Vietnam Evangelical Covenant Church – Music ministry, and praise and worship in general, is a key and indispensable element of the church’s worship services. So what is the ultimate goal of worship?
Music and praise are an important part of church life. But without clear goals of worship, a team can easily focus on technique, performance or personal preferences. The Psalms end with the call, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6). Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB).
“Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.” (Psalm 34:3)
In one short verse, King David shows us three important purposes of Christian music ministry. They apply whether our church has 100, 1,000 or 10,000 members. The destination doesn’t change. We may take different paths to get there, but we can’t skip them. As worship leaders, our task is to lead the congregation into worship with these three purposes in view. They can be summed up in three words: God, the Leader, the Congregation.
3 Goals of Worship
1. God
“Magnify the LORD.” Any Christian music ministry must first exalt God. So we must always prioritize raising the quality of our worship services.
2. The Leader
David says, “Magnify the LORD with me.” The second goal of music ministry is found in the word “me.” “Me” represents those directly involved in the ministry, those leading praise in worship services. Any form of exalting God must include “me.” We cannot ask someone to go where we ourselves cannot or will not go. (Imagine how flat it would sound if David had said, “Magnify the LORD with them”!) “Me” stands in front and leads the congregation in praise. “Me” must understand the importance of praise and worship and know how to lead others into it. So a successful music ministry will prioritize raising the quality of its worship leaders.
3. The Congregation
“Let us exalt His name together.” Our task is to help the congregation worship God wholeheartedly and steadfastly. David didn’t want to be the only one experiencing true worship, and neither should we. We can’t be satisfied when people just stand and watch us sing. We must aim to help them live a life of worship. So every music ministry should prioritize raising the quality of worship in the congregation. We must work with our church’s worship leaders to help the church understand what a life of true worship looks like.
Developing worship leaders and a worshiping congregation takes far more effort than simply focusing on which songs suit the service. But as we often say at Valley View, “Our ultimate goal is not to produce quality worship services. That is a secondary goal. Our top priority is developing a quality worshiping congregation, which is what gives us quality worship services.”
Keeping the Goals of Worship in Music Ministry
Before every rehearsal and service, the worship team should take time to pray together and remind one another that the goal of worship is to exalt God and lead the church closer to Him, not to show off talent.
Choose songs with biblically sound lyrics that suit your church and that everyone can sing. Good skill matters, but a humble heart and a godly life matter even more.
If you serve in the choir or band, remember that you are serving God first, then the church. When we keep the right goals of worship, every service becomes an offering pleasing to Him.
You may also like: True Worship and Church Small Groups.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for those who serve in the worship ministry. Keep their hearts humble and focused on You, and use music to draw the church closer to You. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Article: Vĩnh An
Adapted from: Next Level Worship
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