Call Them Up!

Worship leaders, CALL them to worship. A former pastor of mine used to challenge me to do this more often. Now I'm passing it along.

Of course there's the "Call to Worship" many folks use at the beginning of a service. And that's wise. Since worship is always a response of people to the revelation of God, it makes sense to start the worship of God with the word of God.

We often call them to sing, but there's a difference in singing and worshiping. Call them to worship. Of course you can worship without singing, and you can sing without worshiping, but God knows the impact of putting them together. The Bible instructs us to sing! In fact, believe it or not, we're commanded to sing more than we're commanded to love. It's a common theme throughout the scriptures, and especially in the Psalms. So there's certainly nothing inappropriate about admonishing a congregation to sing. But it has to be a calling up, not a calling out.

It has to be a calling up, not a calling out.

We want them to lift their song to our Triune God, not just to make their voices louder.

So quick prompts like, "sing to your Savior," or "sing out to our great God," or "sing from your heart to the heart of God" are all ways to encourage Biblical singing. Soul singing.

But there are other ways to call people to worship too. Here are three I have found to be effective:

1. Point people to how amazing God is. Briefly.

2. Talk about what Jesus has done. Briefly.

3. Rely on the Spirit in the moment. Constantly.

There’s a big difference in worshipping in front of people and inviting people into the presence of God.

I cannot overstate this: don’t call them out, call them up.

It's a lesson I learned the hard way. One church member early in my ministry went to our pastor, frustrated that I was condescending in my admonitions to sing. I had no idea. In fact, and I hate how selfish I was, it made me angry at the criticism and devastated by my failure! But the church member was right. I had talked down to them rather than called them higher.

It was a hard lesson, but one I'm glad I was taught.

So, when your congregation isn't engaged, resist the temptation (mine anyway) to chastise them. After all, few of us respond well to that. Instead, consider how would you want someone to call you up. I rebel when pushed down. I respond when called up.

So call them to worship. Call them up.

I'm curious. How do you do this? What has worked? Better yet, help other readers... what hasn't worked?