Qualifications of a Worship Pastor – Barry Keldie and Matt Boswell

Qualifications of a Worship Pastor

An adaptation of leadership qualifications from 1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1

Understanding the biblical role of a worship leader in the local church is central to the health of a church body. While the task of leading people in worship is outlined in varying ways, the implementation and function of the modern “worship leader” isn’t found anywhere in the New Testament. What we do find is that pastors or elders are mandated with the job of leading the people in worship.  (2 Chronicles 7:6 describes priests leading David and Israel in worship) This tells us that the primary function of worship leaders should be “pastors” not just artists. 

The role of a worship leader in a local church is first a call to “shepherd the flock” (1 Peter 5:2) and secondly, to be the creative voice behind their collective song. Worship leaders should be pastors who have a deep love for the people they lead.  So, not just anyone with a guitar can lead worship and not just anyone with a voice should be called a worship leader.  It is a specific calling and has specific qualifications. In 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-16, we find qualifications for pastors and elders outlined.  If we believe worship leaders are primarily pastors, then they are held to the same qualifications as pastors. We believe that anyone who leads the church of God long term should be qualified biblically to do so. Healthy, God-honoring churches must have qualified leadership at every level.  Hopefully, a look at these qualifications, particularly for a worship pastor, will help us all grow into maturing and increasingly qualified leaders.

Above reproach (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:6-7)

This means a worship pastor should be spiritually maturing. This qualification is set apart from having a good reputation or being well thought of.  Being “above reproach” goes deeper than people liking him.  The maturity spoken of here is a life and walk that is worthy of imitation.  A worship leader must maintain a consistent character with those both inside and outside the church. A worship pastor must sing in a way that people want to participate, lead in a way that people want to engage in, and live in a way that people love to follow him.  Leading worship involves all three components.

Husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:6)

A worship leader must be a “one woman man.” He must maintain integrity in relationships with the opposite sex, and go to great lengths to protect himself from sin. This man must have a godly, growing, and strong marriage.  He must not be addicted to pornography or have wandering eyes.  He is a great lover, friend, and leader for his wife and she honors him in public and in private. He must provide for her financially, and lead her spiritually as a testimony of the Gospel (1 Tim 5:8). If he is single, (and not called to celibacy) he must be working toward marriage by growing personally, spiritually, and emotionally.

Sober minded or disciplined (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:8)

Many worship leaders are stereotypically labeled as “over-emotional.” Many times this is not the fact, but when it is, it should be addressed. Being emotionally driven is not a personality type, but an immaturity and should be repented of and fought.  Pastors should be driven by the Truth.  You can be loving, gentle, soft, and caring but not “driven” by emotion.  James 1:6, describes it as being “like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” Worship pastors must be stable men who stake their lives, joy, and soul on Truth. The most effective worship leaders stir people’s affections for God through being rooted and grounded in Truth

Respectable, well thought of by outsiders, not a new convert (1 Timothy 3:2, 6-7)

The core issue here is the reputation of the Gospel.  This qualification draws a connection between a man’s respectability and his spiritual maturity.  The assumption is that the longer we walk with Christ, the more respectable we get and the more we’re thought of by others.  This means a worship pastor must be disciplined to foster respectability among the community.  Letting his “yes be yes” and his “no be no” is crucial to people trusting him. Does this man do what he says he’s going to do?  Is he on time when he’s supposed to be somewhere? All of these things, while they seem small to us, foster respect among those we minister to. Worship leaders should not be characterized by a “persona” or their “stage charisma” but by their spiritual maturity. 

Hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:8)

The 1^st century idea of hospitality was hosting foreigners or non-believers.  A worship pastor is called to be an evangelist.  This type of evangelism should be practiced on stage and off stage.  On stage, is our music Christ-centered? Do we sing correctly to God? Do we present the gospel regularly in our services?  And off stage, does he intentionally befriend and invest in non-Christians? All pastors should be doing the work of an evangelist – leading people to Jesus through corporate worship services, and through regular interaction with the lost.

