I feel like most of our song choosing efforts are spent looking forward to the latest Hillsong & Matt Redman release. But what if we looked back and started mining for gold in the hymns of history? Zac Hicks has some great resources from our podcast interview. Old songs can connect if they are believable and sung in way that is believable.
3. Communicate the “Why”—Why do we really gather together? If this question isn’t answered in people’s minds, they will resort to becoming consumers. And if the music doesn’t suit their tastes, they’ll find somewhere that does. But if people know that we are gathering around the cross of Christ to remember, to worship, to give our lives and to be sent out, there just isn’t time to complain about music. Don’t make the music an entertainment spectacle. Use it as a reminder of the vision.
4. Lead With Compassion—When you look out from the stage, what do you see? Is it adoring fans or people in need of God’s presence? I know when I made the switch from performing for people on stage to seeing their need, hearing their stories and leading with brokenhearted compassion, my leadership changed. I began to connect more. The church began to worship more. It wasn’t, “Oh, there’s the kid rocking out on stage.” It became, “He cares about us and cares about this moment glorifying Jesus.”
5. Lead With Passion—Passion connects with passion. They may not love your music (which is OK), but a healthy follower of Jesus will worship anyway. They will find the common ground of passion for Jesus.
Don’t just sing songs or pour your energies into being cool. Invest your life into knowing God. That right there is your greatest asset as a multigenerational worship leader.
6. Cast Vision—I feel a great thing to do is to have your pastor cast vision for the sound and production direction in your church. Why do we do the music we do? Why is the volume as loud as it is? Why do we use this haze, lights and video? When grandparents realize that the leaders of the church are making stylistic choices in order to reach their grandchildren, they’ll have more buy-in.
The problem is we don’t cast the vision. We don’t love them through the process of change. They just feel like it’s not their church anymore. But we need to take them by the hand and lead them into the future.
I’d love to hear how you become more progressive without alienating people?
Have you tried anything that has worked?
