Transcription
In this video, we're gonna be talking all about what to say before you lead worship. So if that's the question you've been asking, I want to share with you today the four-step formula for welcoming people into worship. This is going to be a step-by-step process that you can use every single week to always know exactly what to say at the beginning of your worship service.
Coming up, everybody! My name's Spencer, and you're watching Leading Worship Well, your daily dose of practical worship-leading tips. If you want to find those tips, head over to leadingworshipwell.com or follow me on Instagram or Facebook at Leading Worship Well. But you're on YouTube, so go ahead and hit the subscribe button; maybe hit the like button while you're there, and let's get into it!
Let's get into the four-step formula for welcoming people into worship. And before we get there, actually, why don't you go ahead and leave a comment below? Let me know what your typical worship opening statement sounds like. What's that thing that you usually say at the beginning of your worship services? I know you have a default one that you go to whenever you don't actually plan on what to say. It happens, I know what mine is. But go ahead and share yours below because I want to hear what they are.
Here are just a few common phrases that I've heard.
All right, the first one: Just straight-up silence. I thought you'd just head into the first song because you don't really know what to say. I've been there; I've done it. I probably still do it from time to time. But there is more for us, so we can do better than just head into the first song.
Here's another one: Are you guilty of this? "Let's stand and worship." I know that that's probably my personal default whenever I haven't properly prepared. It's just easy to say, and it's not the worst thing in the world to say. You know, you're giving people instruction and telling them what you're about to do. But once again, I think that there is more for us if we want to lead worship well.
Let's look at one more, and that is: "Good morning, everyone! Why don't we sing together?" So you've welcomed people, and now it's like, "Okay, now we're gonna sing." Once again, it's not the end of the world if you say these things. But my point is we can do better. We can lead worship well. All right, these are fine, but we can do better. There's more that we can say to actually lead people into worship.
So the question is: Why do we need to welcome people into worship? Shouldn't people already know what we're doing? Don't they know why they're there? I mean, we do the same thing at church every single week. We stand up and we sing songs together; we're worshipping. Shouldn't everybody know that?
Well, the truth is, not everybody knows what they're supposed to do. Not everybody who comes to your church has been there before, been to church in general before, or been to your church in a while. All right, you might have changed things up. I don't know; you usually do the same thing every week, but what if it's different this time? Not everybody knows what they're supposed to do, so we have to tell them.
I want you to think about it this way: Think about what your average Sunday morning looks like versus the average church member's Sunday morning. Think about your Sunday morning routine. Every single Sunday when you lead worship, what happens? Maybe you get up and read the Bible and prepare for your worship set, and then you get to church early. For me, our service starts at 10:00; I get there about 7:30 to set some things up. Then at 8:00, the rest of the worship team comes, and we're running through the songs.
So now I've already got like at least a two-and-a-half-hour head start compared to the average church member. I pray with the team, pray with the rest of the people serving on Sunday, and then I'm sitting there talking to people. All right, all of these things, needless to say, when that countdown hits zero—which we're gonna get to in a second—when the service starts, I'm ready to go because I've been ready to go for the past two and a half hours.
But compare that to the average church member's morning. Have you been an average church member recently? I feel like this is one of the things that I struggle with. It's hard to connect with the average church member because I'm so involved, and maybe that's you. But I want you to take a step outside of your weekly duties for a moment and just think about what the average person's morning looks like on a Sunday.
They roll out of bed. Maybe your service starts at 10:00, and they get up around 9:30, and they're running a little bit late. They grab the kids, run to the car, and head to church. Maybe they're showing up just as it starts, if they're lucky, or maybe they're a couple of minutes late and just walked into the building for the first time. You've been there for two and a half hours, but they just showed up right now.
All right, think about your morning compared to their morning. You're ready to worship; that could be ready to worship! That'd be awesome if they spent two and a half hours preparing, but not everybody did. So we need to create an environment where we can welcome them into worship.
All right, and I want to share with you the four-step formula that you can use to do that: the four-step formula for welcoming people into worship. Are you ready? Grab a notebook, pen, paper, or open a notepad, and I'm gonna give you everything you need to know exactly what to say every single time.
Right here, and the first step is—and this is easy because you don't have to say anything at all—the first step is you need a countdown. Like a five-minute countdown is plenty. You throw it up on the screen, it hits zero, and then you just start your service.
All right, so a countdown. Why do you need a countdown? Well, have you ever said this before? Maybe you've been thinking this to yourself, like, "Well, nobody's there anyway, right? Nobody's there in the room, so who am I going to welcome? There's literally two people in, and it's probably like my mom and I don't know, somebody else, right? Nobody's there anyways; they're all out in the lobby." Maybe they haven't even showed up yet.
