Improving Your Worship Experience
How can you improve your worship experience?
There are at least two perspectives as you read that question. One says, “yes, I’ve been wanting to up our game for the worship experience!” The other says, “I don’t like that you call it a ‘worship experience.’”
If you’re in the first, keep reading because this will help. If you’re in the second, you’re probably tuned into why the words we use matter - they shape our expectations.
As the Church has worked to become more accessible to those turned off by religion, it has adopted other language. I get the idea of an “experience” that we invite people to, well, experience.
The trouble is that an “experience” reframes worship as:
Something the individual has
Rather than something the church offers to God (we don’t offer the Lord a worship experience)
In that light, I don’t think it’s the best way to refer to what we’re doing. But no matter what you call it, the best way to improve it is to:
Try it at home first.
Here are a few ways that our family is trying to implement this.
WORSHIP AT 7:00 AM
Homeschooling affords us the advantage of setting our family schedule. I always had a longing to worship with my family, but it felt like everything crowded it out. To prepare us for the Launch 61 schedule, about a year ago, we implemented the following schedule:
6:30 Personal devotions
7:00 Worship
7:30 Fitness (we always start with Japanese Radio Exercise)
This morning, we actually had all the kids in for it so we had 2 guitars, bass, drums, keys, and singers. (The blessing of a large family!) When I looked around and realized we were all together, a wide grin spread across my face.
SING
I’ve mentioned this before, but this has become a consistent blessing. Every weekday morning, I receive a text from The Worship Initiative. It links me to a 15-minute devotional recording where we pray, read scripture, and sing! It’s not highly produced, they use a wide variety of songs (I’ve certainly learned a few new ones), and my favorite thing about it is that you don’t get the sense that they are doing it for you, but rather with you. It’s like the leaders believe they need it as much as you do. Which they do! https://sing.theworshipinitiative.com/series/daily/2026-02-25?ref_user=ca6fd70d-1bf1-4778-97d7-57464a1bfc5d
THE NIGHT BEFORE
My sister and her husband used to serve on their church’s worship team most weeks. When they had three young children, they learned the power of “the night before.” On Saturday night, Sunday’s clothes would be laid out, breakfast was planned, and anything they needed to take in the morning was put by the door. I mean, this isn’t rocket science, y’all, but it’s amazing how much more fully we can engage with the Lord if we don’t arrive at church frenzied and frantic!
And I love the Jewish idea that the day begins the evening before. You rest before you work, not after. The application here is that we prepare for worship the night before.
STOP CARING (what they think)
Apply Galatians 1:10 to how you worship the Lord. “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Am I thinking, “What are they thinking about me as I worship?” This isn’t the heart of worship. Here are two resources to go deeper in biblical worship: https://www.adlibmusic.com/worship-fertilizer/37 and https://www.adlibmusic.com/podcast/62
BE IN THE WORD
I’ve been texting “John 9:23” to friends lately when I want to say “ask him yourself.” After doing this to one of my favorite Texans, I said, “Got you in the word, tho!” But seriously, my 18-year-old daughter was just telling me how meaningful it is when the sermon on Sunday references one of the scriptures she was reading in her daily devos. It’s not only important to be in the word on a daily basis, asking the Word to reveal Himself as we read the bible, but to be using devos that we like. If something isn’t working, just switch to something else. But do whatever it takes to find yourself sitting with Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you as you read.
I know these aren’t the latest production techniques or mind-blowing suggestions. But applied regularly, they will most certainly improve your worship experience as you serve the Lord and gather to worship Him.
-Dave Helmuth
Author of the Five Faders and Founder of Ad Lib Music
Improving Your Worship Experience (Nº 468)
