{"id":8784,"date":"2012-07-11T07:57:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T07:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=8784"},"modified":"2019-07-31T08:52:50","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T08:52:50","slug":"graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Kendrick on worship leading"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Interview with Graham Kendrick<\/h2>\n<p>I spent an afternoon with Graham Kendrick recently interviewing him for a series of podcasts for the website here. Graham has spent many decades ruminating over the craft of the song writer and worship leader and I wanted to bring some of those thoughts to the wider church. It&#8217;s well worth listening to the full podcasts as the notes below are a summary only. Note that Graham is quite soft spoken and, depending on your computer, you may need a good pair of headphones to pick up the audio. Click the arrow below to listen or simply read through my notes on the interview below that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"audioplayer_container\"><span style=\"display:block;padding:5px;border:1px solid #dddddd;background:#f8f8f8\" id=\"audioplayer_1\">Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adobe.com\/shockwave\/download\/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&amp;promoid=BIOW\" title=\"Download Adobe Flash Player\">here<\/a>. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">AudioPlayer.embed(\"audioplayer_1\", {soundFile:\"aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubXVzaWNhZGVteS5jb20vYmxvZy93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAxMi8wNi9ncmFoYW0ta2VuZHJpY2stMS1tcDMubXAzA\"});<\/script><\/p>\n<h2>What are your thoughts on leading worship?<\/h2>\n<p>Our role as leaders is to equip God\u2019s people for works of service as set out in Ephesians 4:11-13. As we prepare to lead worship, we need to be thinking about how are we going to equip Gods people for works of service. Whilst for some this might seem at odds with the worship leaders\u2019 role in bringing people into an experience of worship, Graham sees this as a way of helping people live lives for Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:26) tells us that all things should be done for the edification (the building up) of the house of God. This means building people into community of mature believers as well as building numbers. We should hold these things in the back of our minds as we are planning how to lead worship.<\/p>\n<p>As a worship leader seeking to pastor people through sung worship Graham sees three principles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Being<\/li>\n<li>Doing<\/li>\n<li>Explaining<!--more--><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first priority of being is to be a worshipper \u2013 not just in the moment but in all of our lives. Who we are as followers of Jesus will reproduce fruit \u2013 apple trees reproduce apples. Being honest about our struggles is important. People recognise authenticity and are more likely to follow and emulate when they can see that you are the real thing.<\/p>\n<p>In relation to doing, whatever our theology of worship might be, people take their cue from the doing of it. If we consider culture as \u201cthe way we do things around here\u201d, it is helpful for us to step back and examine what our expectations are in relation to worship, to articulate what we are trying to achieve. Do some of our expectations need to be reviewed? For instance, if we adopt the \u201cpop star\u201d approach unthinkingly from the entertainment model, as if we are putting on a show with the worship leader as an entertainer, the result will be a spectator mindset. Unfortunately the tide of culture is flowing towards watching rather than participating. The difference of course, is that rather than perform something in front of people, we as worship leaders are trying to bring everyone in \u2013 to help everyone bring their worship.<\/p>\n<p>Graham is keen to foster a culture of participation. As a worship leader he will try early on to establish a tone that we are here to do this together. For instance, he might even have a congregation run through some vocal warm-ups together. This clearly indicates that we are about to sing. This is also where explaining comes in \u2013 Graham will often put his expectations of participation into words \u201cWelcome everybody, we\u2019ve got a great bunch of musicians here but we\u2019re just here to help you give your worship to God \u2013 so let\u2019s do that shall we?\u201d In the process of leading itself he is keen to communicate an understanding of what the scriptures teach in relation to worship.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Everyone should bring something<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Exodus 23:15 includes the commandment that \u201cnobody should enter my presence empty handed\u201d. The New Testament talks about everyone bringing a psalm or a prayer. As well as bringing our worship to God, Graham sees corporate worship as being outwardly focussed, an opportunity for the congregation to bless each other. When there is an expectation that people \u201cbring something\u201d it means that worship becomes more outward looking \u2013 possibly at odds with many of the more intimate worship lyrics of so many songs. If we assume that intimacy with God is a private internal feeling and that becomes the whole aim, then very subtly we end up being there for what we can get out of it. If someone says \u201cI didn\u2019t get much out of the worship today\u201d, they have it all wrong \u2013 the point is not to get something out of it for ourselves, but instead to bring something to God. We shouldn\u2019t be coming to worship for the experience, we are coming to love God for His own sake.<\/p>\n<p>Actually asking people \u201cWhat have you brought today?\u201d awakens them to the possibility that they have something to bring which blesses God and blesses someone else. He put it into the line of the song Building a House \u201cWhat have I got to bring today? What have I brought to give away?\u201d. See below for the full set of lyrics \u2013 the song rather beautifully sums up much of this discussion.<\/p>\n<p>What is brought may not necessarily be a public \u201cword\u201d, it maybe that you pray for someone or to speak to someone, give an encouragement after the service or later in the week. The point is to actively engage and think beyond ourselves to how by the help of the Holy Spirit we can each do our part in building up the whole community of faith.