Well, a countdown is one of the ways you can solve that problem. But the other way is to just start on time every time. When does your service start? Let me ask you that. Think about that. What is the official starting time of your service? Now, when do you actually start your service? Because if you're like me and a bunch of other churches, for a while it was like our official starting time was 10:00, and nobody would be there.
We would be like, "Well, let's give it five more minutes; maybe a few more people will filter in." And they did. So now instead of three people in the room, we have seven people in the room, and it's like, "Okay, it feels a little fuller in here now," right?
Then what happens? The next week, people aren't here again. "Let's start five minutes late again," and you just do that over and over again. You say that your service is starting at 10:00 a.m., but it's really starting at 10:05. The people who did get there on time realize, "Hey, they're not actually gonna start at 10:00." So now nobody's there at 10:00, your official starting time, and it's 10:05. Now the three people are there at 10:05 because they think that you actually start at 10:05.
Are you following along? Then the other people who filtered in realize that they can get there five minutes later than they did before. Now it's, you know, 10:10. You're 10 minutes late. Multiply that by however many years you've done it for, and you're starting 10 to 15 minutes late because people aren't there. How do you overcome that? You start on time every time.
That means whether all the people are in the room or there are zero people in the room, you got to start on time every time because that builds trust with the people of your church. When they know that you're going to do what you say you're going to do, every time you do it, they start to realize, "Man, they said that they're gonna start at 10:00, and they started at 10:00." That means if I want to be a part of the first few minutes of the service, I better get in there and be ready to go because that's when they're starting, because they said they're gonna start.
And this takes time, but over time people realize that that's when you're starting. So they'll show up. I'm not saying everybody's gonna be there right on time, but I'm telling you there will be a significant increase in the amount of people who are there. Then the other thing is that countdown.
All right, so we've set the general trust that you are gonna start when you say you're going to start. A countdown just takes it that much further. For the people who are actually at church, they see that countdown pop up, and they're like, "Man, I got five minutes to get to my seat because I know that they start on time here; they do what they say they're going to do."
So when that hits zero, they're gonna go into worship, so I better find my seat before that happens. A countdown is that visual reminder that lets people know that in five minutes, "Hey, we're gonna start!" I'm telling you, you will see a significant increase. Like I said, it takes time, but people will calibrate.
All right, and if you don't have a countdown, guess what? I want to give you one. There's a link to a free countdown; it's the same one that I use at my church pretty much every single time we have a worship gathering. Just head to the link in the description, and you can download this free countdown. It's a pretty simple countdown; you know, it's just a black and white background. This is all you need.
In fact, I think the simpler, the better, but this is what we use at my church. All right, it pops up on the screen; our service starts at 10:00, so at 9:55, that five-minute countdown goes up on screen, and it signals that, hey, it's time to come in; we're about to worship. All right, so that solves the problem.
Now we have people in our worship space that we actually have to welcome. By the way, let me just reiterate, all right? That's not gonna happen instantly. So don't just throw it up there for one week and use a countdown for one week. You know, commit to two months, three months maybe, and I'm telling you, you will start to see people come in earlier.
So we have people in our worship space now. Finally, there is somebody to welcome. So what do we actually say before we lead worship now that there are people to talk to? Well, here is the part where we get to finally talk.
The first thing that you need is to welcome people. You need to welcome them in, right? The countdown hits zero, and now what? What do you do? You know, maybe you have lights and a stage, and the lights come up, and you're like a deer in the headlights because you don't know what to say. Or maybe you don't have all of that fancy stuff, and you just start strumming your guitar. What do you do? What do you say?
Well, I want to encourage you—and this is gonna be a theme throughout this formula, all right? Just keep it simple. This is a simple welcome. All right? You aren't giving a Grammy award-winning speech here. Okay? You're just welcoming people into worship.
So let me give you a few examples. Something as simple as this: "Hey, everybody! Welcome to church." Simple, right? "Hey, everyone! Welcome to church." How about this one: "Good morning, everyone! We're excited to worship with you today." Once again, super simple. Just said, "Good morning, and we're excited to worship with you!"
One more: "Welcome to [whatever the name of your church is]. We're glad that you're here." So now you're letting people know that you are indeed glad that they have shown up on time—finally, right?
Now here's the thing: You can use these examples, but I encourage you to just talk authentically. How would you talk to a group of friends? You should be talking to these people like you're talking to a group of friends. All right? So if you don't say "Hey, everyone," if you don't say "Good morning," if you don't say "Welcome," just say whatever feels comfortable to you. If you're like a pastor at a California surfer church and you want to be like "dudes," you know?
I don't know, whatever you want to say; just whatever is authentic and will connect with the people of your church, all right? You don't have to be all formal unless that's the context that you lead in. That's fine, but just be yourself. You know, you should be the same person on stage that you are off stage. It's just easier that way.
