The task of worship leading can best be understood by imagining yourself as a tight wire walker. Twenty feet above ground, a 5/8 inch copper cable is wired between two platforms. In order to maintain balance, a walker must keep their centre of gravity directly above the wire. Helping them is a long, flexible balancing pole sometimes weighted at each end, enhancing the walker's ability to stay center. Tilt the pole too much one way without a corresponding corrective and - off the wire goes the walker! It's the same for worship leaders.
In order to faithfully walk the wire of corporate worship, they need to understand the importance of correctly maneuvering the balancing pole in order to stay true to the Centre. Without learning the skills needed to steady these opposing weights, a leader along with their congregation, can quickly fall into fanaticism, subtle idolatries and division. Here are a few of the major tensions worship leaders and congregations need to balance:
Tradition and Change
By tradition I'm not referring to something old or outdated. I've been to churches barely past their three year birthday that have well established traditions already ingrained. Rather, traditions are practices a congregation have adopted that give expression to their identity and uniqueness.
Traditions are good, but they can become a source of stagnation if they are never re-evaluated. We worship the living God, a dynamic personal God whose business is transformation. Never to consider a new way of thinking and doing is to deny the very God we worship. However, constant change leaves a congregation in a state of insecurity and chaos with no one quite sure of what will happen next. The challenge of worship leaders and congregations is to maintain a balance between tradition and change.
Theological Reflection with Experience
For some strange reason, we seem believe theology and experience are totally incompatible. The truth is good theology is weighted on the same pole as good experience. The two are made to balance and complement each other. Without solid theological reflection, we worship our unchallenged and sometimes misguided notions of God. Without experience, we are like an armchair tourist who has seen the ocean in travel magazines but has never actually felt the salty water on their face. Jesus said true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth. We can't have one without the other.
Structure with Anti-structure
Another tension is what Thomas Troeger and Carol Doran call "structure and anti-structure" (Trouble at the Table: Gathering the Tribes for Worship, Abingdon Press, 1992). Structure is the bones of our worship, the form and order, the regular elements included in our service because of their theological and pastoral significance. Like with tradition, structure communicates a familiarity that frees worshipers to participate wholeheartedly.
Anti-structure are those moments that are more elusive and mysterious. These are the holy moments we cannot structure, that move in and out of various parts of the service, reminding us we are worshiping One who is beyond our imaginings. Often worship leaders try to talk through these parts of the service, being unsure how to handle "anti-structural" moments. One of the best disciplines worship leaders can develop is that of silence, particularly as it relates to these times. Speech during these moments is not appropriate as it interrupts God's transcendent speech to us. If we attempt it, we usually end of saying something out of place like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Freedom with Order
Closely connected to structure and anti-structure is the balancing pole of order and freedom. Often we believe that any structured worship element is not conducive to the Spirit's work. This is an incorrect view. Christians confess that the Holy Spirit worked through inspired authors to write and record the Scriptures. Within its pages are many prayers and songs written and recorded for worship purposes. The same Spirit that caused early Christians to speak in tongues also brought order out of chaos. The Spirit is the creator and giver of both order and spontaneity. In this sense, good worship is like good jazz. You need to know the grounding chord patterns, rhythms and techniques in order to improvise well.
Like the tight wire walker, worship leading is not for cowards. It is a carefully balanced dance that helps us stay true to the Centre of worship, the Triune
God of grace.
by Major Brenda Smith
Christian Ministry and Worship Studies Instructor, William and Catherine Booth College