THE WORSHIP LEADER AS UNIFIER

The picture of ‘every nation, tribe and tongue’ in Revelation is a beautiful and powerful picture of the Body of Christ in worship. Have you considered that as a worship leader, you are uniquely positioned to unite people of different ages, cultures, genders and preferences?

Each week we lead people of different ages, cultures, backgrounds, preferences, musical tastes and levels of maturity in worship of God. With so much uniqueness, we can easily forget what is most important: we are one church.

Music is one of the fastest ways to either unify this congregation of diverse believers (and explorers) or divide it.

When you lead people in singing, you are not just choosing songs – you are stewarding unity. You are helping strong and weak believers stand in the same room and sing the same truth to the One True God.

You are modelling deference; preference surrender; joyful participation despite difference.

You don’t build unity by playing one demographic's favourite song – you build unity by helping everyone see Jesus as better than their preference, and help people see the value of “every nation, tribe and tongue” worship. You build unity by helping people cross the aisle and worship in a language that is not their heart language. You build unity by helping people celebrate and engage the worship style of a brother or sister who is different from them.

So whilst we may be more confident in our own language, in our own style, in our own genre, we don’t have the luxury of staying in our lane of preference. As worship leaders, we have the responsibility of creating a space where ‘every tribe and tongue’ is represented in our worship time.

Reflect

• Do I consider other age, gender, race or cultural demographics in my worship planning?
• Do I model joyful participation even when it’s not my preference?
• Do I have enough people in my circle to fully understand others, or do I need to intentionally pursue relationships with people who are different to me?