So just talk like you'd talk to your group of friends. Just say, "Hey, everybody! What's up, guys?" You know, whatever you think works for you. So there's the welcome. Keep it simple. All right? Don't overthink this part; you're just welcoming people.
We're about to add more to it here in a moment, and that is the next thing. Now we want to point to truth. All right? We've welcomed people in; we've said hello. Essentially, now what's the next step? Because some people just stop there. They say, "Hey, welcome to church," and then they head into their first song. Or maybe they'll say, "Let's stand in worship."
But I think the most missed piece is this piece right here: the most missed piece is the pointing to truth. We want to point to truth. All right? We want to explain why we're doing what we're doing. Remember, not everybody knows what they're supposed to do, and not everybody knows why they're supposed to do it.
Even the people who have grown up in church all their life sometimes forget. I know—I mean, I grew up in the church, and it probably took me 10 years before I actually figured out why we were doing what we were doing completely. And I probably still don't have it all figured out. But you know what I mean? Like, you go to church—you grow up in church; it's a routine. So break people out of that routine and just remind them, "Hey, this is why we're here! This is why we're doing what we're doing!"
And this is the perfect place for scripture or pointing to what your pastor will be teaching on. All right? This is the perfect time. We want to point to truth. What's better truth than just straight-up Scripture?
So find some scripture that is applicable to worship or just a specific truth about God that you want to highlight, and you can literally just read that. Like, "Hey, everybody! Welcome to church; we're glad you're here. In Psalm 40, whatever it says—you know, if that has to do with scripture." I don't know; I haven't looked that up. But you know, just you can throw some scripture in there—not for the sake of throwing scripture in there—be intentional about it!
But we're pointing to truth now. Another thing you can do is to point to what your pastor will be teaching on. You know, hopefully, you've coordinated with your pastor, and you know where they're headed. You should be coordinating with them and working together. Or maybe you're in a series, and it's about the mercy of God.
So at the beginning, you want to talk about the mercy of God: "Hey, church! Welcome. Over the past few weeks, we've been talking about the mercy of God, and we want to focus on that. This first song is, blah blah blah." All right? Point to truth. Let people know some truth to actually enter into worship on.
Here are a few examples—once again, super simple. We've already welcomed people, and I always say, "We're here today to celebrate the greatness of God." Pretty standard truth. All right? Why are you at church? You're here because you're here to celebrate together, because we serve a great God, and we want to celebrate that truth together.
It's a point to that truth that God is great! Super simple. How about this one: "We believe that through Jesus we can enter into the presence of God." Sort of gives some confidence coming into worship that it doesn't matter what you've done throughout the week, but you can only enter into the presence of God through Jesus. So that's how we enter! It's not based on anything that we do.
All right, once again, we've pointed to truth. And how about this last one: "I don't know how your week went. I don't know if it was amazing or if it was horrible, but here's the truth: I know that God is a faithful God, and that is reason to worship this morning." Just pointing to God's faithfulness—there's the truth!
You've connected with them: "Hey, I don't know how your week went, but I know that God is faithful, and we can respond to that." All right? So point to truth. It can be whatever truth you want to focus on that day.
Then finally, here's the last step. You have to actually instruct people. All right? We've welcomed people; we've pointed to truth. Now it's time to give them just a few instructions leading into worship.
Because remember, not everybody knows what they're supposed to do. We've talked about it before—not everybody who comes to your church. Maybe they came for the first time; maybe they haven't been to church in a while. Whatever it is, not everybody knows what to do. Maybe they're just stuck in a routine, and they're just doing what they've always done because they've always done it.
All right? We want to give them some instructions like, "Hey, if you want to participate with us, this is what we're doing! This is our aim for the morning!" So give them instructions on what to do next—like specific instructions. All right? This turns spectators into participants, which is our aim, right? We always want participants and not spectators.
A spectator is somebody who walks in, and they don't really know what to do, so they just stand there and watch people play music on the stage. All right? We don't want that! We're leading people in worship; we are leading participants in worship. We want people to participate.
A couple of ways they can do that: Some instructions that you could give. You know, first of all, do you want them to stand? Then say that. Do you want them to sing? Then invite them to do that. Do you want them to believe the truth that you just pointed to? Tell them to do that.
Do you want them to pray before you head into worship? I don't know; you could do that! Reflect on something before you head into worship. There's a million different things that you can instruct people to do as you lead worship, but just make sure that you actually give them specific instructions so they aren't left wondering what to do next.
