What is worship?

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Chad Marriott

Posted on: Thursday 15 December 2011

As musical directors at Kingdom Faith Church, Chad Marriott and Pete Norman are passionate about seeing people meet with God through worship and work tirelessly to train up and release others in their musical gifting. This is a transcript of a recent interview with them on the subject of “What is worship?”

What is worship?

Chad: I would say that worship is what you give out or your heart. It’s your heart expression towards God and that expression is expressed through your lifestyle and basically your relationship with God. And of course we know that people tend to think that worship is just the music side of things, but that is just one of many expressions. So if I was to put it down to one thing I would say worship is your own heart expression towards God.

Pete: I would second that and say worship is your lifestyle. Worship is a lifestyle that honours God, in one part, and then there is obviously the part of worship where we encounter God individually were you’re seeking to glorify God just in your daily walk with God in your life. Then there are times when you want to meet with God in prayer and, people say quiet times…I wouldn’t call them that…where you want to meet with God personally and that’s worship…but then there’s also corporate worship when you come together as a body and glorify God together.

I’ve always seen my role as enabling people to meet with God really.

What is the role of a worship leader?

Pete: Enabling people to meet with God. That goes with everything we do on a day to day basis, in terms of excellence in the music, so that the people aren’t distracted by bad musicianship…you shouldn’t really notice…if you’re noticing the band it’s probably because it’s not very good. If it’s good you probably wouldn’t notice it…and then down to the quality of the songs. Songs aren’t worship…there can be an anointing on a song but we use songs as a tool to encounter God. So enabling people to meet with God isn’t just about the actual worship leading…it’s the writing of songs…getting people up to speed with the songs so they’re not playing bum notes all Sunday morning, so that it sounds good…helping us to engage God together as a family of God on Sunday morning…that is our role really, Chad and I, to not be a distraction, not get in the way. Also to encourage people to worship God by actually worshiping God and engaging with Him with our entire being! The band and singers are great at that…people look at them and say, “There worshipping and I can join in with that and I can relate to it.”

Chad: Just to say, that as our particular art form which is music; that creative art form is there to join in with the Holy Spirit and express what the Holy Spirit is doing and for us to interpret and reflect through music what is happening in the Spirit whilst we are worshipping God. Music is a great way to express the different feelings that we have…so it could be very triumphant, or it can be glorious…it can be gentle and sensitive. Fundamentally our role is to be sensitive the Holy Spirit and to express what He is saying and how He is leading.

How do you discern what is a prophetic song and how do you bring it appropriately?

Chad: I think, when you know you get an utterance…when you get that gut feeling that you know that God is saying something prophetic…even if you don’t have the words and you don’t have all the ‘i’s’ dotted and the ‘t’s’ crossed… you at least get an impression of what it’s going to be. Whether it’s going to be a declaration song or whether you are getting the sense that God wants to speak into peoples hearts…so I think you already get the impression as to what that’s going to be. And therefore the execution of that is where you’re flying by the seat of your pants, but you do get a sense of what it’s going to be.

Pete: It  might be a scripture…I think Chad’s right…you get a sense…a prophetic song is singing out what is on God’s heart…any sort of prophecy is what is on God’s heart at that particular time and is also can be a declaring His intention for the future. You have to say ok, this is what I believe God is saying and then just being bold and having the courage to go for it. God says, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”(Psalm 81:10) So go for it! Sometime you get it wrong but we prophecy in part ( 1 Cor 13:9).  You know you don’t always get it spot on but there will something in there from God’s heart.

Chad: To go with that, Jesus says, “By there fruit you will Know them”. And to go back to what I was saying before, linking into what Pete has just said…when you know that something is going to be a declaration song…it’s through experience as well and you know that because of that being sung what it will lead to in the meeting. We try to avoid just singing anything out and then hoping for the best.

Pete: No, it needs to be focused.

Chad: So when I do this I know what the result will be…or the fruit it’s going to produce…there’s a point to it!

Pete: It’s going to release something in God…it’s always so that God can do something amongst His people.

Chad: So like, I know by the end of this song everyone will be on their faces

Pete: Yeah, or freedom and victory has been released.

  

So what advice would you give to a worship leader and band that is trying to break out of just singing songs and step out into more of a flow and prophetic worship?

Pete: We rehearse on Thursday nights and we try and split the evening so that there is equal amounts of straight practical rehearsal time…this is how the song goes and these are the notes…this is where the fingers go on the guitar. And then encounter time when we just meet with God for an hour and encourage people and have an open MIC hour. So ok were in this key and we’re jamming in the Spirit and the playing has a prophetic anointing and so Chad or I might say to the guitars, “play something out…solo in the Spirit…express the power of the Spirit  using shred.” (laughter) Or then you know, get the singers, the BVs or singing group to sing out what ever they believe God is saying in that time.  And in those times you are able to make mistakes in those times. It’s a safe space…you’re not going to grind a meeting to a halt because of someone making a mistake.

Anything that you sing out prophetically will line up with scripture and if it doesn’t then it’s obviously not from God. So that’s a general rule of thumb as well, a really obvious one. If it doesn’t line up with scripture, it ain’t God!

So create a safe space within your practical times…at least  50% of it if you can. We aim for half and half. And not only that on a Sunday morning, our meeting doesn’t start to half past ten but the worship team is there at half past seven in the morning praying for an hour. Then we have a team meeting with everyone whose serving in the morning, stewards, car parking…coffee team…everyone together and have a quick pray. And then we have our sound check where we get particle things out of the way as quickly as possible…everyone’s happy with their mix. Then we’ll meet with God for as long as we have left…it may be a good half hour sometimes and we have some great times of worship…and there’s no one in the building it’s just us and we have some great time.

