Worship Set: The Conversation

Putting together the perfect set for worship is an art form. This week let’s look at one approach to building a set: The Conversation.

I am scared that I will become a performer instead of a worshipper. It’s too easy to find myself going through the motions, aspiring to being a better musician with tighter production values, instead of following the Holy Spirit’s lead as I serve the congregation.

To combat this, I try to look at worship as a two way conversation with statements, questions and responses. The challenge with this is that the responses cannot possibly be planned by the person initiating the conversation. This is not a scripted play being performed on the stage; worship is an opportunity to commune with the Creator of the Cosmos and that means being ready to go with the flow.

I shared this with one person who argued that a certain amount of prep was required, which meant that there could never be 100% freedom. I pointed out that what he was saying was that God was only allowed to move between songs. He looked at me, mouth open, and has never led worship the same way since. Jeremy Riddle, in his book ‘The Reset’, points out that since letting the Holy Spirit take priority, not one worship set has gone according to plan.

Of course we can listen to the Holy Spirit in our planning. I often worship through my planned sets several times before leading them with a congregation. But I also accept that I am human and can mis-hear or use my own preferences as a filter that removes potential opportunities for God to move. So when I lead, I keep my eyes and ears open to what God might be doing and do my best to follow Him.

An example of a conversational set might start with declaring the story of Jesus - the song ‘King of Kings’ by Hillsong is a great way of declaring that we Praise God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The chorus of ‘Here I am to worship’ flows beautifully out of this declaration. We go from telling a story to taking part in the story ourselves - from looking at God to responding to Him.

Planning our worship sets as conversations ensures that we are encouraging worshippers to deepen their relationship with God as they worship, as active participants rather than as a congregation singing along to a performance. And that’s the goal - a gathered community worshipping God in Spirit and in truth.