Able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2 & Titus 1:9)

Many worship leaders do not feel comfortable teaching or speaking. While this is not a requirement to be able to “preach”, it is a requirement to know and be able to communicate truth.  Teaching pastors teach through preaching, and worship leaders teach through singing. Songs chosen for corporate worship services teach doctrine, theology, even methodology. Worship leaders must be able teachers in this regard so that the songs being sung in the church reflect the convictions the church has been built upon.  The mandate for worship leaders is to ensure the songs a church sings are faithful to the Scriptures.  Worship leaders become a vital voice in the theological understanding of a church, and should take this responsibility very seriously. Leading worship is a sacred trust, and must be done under the authority of the Scriptures. If there are any questions to the content or nature of a song, they should be directed to the senior pastor for his approval and oversight. A worship pastor must be able to correctly handle and communicate the truth of God.

Not a drunkard (1 Timothy 3:3 & Titus 1:7)

Our worship pastors should not have un-battled addictions.  This can be alcohol, drugs, pornography, or even fame or the praise of men.  We must be driven by the Spirit of God and influenced primarily by Him.  Any addictions rob us of this connection and should be dealt with by confession and repentance.

Not violent but gentle, not quick tempered (1 Timothy 3:3 & Titus 1:7)

A worship leader/pastor should not seek to get involved in arguments. Pastors teach and correct, but we don’t “fight” (verbally, emotionally or physically) if it can be avoided. Pastors should be known as men of peace. Our relationships and social leadership should imitate the peace of Christ.  This peaceful countenance should be modeled by worship pastors for the worship team, church, and community for them to imitate and follow.

Not arrogant or conceited (1 Timothy 3:6 & Titus 1:7 )

Biblical worship is rooted in humility.  No matter how gifted or talented a worship leader is he must not be arrogant or conceited.  The devil loves this sin and uses it to destroy lives, ministries and churches.  A maturing worship leader has a track record of winning this fight.  That track record is seen in his genuine humility.  Standing in front of people every week, singing, leading and helping them worship, can turn into performing and putting on a show in a second.  The psalmist says, “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” (Psalm 10:4) The prideful man is one who “does not seek him” and his heart refuses the presence of God. Pride begins with us thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.  It is the enemy of worship because pride is an inaccurate assessment of our own worth, agenda and desires.  For a worship leader, not only is this personal sin, but it makes him corporately ineffective. Genuine worship and reveling in the presence of God is necessary to lead people in worship and teach them to also revel in the presence of God.

Not a lover of money (1 Timothy 3:3 & Titus 1:7)

A worship pastor does not do his job primarily for money.  He provides for his family well, but his primary motivation is his calling, not his paycheck.  He doesn’t lead worship and write songs for the sake of money, but to express his love and knowledge of Christ. The motivation of a worship leader should be the good of the people he is called to serve, not his own gain.

Good husband and father (1 Timothy 3:4-5 & Titus 1:6)

The home life of a worship pastor is the most important part of his ministry.  The home is where church begins.  If you’re not leading your wife and your children well, you should not be trying to lead the church.  The organization of the church is built on the organization of the home.  The great commandment was first given to us to teach in our homes, not our churches.  Deuteronomy 6 tells us that God gave the greatest commandment (love God most) to the husbands and fathers to teach their wives and children. Before you think about, pray for, and plan for your ministry for the church, do so for your family.  Give your wife the greatest love story of all time; give your children the hero they deserve.  They are our primary flock and you are their primary pastor.  Do that job well! The home of a worship pastor should be one worthy of admiration and should stand as a living testimony to the Gospel.

Lover of good, upright and holy (Titus 1:8)

A worship pastor should be a man of joy.  A joyful disposition and an infectious hope in God are essential for successful and qualified leadership.  A worship pastor should communicate the joy and hope of God in song, prayer and life.  Our goal in meeting corporately is to “stir one another to love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24) and the worship leader has to champion that cause and be “stirring.” He should continually be growing in Godliness and in his own sanctification, as he also calls the church to do so.