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Building a house <\/strong>[Isn\u2019t it good]<\/h2>\n<p>Isn\u2019t it good to be with friends<br \/>\nIsn\u2019t it good to speak their names<br \/>\nAnd be a friend of Jesus<br \/>\nIsn\u2019t it good to all belong<br \/>\nDifferent voices in one song<br \/>\nSinging our love for Jesus<br \/>\nWhen everyone has a psalm, a prayer<br \/>\nAnd everyone comes to give, to share<\/p>\n<p><em>God\u2019s building a house<br \/>\n<\/em><em>God\u2019s building a home<br \/>\n<\/em><em>Come fill it with glory<br \/>\n<\/em><em>You\u2019re building us strong<br \/>\n<\/em><em>You\u2019re making us one<br \/>\n<\/em><em>To shine out Your glory<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Isn\u2019t it good that we can bring<br \/>\nEvery good gift and offering<br \/>\nAnd lay it at the feet of Jesus<br \/>\nMeeting him here in every face<br \/>\nMultiplying acts of grace<br \/>\nSharing the love of Jesus<br \/>\nIsn\u2019t this the true bread and wine<br \/>\nThe other\u2019s needs not me and mine<\/p>\n<p><em>God\u2019s building a house etc<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Bridge<\/p>\n<p>And isn\u2019t it true we\u2019re joined in one<br \/>\nChosen and precious cornerstone<br \/>\nUpon the Rock of Ages<\/p>\n<p><em>God\u2019s building a house etc<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Tag<\/p>\n<p>So what have I got to give today?<br \/>\nWhat have I brought to give away?<br \/>\nAll for the love of Jesus<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Retelling the \u201cstory\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Authentic Christian worship is about retelling God\u2019s story and in the act of retelling the story, power is released afresh into the body of Christ. Good worship songs take aspects of the story (the gospel) and retell them in a fresh way. And of course there are many other ways to retell the story than purely through song.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Revelation and response<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Graham sees worship as being a dynamic of <strong>revelation<\/strong> and <strong>response.<\/strong> (In a similar vein, Matt Redman talks about breathing in and breathing out.) As we receive the revelation of the gospel, and see a fresh aspect then a response is drawn out of us that can be lifted back to God. A good worship song has both those elements \u2013 it provides a reason to worship God. He sees a worship song that, for instance, just asks us to worship without giving us a reason to worship, as inadequate.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do you pastor the worship team?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>To this question Graham talks about living out the principles of worship and secondly to be prayerful. He says his team become familiar with his frequent requests to stop and pray. The prayer should start at home before the team meets. It means that he can give his team insights that, reasons why particular songs have been chosen.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Does Graham also struggle to prepare for a service?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It may come as a surprise to hear that Graham often struggles to prepare for a service. On exploring this topic he feels that in the act of preparatory prayer we engage with the spiritual dynamics within a congregation, the longings and promptings of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes with the spiritual powers in opposition.<\/p>\n<p>He also feels that sometimes the struggle is more personal simply because as worship leaders we can become stuck in a rut, perhaps bored with the same patterns, processes and songs. He will look through books searching for songs that aren\u2019t in his immediate consciousness and perhaps for an old hymn that can be reintroduced. He will also look for songs via a subject index.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/interview-graham-kendrick\/\">Interview with Graham Kendrick<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 on not feeling like much of a musician and the topic of female autograph hunters (introduction to this series of podcasts)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interview with Graham Kendrick I spent an afternoon with Graham Kendrick recently interviewing him for a series of podcasts for the website here. Graham has spent many decades ruminating over the craft of the song writer and worship leader and I wanted to bring some of those thoughts to the wider church. It&#8217;s well worth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":9065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Graham Kendrick on worship leading<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interview with Graham Kendrick on worship leading, everyone having something to bring to worship, revelation and response and pastoring a worship team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graham Kendrick on worship leading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interview with Graham Kendrick on worship leading, everyone having something to bring to worship, revelation and response and pastoring a worship team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-11T07:57:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-31T08:52:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/08122638\/Graham-Kendrick.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marie@Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marie@Musicademy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading\/\",\"name\":\"Graham Kendrick on worship leading\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-11T07:57:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-31T08:52:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c\"},\"description\":\"Interview with Graham Kendrick on worship leading, everyone having something to bring to worship, revelation and response and pastoring a worship team\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/graham-kendrick-on-worship-leading\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c\",\"name\":\"Marie@Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Marie is a Director of Musicademy and works as the Business Manager and E-Commerce specialist. 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