Here are a few examples for this—super simple. Again: "Let's stand and sing together." Right? I talked about that at the beginning as like one of those default phrases that we use. "Hey, everyone! Let's stand and sing!" The difference between that being mentioned at the beginning and that being mentioned now is that we've actually pointed to truth now before this. Remember, that was like our third step in the formula.
We pointed to truth, so now they're actually standing and singing and responding to something. They're not just standing and singing just to stand and sing. How about this one: "Would you pray with me as we focus our attention completely on God?"
So now we're asking them to pray with us. "Hey, we're not just up here to play music; we're about to pray, and I want you to join me in that because we're all in this together. We are all participants, not spectators. Join me in prayer because we're about to enter into this time of congregational worship."
And then how about this one: "Let's believe that as we sing together." Once again, super simple. I just want you to believe that truth as we sing it—not just sing it, not just sing the words and have them come out of your mouth, but actually believe it in your heart. All right? These are all perfect instructions.
All right, don't overthink it! This isn't some long sermon. All right? Like I said, this is super short. I mean, it could be 10, 15, 20 seconds tops! All right? It doesn't need to be two or three minutes.
So those are the four steps. I want to share with you just some examples of all those steps in sequential order so you can see what it might look like if you were to do this on a Sunday morning. So I'm gonna head through these steps. I'll try to keep the commentary short for this first one so you can just see how it all plays out.
So let's get into it. All right, this is what would happen on a Sunday morning. The countdown hits zero; your lights come up, you start strumming your guitar, whatever you do to start your service. And then you say this: "Good morning, everyone! Welcome to church."
There's the welcome! "We believe that through Jesus we can freely enter into the presence of God." There's the truth we're pointing to! "Let's believe that as we stand and sing to the one who is worthy of our worship." That's the instruction—super simple!
Do you see it? I mean, what did that take me? Like 10 seconds to say? Maybe tops! All right? And now what have we done? Well, we started on time; we've welcomed people into worship; and then we pointed to truth.
So now they actually have something to respond to, and it's not just abstract. But like, they know what they're responding to—some characteristic of God—in this case, that they can freely enter into his presence only through Jesus and nothing that they've done.
And then we've given them something to do! They're gonna believe that as we sing together, and they're gonna stand and they're gonna sing. So now they know everything that they need to do: a truth to respond to, exactly what they need to do if they want to participate in worship.
Let's look at one more example here. All right? Once again, countdown hits zero; you're starting your service right on time. You say, "Welcome, everyone! We're glad you're here." There's the welcome!
Here's the truth: Psalm 100 says, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs! Know that the Lord is God; it is he who made us, and we are his! We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him and praise his name! For the Lord is good, and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."
Here's the instruction: "We're standing before God simply because he is God, and we are his people. So let's stand and celebrate that truth together!"
Now maybe that one was a bit more wordy, and I might like sort of cut that Psalm down. I actually used this transition—or I guess the amount of transition—but just a welcome to people into worship this past Sunday, and I just stopped at the—what was it? Right here—"Know that the Lord is God."
So just, you know, super simple! The truth is that we are worshipping God just because he's God, because he is good. All right? That's the truth that people are responding to. And then we're asking them to stand, and now it's a celebration, right?
I think that puts a little more meat on what's happening. You know, worship is sort of abstract, but when you're telling people it's a celebration, like, "Hey, we're here because we're celebrating together! We are participating in a celebration!" And that is what worship is.
What are we celebrating? We're celebrating that the Lord is God—that's the truth we're responding to.
Just to wrap things up, just a few quick tips for welcoming people into worship. All right, here we go: keep it short. I'm just gonna leave it at that—just keep it short! All right? You don't need to talk for two or three minutes; just talk for 10 to 15 seconds. Hit on those points that we talked on, and it is perfect! You know, don't try to go longer just because you think that it's better.
All right, focus more on content than length. Next thing: tell people what they need to know. It's so important to point people to that truth and what you're going to do, which is the next tip: tell people what they need to do. Hit on the truth and then tell them how to respond to that. That's how you turn spectators into participants.
So before you go, I just wanted to let you know about a free training that I put together for you. It's called "Five Tips to Instantly Improve Your Worship Leading." It's a free audio training; you can find it at the link in the description. In it, I cover five tips that will instantly improve your worship leading.
These are things that if you're just conscious of them and make the effort to do them, you will be a better worship leader because of it! They're super simple, but you need to know them. All right, before you go, click that—oh, now this is new for me—the end screen, so forgive me.
All right, there's a video right here, or you can subscribe right here. Thanks so much for joining me, everybody! My name's Spencer Carmody from Leading Worship Well. Make sure to follow me on Instagram or Facebook. I spend a lot of time over there posting practical worship leading tips every day, or you can find me at my website, leadingworshipwell.com.
Thanks so much for joining me, everybody! I'll see you in the next one. Have a good one!