Conclusion

The role of a worship pastor goes much further than leading songs on Sunday. The worship leader is a culture-setter and champion for our affections to the Lord.  He gives our souls the words we need to sing to God.  Few people have the opportunity to affect people in the way worship pastors do. I have an elder who tells me that his favorite thing is when he catches himself on Sunday evening singing the songs that we sang Sunday morning.  He judges the effectiveness of our service not by how he sang then, but how he sings later.  His recollection brings him close to God all over again.  Without a band, a stage, a screen or any people, he is again brought to the throne of God by the faithful service of a worship leader.  What a great and profound privilege and responsibility! May this list of qualifications and exposition bring great challenge, conviction, and encouragement as we continue to grow together in biblical ministry.

 

Co-Authored by

Barry Keldie, Lead Pastor, Providence Church

Matt Boswell, Worship Pastor, Fellowship of the Parks

Choosing Songs for Corporate Worship – Contextualization

Contextualization

In choosing songs for corporate worship we have to be mindful of the musical landscape of our community.  In some cities the majority of people listen to R&B and rap. Other cities may be more influenced by country and rock or folk.  The musical diversity of the urban and suburban demographics most major cities experience is expansive. Each church has to make a critical decision regarding what type of music will most effectively reflect the culture of their community.  In Dallas/Fort Worth, TX the main radio stations in the ratings are R&B, pop and country.  In order to contextualize our music to the culture, we can’t attempt do to all three genres at the same time – we would do more damage than good.  In order to hit the largest target of musical preference in our city, the style of music we do falls somewhere between rock and country, and with my rhythm ability, we avoid rap like the plague.  If I ever try to rap I pray people will do an intervention and take me out with some kind of poison darts. When it comes to musical direction, you have to choose, and choose wisely.  Organ music died hundreds of years ago, some churches still haven’t gotten the hand written letter delivered by horseback. Many churches primary style is eight vocalists stretched across the front of a stage. I would ask where else in culture except for at church you would ever find eight vocalists doing four part harmony all wearing pant suits singing into an assortment primary colored fuzzy wind screens on their mics. Contextualization calls us to be missiologists of our city, and find out what is happening in popular music.

This doesn’t mean we adjust all of music away from songs the church has been singing for hundreds of years, it means we do those songs in a way that makes sense.  In order to best assimilate theologically rich songs into a culture, we must sing them in a way that translates to the culture.  History is a great teacher when it comes to this issue. The Byzantine church expanded rapidly into the far East. The church grew, but failed to contextualize the style of their services to the culture so much so that their services were done completely in a language that no one spoke (Latin) and the entirety of the service turned into a mystical play performed by priests while the frustrated and clueless layperson sat and watched for an hour a week.  If we say we care nothing about adapting to culture we have made a serious mistake in presenting the Gospel. Language and dress alone should be proof that we must contend for the Gospel through contextualization.

Doing a alternative version of Come Thou Fount with turntables and a MOOG may be very consistent with your city, or it may mean that an acoustic guitar and a violin would be a better choice.  The same songs with rich theology can be easily communicated if it is done so in a way that makes sense to people musically. Contextualization begins with us being students of our culture and our church – this term is also known as being a missiologist. As a missiologist, we must think about and study our city like a missionary.  

Reflections:

Who are you trying to reach through your church services, and what kind of melodies and music do that people group listen to? 

How can the music of your church better suit the culture of your city?

In what ways have you allowed your own preference to trump what is best for the mission of your church?

Choosing Songs for Corporate Worship – Part 1

To start off, the term corporate worship has nothing to do with casual Friday, or the professional world at all. The word corporate in this sense means the gathered church, meeting in some capacity to fulfill the functions of the local church (worship, encouragement, the Word, communion, baptisms, accountability, discipline). Our role as worship leaders is to glorify Jesus, and turn the hearts of men and women to Jesus, through the power of the Gospel.

As we prepare to lead people in worship, there is a filter we must use in order to best accomplish our goal of people encountering God. Some of these filters are universal and timeless, others are subjective and will be developed depending on the context of your church. This is not an exhaustive list, but simply a guide for helping pick songs that will glorify God and help create environments that are filled with both revelation from, and response to God.

