The Roles of a Praise & Worship Leader

The roles of a praise and worship leader don't start in front of the congregation on Sunday mornings. Those roles start with a life dedicated to serving Jesus Christ. This involves studying the Bible to learn how to lead with the love, sensitivity, authority and humility modeled by Jesus. A praise and worship leader's life, as viewed by the congregation on a daily basis, has as much or more effect on the worship attitude of the congregation as a well-planned flow of music and singing from the worship team. The role of a praise and worship leader is to lead by how he conducts his life and how he treats his family and others.

One role of a praise and worship leader is to take responsibility to lead with excellence. What she does, she does to the best of her abilities. A praise and worship leader doesn't wait until Saturday night to choose music for Sunday morning. A praise and worship leader takes the role of worship leader seriously, not only as a position granted by the church but one provided by God as well. A praise and worship leader works with the pastor, planning music around the theme of the sermon. The praise and worship leader spends the week choosing the songs, working with the worship team and planning when and how music will flow to take the congregation from praise to an attitude of worship, waiting and ready to hear from God.

One of a praise and worship leader's roles is to lead the worship team in showing an attitude of respect and reverence for what they do, the congregation and a deep desire to draw others to know the Lord. The worship team reflects the attitudes of the leader. His role is to model an attitude of reverence, not a gloomy sadness, but a deep joy and gratitude for being able to lead the congregation into worship. His role as praise and worship leader is to make sure he and the members of the worship team recognize that worship isn't about themselves or showing off their talents, but about helping the congregation worship and honor God.

Because a praise and worship leader leads the team and congregation into worship, she needs to learn about using music to lift up, challenge and comfort. A praise and worship leader plans the service so others who are part of the service understand how everything works together. This requires the leader to communicate and work with pastors and other leaders on an ongoing basis. She puts together a service schedule for the secretary or whoever prints the weekly bulletins and does so in a timely fashion when it works best for the secretary. The leader is sensitive to the style of music that best fits the needs of that particular congregation.