242:. Practices of Effective Worship/Creative Ministries – 4
· Creativity / Worship · Posted by cdenning · 2 Comments
11.03.09
This next principle is Teach Less for More. This is focused heavily on curriculum for ministry teaching or for communicators. The idea is that our instinct is to try and impart as much knowledge as possible in the time that we have available. The more information we cram into a talk will result in more receptiveness. This would be the fallacy. This approach is like using a shotgun at a distance. You’re gonna spray the area with information, but you’re probably not going to make a big impact.
What the books suggests is that we should decide what is most important to impart in the given time that you have, and to focus as much as you can on that. The more we whittle down what we want to teach into what the book calls “irreducible minimums”, the better we will be able to reach our target audiences. This would be like using a precise sniper rifle for a distance shot. You’re going to hit exactly what you want exactly how you want to. The point will come across as it needs to.
I’d like to take this down a different road. I feel like this particular idea of Teaching Less for More plagues the worship/creative community in the context of worship leaders. Most worship leaders don’t want to just sing the songs and get off the stage, however most pastors (and others alike) don’t want a second sermon during a worship service. There has to be a happy balance where the worship leader can actually lead through the songs without digressing into a soliloquy.
I think this is were the worship leader needs to begin to develop these “irreducible minimums”. What are some things about worship that you want to teach during worship in a way that isn’t a speech? We need to learn how we can impart these simple, concise truths into the time of worship that bolsters what the songs are doing rather than distracting the congregation. Anything you say should only spur them further into worship and help develop their posture of worship.
I don’t think that worship leaders should keep their mouths shut. I think that using words to explain/give context to songs or to explain truths about the Bible are worship is an extremely valuable asset for a worship leader. However, we need to learn how to dilute our potential sermonettes into simple phrases that we can use again and again to further teach and lead the congregants in worship. It is a skill that you must work on and pursue. To ask a worship leader to can it and stick to the songs, I believe, is to limit their potential to lead worship as best they can. But like I said, it is a craft that must be worked on.
How else could Teach Less for More be used in the worship/creative context?
One.Love
cd
Jordan Karp
Great writing dude. But I think you are assuming that most of the congregation is there loving and embracing the word. I would assumer the audience that the book would be referring to are the ones who are just there “going through the motions.” These people wont really be listening to the words. They will be going one ear and out the other. To reach them I think that music, which speaks more to the heart than spoken word, needs to be more heavily used. Once you capture the emotions with song people will seek to be better Christians on their own. That is when the words should come into play. Just some thoughts
cdenning
You make a great point in that music can speak much deeper than words most time. I feel the using the music and lyrics on their own to lead people on to action in their own lives is a necessity, but I do feel like leading/clarity is needed from time to time. When you want a point to be driven home, to further support or elaborate on a given theme or topic, I feel like it helps to have a few precise words to lead people in their worship/processing. I don’t think that it should be an all the time thing, but a leader should be very picky about what they do and do not say. Good stuff.