1. Theological Accuracy

This topic is placed in a closed hand. As worship leaders, we are entrusted with typically between 25-50% of a worship service. This being the case, the songs we sing will also play a central role for what we teach. We should also be reminded that we will be held accountable for what we teach – before God. This doesn’t mean you need to fill the role of chief theologian, but it does mean you are held responsible for what you teach through music. With this in mind, we need to be careful, and informed about the songs we sing. The bible must be the basis by which we gauge all teaching, singing and ordinances of the local church. This means we can’t choose songs based on popularity, or the name of the author, or the artist that sings it, or the worship leader down the street that says it has “the anointing”.  The bible stands as the innerant and final word on all matters of our faith and practices – including what we sing when we are gathered together as a church.

The way I process this is much like a preacher would in preparing a sermon. What can I glean from scripture in order to encourage our own people, and also point lost people to the Gospel? What is it that I want to teach? What do our people need to know? What is important for us to be singing about in the life of our church? What does my pastor want us to be focused on?

If you have any questions about a particular song, do your own homework on it. Search the song to ensure the context of scripture. Ask yourself if the words are true, and important for your church to sing. If you have more questions, ask your pastor. I have often found this an important sounding board. At the end of the day what matters is that we are singing songs that excite our hearts for more of Jesus, that are bible based.  If you have remaining questions about a song – don’t do it.  With the amount of resources available today, there’s no reason to lack great songs.  As worship leaders, theological accuracy in song selection is a must.

Piper on a Worship Pastor Job Description

We just hired a new worship leader for our Grapevine Campus a couple of months ago.  This is a very relational process for me, but it got me thinking a lot about our role as worship leaders – both pastoral and functional.  I ran across this job description that John Piper posted as they looked for an associate worship pastor…  Maybe this wouldn’t fit every church in form, but in essence – this is what I desire to pattern my next 50 years after…

ASSOCIATE PASTOR FOR WORSHIP AND MUSIC, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN. The Mission of our 1,000 folks is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. We are Calvinistic in theology, baptistic in polity, and charismatic in our affections, and driven by the truth that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” (Christian Hedonism)! We are committed to old and new, fine and folk, depth and simplicity, head and heart, design and spontaneity, awe, and intimacy – with unremitting God-centeredness, intensity, and authenticity. We aim to be Bible-saturated, Spirit-filled, soul-winning, culture-confronting. Age and ethnic diversity matter. Worship leadership means worshipping contagiously in front of others. Elder qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 expected.

Endless Mercy of God

This is us leading worship at Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita, KS, where my Dad is the pastor.  We led worship there a few weeks ago and had such an amazing time with the people and getting to spend some time with Mom and Dad, and my brother, Aaron. God is doing great things there.

I think some of our band had to go buy some khakis to wear on Sunday – rather than the usual flip flops and jeans…. Oh wait, that was me.    Often times – you only put your best foot forward on media – recordings etc.  Well – this post is with integrity just how it went.  Often times in leading worship I’ll forget which verse we’re on – so you’ll hear me try to direct the congregation to verse 3 – when we really went to verse 2.  So, please no emails about the “Holy Spirit displayed on a cross so vile?” 

This song is one I wrote for the Vintage CD.  I’ll go through some of the important things that are hit theologically in the next few days.  Anyone needing a chart for this, please email me: mattboswell@fellowshipoftheparks.com.

Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1:           

The endless mercy of God will ever     

Be my ground secure

God unchanging will be my rock

Whom eternity assures

Chorus:           

The endless mercy of our God, The endless mercy of our God

Forevermore shall endure, the endless mercy of our God

Verse 2:           

The endless mercy of God  displayed

Upon the cross so vile

The wrath of God there satisfied

And man be reconciled

Verse 3:

The endless mercy of God

The Holy Spirit hath he sealed

And written there in ink that ne’er  shall

Fade nor be concealed

The Only Way to Worship Part 2 :: Trinitarian Worship

In part one of The Only Way to Worship, we looked at the scriptural instruction to worship in spirit and in truth.  This week we will explore in the “truth” part of this equation.  The Trinity is a theological term that is used to best describe the eternal state in which God exists.  The Trinity is comprised f God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, God three in one.  The trinity is not something I can come near wrapping my head around, much less put on one sheet of paper.  The existence of God goes far beyond our understanding, but that doesn’t mean we can’t at the same time know God.

At the age of twenty, Charles Spurgeon said, “The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father.”  This is the aim we take at a brief look at the Trinity.

