Nor Cal / Nev College Ministries

Curt Harlow speaks about creating engaging worship on campus. Before listening to this mp3 you might want to check out his top 10 worship taboos video at http://curtharlow.com/media.htm.

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23,24, NIV).

Jesus seeks true worshipers. For this reason a campus leaders can do no greater work then facilitating Biblical adoration on campus. This is not a small undertaking however. Herschel Rosser, give us some idea of the scope of this task in his treatment of Worship on Campus in the Campus Leaders Notebook (1982). Herschel writes

“When we examine the Bible, we soon discover that worship of God is a very broad subject indeed. Our English word worship comes from "worthship" and helps us by drawing our attention away from ourselves to the worth of God. But the word has to do a lot of duty in our English Bible, translating words as diverse in their literal meanings as "bow down," "adore," and serve."

In fact, the Hebrew word abad and the Greek word latreuo according to context, may be translated either "worship" or "serve." This usage is natural, for the broad biblical concept of worship includes adoration and service as two sides of one coin. If one really adores God, he will serve Him truly; likewise true service to God includes adoration in the heart and praise from the lips. We might say in this broad sense that worship is our joyful and loving response to our Creator's very person and to His acts of lovingkindness toward us.”

Not only does God deserve worship in response to his lovingkindness; it is also true that if students interact with God they will be transformed by that love. This is the Biblical implication of true worship. As simple as this thought may seem, actually getting students to interact with God in worship can be a big challenge.

The stress, distractions and general feeling of skepticism on many campuses work against true worship. Leaders must work hard to interrupt the passivity of our TV culture and compel the group to fully encounter God in both corporate and private times of adoration.

How can we overcome these obstacles?

Music is the media of choice with youth around the globe so it is the best place to start. In fact, how we handle musical worship forms will be the key to our effectiveness with postmoderns. If our groups music is competent and spirit empowered it will lead students to focus on God rather than the temptations of campus life. However, if our music is made up of 17 acoustic guitars arhythmically pounding out worship songs from 1979 we will most likely fail.

Music alone doesn’t guarantee an encounter with God. The wise campus leader will develop the musical gifting of the group while teaching and modeling the bigger picture of worship Biblically. Worship should both give student an opportunity to adore God while learning something Biblical about the character of God through the specific worship form being used.

To facilitate this the campus leader should teach on the OT temple worship rituals, relevant passage the New Testament worship implications and liturgical worship forms from Christian history. Once you have taught on worship, encourage students to apply the teaching directly to the style and practices of worship in the campus group. When the worship service becomes a Biblical yet living experiment in discovering God’s greatness then students will become truly engaged.

What is the practical application for all of this?

Here are my Ten Commandments of Worship Leading on the Postmodern Campus:
1. Thou shall not distract from God.
Eliminating distraction is the key job of the worship leader or primary campus leader. Anything from a noisy ventilation system to a worship band that is poorly rehearsed can be a distraction from God in the service. Very fruitful Chi Alpha groups are able to achieve interaction with God without interruption.

2. Thou shall have good rhythm.
If you add poor rhythm to great guitar playing you still have bad music. If you have a guitar playing to great rhythm you would have good music. Find your rhythm section first. Music is not the international language – rhythm is.

3. Thou shall use variety in worship devices.
Just singing each week is not worship. It is singing. There was worship before guitars and PA systems. Finding forms of worship that allow people to adore God and learn something about Him at the same time.
Find a worship form that incorporates the entire heritage of Biblical worship.

4. Thou shall practice the transitions
Most musical and time eating mistakes are made during transitions for one song to the next or from one part of the worship service to the next. Lots of teams spend their time practicing the body of the song over and over and never get on common ground about how to make the transitions.

5. Thou shall actually engage
Many worship leaders are more focused on the music and the order of service than they are on evaluating whether the worshipers are actually engaged by God. It is very important that leaders become sensitive to this and NEVER JUST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS.

6. Thou shall not over exhort
On the other hand many people lose the congregation and interrupt God by using the worship time to over exhort and force people to worship. Let worship be organic, an act of free will, not an exercise in Totalitarian Religious Dictatorship.

7. Thou shall explain strange things to new people
When something strange happens, and it will, address it directly and take the time to explain it. Do not tone down your worship experience but do SINCERE IT UP.

8. Thou shall match worship styles to the venue and group dynamic
Please, please, please do not set up your PA for 5 people. Also make sure the song lyrics match the musical style and Biblical content for your situation.

