i am an offering | blog tips for worship leaders in the local church

On Wednesday I shared that I have the great privilege of being able to lead worship in a small group this coming Sunday for the first time. I’ve never done it before, and am a bit nervous to do it (which is good, that helps me rely on God and not myself!), so I asked a few questions asking for others’ experience. Josh shared some great thoughts:

• (on picking songs for small group setting) pick songs that are still comfortable in a small group setting. The big-venue, large audience songs don’t fare so well (think big Hillsong songs, some Charlie Hall, etc). Songs that encourage more personal worship are better suited as well.
• (on breaking the ice for people who aren’t use to worshiping in small groups) This one’s a hard one, and I don’t have an answer, but I’d say the more you sing, the more open the group gets. I’d also say the more free you yourself are to worship, the more your group will be encouraged to follow suit. As for the second question, yes! People that are comfortable singing in a small group (or alone) will sing more freely in large groups.

Thanks for your thoughts, Josh. The more I think about this, the more I realize that I’m not really ready to answer these questions yet, as I’ve had no experience. We’ll revisit this topic in a couple of months and see how things are going.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in leading worship for small groups, you might want to check out this book. My copy’s on the way and I’m excited to read it!