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!

As I mentioned yesterday, I was privileged to be able to join a small group at our church. I’ve been thinking for a long time now that small groups would be a great time to do a little more intimate worshipping together, do a little more informal teaching on worship, and possibly be a place to raise up new worship leaders. The only problem is…I’ve never done it before!

I’m much more used to leading worship in a larger group setting but I’m really excited about doing it in a small group. So, do any of you have experience with this? Could you answer any of these questions? I’ll post my answers on leading worship in a small group and reasoning behind them tomorrow.

• What is your criteria for picking songs for a small group? Do you use some of the same songs you use during corporate worship or completely different stuff?
• If you have a group that’s never sung in a small group setting before and aren’t particularly used to losing themselves in worship, how do you break the ice? (I won’t be able to answer this one until this Sunday or next, when I do this for the first time!) Have you seen people start to become more intimate in worship during small group and then be more free during a corporate worship service?
• If you are planning to use time in small group to equip and raise up a worship leader, how do you go about the process? What’s worked for you? What hasn’t?

So what happens when we think we don’t have the right people in place to raise up?  It’s time to ask some questions:

• Are you praying?  If you aren’t praying for a person to train and raise up, chances are that God’s not going to give you one.  It’s possible that He would, but much more likely that He will if you ask Him.
• Are you looking?  Or are you just saying “There’s no one available” when you haven’t even looked?
• Are you asking?  It’s very likely that your pastor or another ministry leader would know of someone with the gifts and abilities you’re looking for.  Ask them!
• Are you equipping?  Surely you already have several volunteers involved in your music and worship ministry.  Have you been training all along, with the intention of raising up someone out of that group?

In summary, the best way to avoid burnout in your ministry is to let go of our selfishness and our fear, learn how to train and equip, and pray, look, and ask if there is anyone available to raise up.  Once that person (or persons) is found, the burnout we would face from trying to do everything ourselves will go away, and a new leader will emerge.