Who is really the worship leader here?

Do you know who the worship leader is at your church?

No, it isn’t the guy in skinny jeans and funky shirt trying to look uber cool while singing at an octave no one else can hit.

The real worship leader is you!

It’s you and the other Christians in the pews who set the tone for one another more than the man on stage does.

When a visitor comes to your church service and can walk through the front door all the way to a seat in the sanctuary without as much as a smile or hello from someone, you’re all setting the tone … just not a good one.

As the visitor sits alone, still without a greeting, and then watches church members mumble their way through a worship service, you’re leading worship for him — just not in a good way.

As members stand, silently staring at the “worship team” as they sing, you’re squelching the suggestion for worship the singers and musicians are trying to encourage.

Our lack of engagement — with others and in the act of corporate worship — dampens the expression of worship in a church service like a wet blanket on smouldering embers; yet, our being engaged will stir others to participation more than the antics of a worship leader from a stage.

When blue collar Joe enthusiastically belts out a worship song in spite of being radically off key, chances are he’s inspiring at least a couple other men to join in singing with him.

When the family next to you stops whispering among each other and pours their hearts out in praise, the families around them are stirred to do the same.

When Tommy Cool Teen rocks out to the songs in church service, he’s unleashing a lot of other teens to be free doing the same.

The person or team on stage might guide us through a coordinated service, but it’s the engagement of you and me with one another, and toward God, that leads us into and through corporate worship more than most anything else.

Remember, worship isn’t something you go to a church building to find, it’s something you take there and share.

So when you “go to church,” are you leading others into worship, or hindering it?

Scotty