Quick, hide the tambourines!

I have been to one or two big event nights run by the ministry charity David’s Tent. The worship is glorious and it is hard not to feel the love of God. I have attended less polished, intimate nights at church too. Towards the end of last year, our worship team was cajoled into leading an extended worship night, at a month’s notice. As a team, we had a great desire for this but, without any sense of authority or great experience, we also felt intimidated. We had been growing as a team, meeting regularly to practice, play and improvise, and starting to go deeper into fellowship and prayer. Our worship together on a Sunday was becoming fun, free, spirit-full and far from anxious. We had all attended some kind of worship night but we did not quite know how to lead one.

We tried to work out timings. It needed to be at least two hours long but could end up being longer. How many songs did we know? Should we have backup songs? Could we have all the songs in the same key, so that when played together they were seamless? A team member with a little more experience than the rest of us said we needed breaks between songs. Good point! In the end we involved the vicar and the curate for their advice. We planned a night with three sessions: the first to open with proclamation followed by a time of prayer, then a set of songs about the spirit and intimacy with God, followed by another session of prayer, and to end, a set about kingdom and God’s call for us.

The realities of doing it were a surprise to us all. Our rehearsal lasted two hours of almost non-stop playing and working out. On the night, we had too many songs and not enough stamina. We wanted the lights up, but the other people attending and organising wanted atmosphere and mood. Would we be able to see our music? We finished the night tired but elated. We had fully worshiped. I had danced like crazy. We had done it, our first worship night!..

Commitment-Phobe is a Christian

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This is an extract from an article that was published in the April 2020 edition of Reform

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