Basic Steps
We’re a part of an eclectic small group made up of expats. Expats, short for expatriate, is someone who lives outside their native country. So we have folks from California, New Jersey, Ghana, Germany, Netherlands, Kentucky, Columbia, Florida, Colorado, Ireland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Costa Rica. It’s a wildly diverse group!
Our friend who leads it grew up not in “traditional church” but in a “house church.” He’s used to everyone just showing up and calling out what to sing as we worship in song. No planning, just participatory, 1 Corinthians 12 style. (“Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.” MSG)
We call the group “Songs” because we do lyrics by a WhatsApp chat group by the same name. When someone suggests a song, we send the lyrics to everyone by text.
It’s beautiful. But it’s worlds apart from what most of us experience every Sunday morning.
He recently asked me, “Do you think you’ll be able to come to our house in a week for Songs night? If so, I’d like to plan some music with you in advance.”
Of course, I agreed. (Because often I’m at his mercy when he calls out a song I’ve never heard, and I have to find the key and pretend I know it as I plunk out an accompaniment on piano!) But a few days later, he said, “I have no idea how to “plan music.” :)”
He’s never had to. And he most often functions as our “worship leader.”
I was fascinated. So I sent him a quick brain dump:
Here are some of the things that I do when I’m planning.
Ask the Lord for direction, which could be a song, a theme, or a central scripture.
Look at my master list of songs and pull the ones that stand out.
Think about the individuals that will be there and try to guess what songs they are likely to know: well-known hymns, group favs, https://www.praisecharts.com/song-lists/ccli-top-100-united-states, etc.
Remember how many songs you need (3-6) and start putting them in some sort of order. Sometimes I think from the perspective of the group being led and ask what would be helpful to them, what sequence seems fitting, what song would make sense to sing after the previous one, what song I want to start with, etc. I’ll also think about keys and groupings.
Then I prepare the chord charts for myself and whoever will play along.
Lastly, I get the lyrics ready.
Why am I sharing this with you?
Because to mentor your upcoming worship leaders, you must be able to distill the planning steps into simple, followable steps. Sure, the process has more mystery and complexity than this, and each of these bullet points could have much written about them.
But I’m assuming you’re mentoring upcoming worship leaders. You are, right?
Have them write down their “basic steps” in planning. Write your own. Compare notes and learn from each other.
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
Basic Steps (Nº 340)
