A week before my son was born, I was crawling around under my piano, laying down rugs and tying cushions to its soundboard. Hardwood floors, a grand piano, and a napping newborn? No, thank you. I needed to dampen my majestic instrument, to tone down its power for the sake of little ears.
In Spirit-Filled Singing: Bearing Fruit as We Worship Together, I consider how Ephesians 5, Galatians 5, and Colossians 3 present singing as a mode of cultivating spiritual fruit. This means that the fruit of the Spirit must also inform how we lead and participate in musical worship. It is clear that the love, joy, and peace of Christ should permeate our praises, that we should sing together with patience and kindness, and that our songs should resound with God’s goodness. It is also clear that we should lead and participate with the discipline of faithfulness and self-control.
But what of gentleness? What of this fruit of humility and meekness? I fear that we wrongly equate gentle worship with sloppy music, with fumbled phrases and mumbled lines. We may mistakenly imagine a gentle worship leader as timid, unprepared, amateurish. But really, gentleness is more like my pillowed piano; it is power under control. True gentleness is mastery tempered by meekness. It is using our gifts not to distract or drown out others, but to support them in confident praise.
I’d like to offer five marks of gentle worship leaders—leaders who, like my grand piano, are musical forces to be reckoned with, but who temper their strengths toward Christlike service.
Gentle Worship Leaders Serve
Perhaps I could also say “Gentle leaders serve first.” I am thankful that I was a volunteer musician before becoming a vocational leader. Sacrificing our time and energy through service helps us understand that worship leading—whether paid or unpaid—is not about worldly gain or glory. Volunteering forms us in the likeness of Christ, and prepares us to be “servants of worship” even as we work as worship leaders (Phil. 2:5–11).
Gentle Worship Leaders Submit
If Jesus, the very Son of God, did not scorn submission, then neither should we (Heb. 5:8). Too often in musical worship, our temptation is to choose only our favorite songs and styles, neglecting both gentleness and love as we “insist on [our] own way” (1 Cor. 13:5). It is no coincidence that Paul encourages the Ephesians to sing with one another immediately before exhorting them to submit to one another (Eph. 5:18–21). Musical worship is an opportunity to practice submission as we set aside our preferences to sing what will build up others.
Gentle Worship Leaders Study
The humblest worship leaders I know are those who have never stopped learning. They are perpetual students of Scripture and song, always seeking to grow in their knowledge, technique, and artistry. This might sound backward, but Scripture reminds us that wisdom should lead to humility (Js. 3:13). If we are in step with the Spirit, increased knowledge and skill will correspond with increased self-awareness, meaning that we will see our strengths and weaknesses realistically. As our competency becomes greater, our character should become gentler.
Gentle Worship Leaders Struggle
By this I do not mean that we should overlook serious sin. Rather, I mean that gentle worship leaders are often kept gentle through suffering. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul explains that, in addition to the gift of divine revelation, the Lord permitted him to endure an excruciating and humbling “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). For worship leaders, such a pain could be physical, perhaps an injury or disease that makes singing or playing an instrument painful. It could be a technical difficulty or lack of resources. Or it could be a congregation member who continually points out one missed note while ignoring a thousand correct ones. Such struggles are not arbitrary. As with Paul’s thorn, they are permitted to keep us from becoming conceited (2 Cor. 12:7–8).
Gentle Worship Leaders Step Back
Our job as worship leaders is to prepare people to praise, then to get out of the way. We must be like sound-enhancing surfaces—like the smooth stone of cathedrals—amplifying rather than absorbing our people’s worship. I am reminded of two verses from the hymn “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior.” They sing:
“May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing:
This is victory…
May His beauty rest upon me
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.”
Worship leaders ought to be “channels”—conduits that direct but do not distract. This gentle mindset informs everything, from our dress to our gestures, our arrangements to our attitudes. It motivates us to raise up other musicians, to trust others to lead, and to rejoice when our voices are covered by those of our people.
I am aware that stepping back can be particularly challenging for those called to leadership. However, it is also deeply encouraging. Notice that the New Testament’s calls to song are reciprocal: “address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19, emphasis added; see also Col. 3:17). Finding opportunities to step back—to let someone else take the solo or allow our congregation an a cappella chorus—not only helps us practice gentleness, it allows us to be refreshed through truly corporate worship.