So all the time we are aiming to cultivate practical preparation and personal preparation.

Chad: The best way is to prepare yourself, and I think it’s going to be different for everybody depending on their situation and what church they’re from. We’ve obviously gotten use to the way we flow, just because it’s the way we know how to flow…it might be different somewhere else but it’s basically those two things going hand in hand…creating the space for you to get use to what that feels like when God moves; yourself individually and as a group. And just get more familiar in your meetings and try and get more sensitive to if there is a space…if the Spirit wants to do something He’ll create a space. And even if you’re burning with something…like, “I’ve got a song, I’ve got a song!” but something doesn’t develop, well then maybe it’s just for you or for another time.

Pete: That’s right yeah

Chad: But get more familiar with your church and how your leaders create space. Do you create space or do you just do stuff and not even think that maybe the Spirit wants to move. I think because the way we operate is that we do have songs and we have times of worship but I think that in our conscious we are kind of always aware that actually we want to get through to where God wants to speak. So that’s our agenda. We want to get to that place.

Pete: There is something I purposely do before every meeting and that is, declare my dependence on God. To say that apart from Him I can do nothing and get to the stage where I can do nothing but I can do everything through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. So that you’re strong in Him and not in your own abilities as a musician you can rely on your ability…Chad and I go out gigging in pubs and clubs…you know, and play functions and stuff and we can play…we’re accomplished musicians…so we can do stuff in our own strength and so I have to consciously not do it in my own strength and depend on the Holy Spirit!

What do you think God desires when His people come to church on a Sunday?

Chad: That they’re on time!   That is part of worship!

Pete: To encounter Him. The aim of church is that we’re there to prepare the body for works of service.  So you should leave church, challenged and transformed from one degree of glory to another really. And in meeting with God that’s where it happens. You don’t just meet with God in worship you meet with God in the Word and in response to the Word…but worship isn’t the warm up to the Word…you know that is very often the case in the wider church. But very often we’ll worship on a Sunday and Pastor Clive is great cause if we’re really encountering God he’ll just let it run and we’ll just worship all morning…and the Word might just flow out of that then…and some of the most powerful mornings is when that happens.

Chad: I’d say He wants you

Pete: Exactly

Chad: And the reason that He wants you, is to express Himself to you so that you become transformed into His likeness

Pete: He wants to express Himself to you and through you

Chad: He’d rather have 10 mins where you’re completely focused and devoted to Him, so He can reveal Himself to you rather than have a whole hour of religious stuff to do…and you go out of the room exactly the same.

Pete: I think a Sunday should be the highlight of your week and you know church isn’t always that…let’s face it…but that’s what we aim for is for church to be the highlight of our week. That’s the point when we can all come together and we can all meet with God together. And all move on in the purposes of God together in worship and in the Word and respond to both.

Chad: one of the things we’ve learnt here is that at the end of the day, worship is for God it’s not for us. That’s the one part of the service where actually, worship is for Him. Therefore, we need to know, how God wants to be worshiped. Here at Kingdom Faith we’ve learnt a few things and we’re still on the path of learning how to express things. It’s the one part and particularly on a Sunday morning that’s the bit we kind of need to get right. Because worship is a lifestyle and worship is for Him it’s not just an element of a service. So it has to go beyond just being in a meeting, worship is the whole…you know your heart attitude and how we relate to one another it all coming from the heart.

I have a little joke with myself when people say, “lets have time of worship”… well do you want a time of worship or do you want to worship because what God wants us to do is worship…I know what they mean but I think sometime it can just become a box we tick…but God doesn’t see t like that.

Pete: Obedience is better than sacrifice

At this time what do you feel is the sound in the Spirit in this church and in the Church in the nation?  

Chad: Fender Rhodes mmm

Pete: Hahahaha

Chad: Interestingly enough I think the sound…actually, because it’s a spiritual thing is difficult to put it into words…I feel that it’s like a coming together …almost like a collection of arms, if I can put it like that…and fire. The sound that I’m sensing is that God is on the move but it’s actually His people who are being mobilised but before that happens they are coming together…so I don’t know how you would describe that as a sound…there’s a call and there’s a buzz about coming together and taking seriously  what God is doing. There’s an excitement but with that excitement there is a willingness to pay the cost…people are willing to pay the cost.

There’s a sense that it’s not just going to be a move of God but the sound in the Spirit is actually taking seriously the dealings of God. And actually we know what this it’s going to cost and we’re gonna go for it! I sense that is happening…not just in our church but nationally! The sound is like that trumpet call…it’s more than that…the sound is the people coming together.

Pete: It is the people coming together and it’s kind of expressed in the songs that have come out and the preaching of the Word that has come out recently. And the things that God is doing amongst us…love have underpinned everything. He’s drawing people with loving kindness and that’s expressed in a lot of the songs…there’s been a thread of God’s love through it all…and not love in a namby pamby way but in a powerful way. God is calling his people together and it’s under the banner of love.  The world will know that you are mine when they see that you love each other. (John 13:34)

It is like a clarion call…a coming together but it’s not driving it’s a leading and it’s under the banner of His love…it’s faith working through love…it’s always been there…it’s always been our motto…faith working through love…but that is the sound of God I think at this time. He is drawing His Church together and people from outside the Church into the Church…by His loving kindness for a purpose. It’s a complete lifestyle change and it’s going to take everything I’ve got  

© Kingdom Faith 2011