songs, follow The Beehive Hack, take time to
teach the new song, repeat each section many times when playing
it for the first time.

Be patient with people and don't have more than one new song in
a set-list. Maybe two at the most if the songs are simple enough.

As a rule of thumb, more familiar songs and the least number of

new songs is the better way to go to improve how you engage your
people.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

9. Let them sing

Extend some sections of the songs—maybe the chorus or the
bridge or a few key lines in the verse by repeating them one or two
times more than usual—stop playing / singing and invite your
people to sing instead, thereby creating what we can call
congregational solo moments.

Not only does your congregation get to hear themselves, it

can be nice to give everyone's ears a break from hearing
your band's wall of sound... This puts a healthy sense of
pressure on them to sing. - Tommy Walker

You'll enjoy this as much as them, trust me!

Another alternative is using responsorial songs where the worship

leader sings a line, and the people sing something in response to
it. Songs like "You are worthy of my praise", "Hallelujah glory", "He
is the Lord (show Your power)" and so on.

10. Balance your sound

• Check your volume level, is it too high or too low?

• Are the vocals heard well above the musical instruments

• Is the drummer pounding away too much?

• Is the electric guitarist overplaying all over the song?

 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

If people are unable to hear themselves, they won't feel like

singing, it's as simple as that.

Work on setting a comfortable and balanced sound.

11. Infuse dynamics

Is everyone playing together at the same time from the start to the
finish of every song? Is yes, then, there's a problem.

Stop thinking like a musician and put on the attitude of an

arranger.

A good worship session needs to have some quiet intimate

moments as much as those high anthemic moments. Too much of
both is bad.

Figure out which instruments need to be playing in which sections.

More importantly, figure out when they don't need to be playing! If

there are no valleys, there would be no mountains, right?
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

Engaging your congregation after

the session

12. Invite feedback

Hang around after the gathering, walk around and get a feel of
their experience during worship.

Being an introvert myself, this doesn't come naturally to me, but

I've worked on it over the years and it's a lot easier today!

Talk to people in the hallways, in the seats, etc. Leave your

green room and engage. Be a culture shaper. - Jeremy
Armstrong
Listen dispassionately to their views whether you agree or disagree
with them. You can always evaluate everything later with your
team.

13. Thank
And most importantly, don’t forget to thank
▪ your people for being there and for their participation
▪ your worship team for serving with you
▪ the Lord

Worship as a ministry is highly pastoral though people see the

musical side of it more. Connecting and engaging with people
should be among our topmost priorities.

Let’s remember the opening line of this article: If the congregation

is not involved, it's music, not worship.
 ENGAGING YOUR CONGREGATION IN WORSHIP

Hope you enjoyed reading these tips and they help you engage
better with your congregation.

Stay tuned for more resources, God bless you.

www.spreadworship.com

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