9. Thou shall teach something about God’s nature through worship forms
Worship forms in the Old Testament had two distinct purposes. To give God the credit for all good things and to help the people learn whom God is. What does your worship form teach people about God?

10. Thou shall not use songs that are poorly written
Press yourself to find song with great lyrics and an assortment of musical styles. Encourage song writing within the campus group but do not be afraid to evaluate the songs honestly. Do not just use songs that come straight off the Christian book store shelf. Ask yourself it the song has been written Biblically, with a music style that fits the lyrics.

Recruiting a worship team is the first and most challenging step in developing worship on campus. Here is what I recommend in building your team:

• Pray: This advice is not just a cliché, it really is the only way to get the ball rolling in a God way.
• Do not encourage the ungifted. The worship team is not a place to encourage universal participation. You are not being loving by placing a non-musical person in a musical job.
• Do not encourage the showboats. The worship team is not a place for people with up-front needs.

No matter how gifted the person is, resist putting someone on the team that has a “get noticed” agenda.

• Find a leader who has both musical skills and true up-front skills. There are musicians and there are leaders. For this spot you need someone who is at least a little bit of both.
• Find interesting instrumentation. Using and cello player for instance or different kinds of hand drums can really bring texture and freshness to a team.

One of the hardest parts of worship on campus is finding time to practice. Student and campus leaders are both busy. It can be very frustrating when you actually do get together if the time is not well organized. Here is how I run a typical weekly worship practice.

• Set up the equipment before you start practicing your musical set. Trying to both tweak the soundboard and run through a song is a formula for confusion.
• Pray until everyone’s heart is soft and focused. Do not just throw up a little “start the meeting” prayer but get everyone on the same page before getting down to work. This will take a little longer but save you tons of time in the end.
• Set the standard that there will be no playing of musical instruments during stops in the practice. Often there are stops in a practice where on two or three members of the team are required to practice a section of the music. Disciple the other team member to wait quietly during these times. It is hard to do, but will greatly shorten your must between songs or stops. Insist that when you stop a song no one plays and everyone talks in turn. This is a must.
• Practice the transitions from one song to another. Many teams will make the mistake of focusing so much on learning a song and then neglect thinking about how to transition to that song or out of that song without distracting from God in the worship service.
• Avoid practicing songs you have already mastered. You can wear out students easily on a worship team by going over material that is too familiar.
• Focus on good rhythm. Start all new songs by establishing the right rhythm in all band members’ minds. Once the basic beat on the drums is establish add in the base. From there build to the rhythm guitar, rhythm guitar to keyboards and finally keyboards to other accent instruments and vocals.
• Be sure to have some fun during each practice session. Balance between moments of serious concentration and experimenting with song or styles that are just fun to play.
• If you do not have a song quite right, be patient and do not play that song in the worship service until the entire team has learned it. Good leading is about focusing on God. You can’t do that if you are focused on music that you have not learned.
• End the worship practice with some actual worship. Find a great tune you can improvise on and just let the team worship for a while without being concerned with transitions, arraignments or song sets.

Finally here are some of my miscellaneous thoughts on campus worship:

• World music is good on campus: Students are more multicultural and international than ever and they often are attracted to things with a global flavor.
• Keep the overall tone very high energy but not childish. Leave your song sheet for FATHER ABRAHAM at home but do not be afraid to get everyone dancing.
• Acknowledge and improve your main meeting liturgy. The truth is that everyone; Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostals alike have a liturgy (sacred order of meeting). Question is do you have good liturgy or bad liturgy?
• Have a protocol for how student should share spiritual gifts if your group has more than 50 people in attendance. This will help new people understand what is happening, keep the focus on the gift not the giver, and help leaders evaluate the content and timing of the gift being shared.
• A clear call to worship from a student at the start of the meeting is very helpful. It encourages students to focus on God and involves students in up-front exhortation and teaching.
• Don’t oversimplify the issue of meeting length. Long is not inherently good or bad. The real question is are the students engaged.
• Introduce new songs gradually not all at once.
• Sing about what Jesus has done and why he did it. Knowing the “why” that motivates us to worship is very important to students. Often they have very little Biblical background and need help understand exactly what we are praising God for.

Here are some questions to ask your worship team

• What is our liturgy? What makes a good liturgy?
• What are common distractions on campus in the worship environment?
• What are some specific ideas that make worship truly engaging on campus?
• How can you tell if a worship service is sincere praise or empty form?