Creativity in Worship Planning

Creativity in worship planning can be a bit more time-consuming and complicated, but it is a worthwhile investment of time. The easiest thing for us to do as worship leaders is to draw from a tried and true list of songs, occasionally throwing in a new song. However, if we have been created in the image of God, He has given us the ability to create. He takes great delight in seeing his children follow in His footsteps, just as we are thrilled when our own children create something, whether it be a priceless work of preschool art, or the performance of an original piece of music.

As writers and worship leaders, we must challenge ourselves to be more creative, and help lead our people to do the same. It might be something as small as changing the service order, creating medleys of favorite worship songs, or utilizing different types of instrumentation on a song. For creativity to flourish in a church, the following attitudes are essential:

1. A willingness to take some risks, knowing that what we do might not be received enthusiastically at first by the congregation.

2. A willingness on the part of the worship team members to just listen sometimes. This might mean they don’t sing or play on every measure of every congregational or choral song on every service.

3. A willingness to put in some extra time to make the music the best it can be. It might mean we have to re-learn an old song in a new way.

4. A willingness to empower budding writers in our congregations to develop their skills, by utilizing their work whenever appropriate.

5. A willingness to discover and welcome new people onto our team, knowing they bring a valuable resource in their own creativity.

6. A willingness to keep learning. Even if we have been involved in worship leadership for a long time, there are always new, creative ways of thinking and doing. We must never stop learning.

Creativity is God-given. What we do with it is up to us. We must ask ourselves, “How can I be used to reflect this incredible attribute of God?” We might just be surprised at how creative we can be when we take the time to allow God’s Spirit to direct and empower us. It will be a blessing both to our Heavenly Father and to our churches.