Wayne Grudem says, “We can understand some of truth of the Trinity by summarizing the teaching of scripture in three statements: God is three persons. Each person is fully God. There is one God.”  We learn from early on in the scripture that God exists in a plural, but single union.  Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”.” When we worship in a biblically acceptable way, our worship must be Trinitarian. We worship the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.  Let’s take a closer look at how this works in a practical way as we worship.  

We worship the Father.  God is the sole object of Christian worship.  If worship is to be true at all, it’s object must be the sovereign God of the Bible.  All other worship is misdirected.  There is none as worthy as God.  He is the uncreated one – all other things are created.  The modern day interpretations of God fail to be accurate when they are built upon outside of scripture.  The sad realization of this is that many people “worship” a god they themselves have created.  In the scriptures, we find God the Father is shown as the one who spoke the words of creation into being (Hebrews 1:2, John 1:3), God the Father is the one who sent Jesus to mankind (Galatians 4:4, John 3:16). God the Father is also the originator of foreknowledge and election (1 Pet 1:2). 

God the Father alone is the one worthy of worship.  Psalm 145:3 says, “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.”  The God we worship is the God of the Bible, God the Father, who is to be feared and obeyed.  

We worship through the Son.  This means that it is through Jesus that we worship God the Father.  1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  Jesus’ role in worship today is to act as our sole mediator in bringing our worship to God.  

Without Jesus functioning as our mediator, we have no covering to approach God with worship.  Ephesians 3:12 remind us that “we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”  God does welcome us, but only through the Son.  Apart from the Son, we are denied all access to a holy and righteous God.

We worship by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is often times the overlooked person of the Trinity in the evangelical world.  However, the Holy Spirit is a central person of the Godhead.  In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he wrote,“ we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3)

In his book Worship Matters, Bob Kauflin writes, “But some Christians have so minimized the Spirit’s role in worship that he’s functionally irrelevant.  Like a person’s appendix – it’s there, but we’re not sure why.”  The Holy Spirit is God in us, and is what empowers our worship and gives is heart.  God requires we worship him with both our head and our heart.  

It is important to us as worship leaders to understand the Trinity.  We need to be learning and growing to cultivate a biblical and grounded view of what biblical worship is, and how it works.  If we are to lead our churches in worship, we must first be worshipers who walk with an awareness of who God is and how God operates.  As we continue to grow in our knowledge of God, my prayer is that our love for Jesus, his kingdom, and the gospel will flourish.

 

Reflections:

What has your previous church background taught you about the Trinity?

Was anything overlooked?

Why is it important to have an understanding of how God has revealed himself to us?

Choirs and the Modern Church

A couple of years ago I was at a worship conference, and there was an afternoon where none of the classes seemed very interesting.  This being the case, Jamie and I decided to go to a choir breakout and do some singing.  We were choir veterans – both grew up in Southern Baptist churches, kid choirs, Psalty plays, handbells – the whole nine.  It turned out we had such a great time doing this class, I started praying about begining a choir at our church.

The modern church isn’t big into choirs.  Most new churches you walk in to are a 4 piece rock band hammering out the latest and greatest worship anthem. (this could be a post – actually, it will be)  However, if you look biblically and historically at the use and functions of a choir, they can be a great tool to have as we lead worship.

First and foremost I am a band guy.  There’s no doubt about it.  Acoustic guitars, drums, bass and keys is a recipe for a great morning.  However, we read in Nehemiah 12, where the orders are given for choirs to sing praises was given and a vital role in the worship service after rebuilding of the wall…  I believe choirs can still play a role in ministry in the local – and yes even modern church.

Our choir is now 2 years old, and I love it.  The choir sings about 5 times a year, so it’s more of a feature than a regular set up.  Since this isn’t my specialty, I recently handed over the choir direction to a woman in our church who is a choir teacher at a local school.  I also recruited a vocal director to oversee and organize all of our background singers. (we use one a weekend)

If you haven’t entertained the idea of a choir – pray about it.  Some churches shouldn’t have choirs.  Others, like ours – love it.  Here’s a promo for our choir we will show this weekend…  No, we don’t wear robes.