The very title seems almost sacrilegious, doesn't it? You don't manage worship. You just do it. Right? Well, it's my opinion that those who don't spend time managing their group's view and practice of worship should expect to suffer the consequences.

Many others far more eloquent than I have offered proper theologies of worship, so I won't duplicate their efforts here. We must recognize that worship isn't just singing—it's an understanding that our lives are to be lived in order to reflect and celebrate God (Rom. 12:1).

Worship as displayed in song is one way the desire to live that life is given full expression. Think back to math class, as painful as that may be, and picture a very simple Venn diagram with one smaller circle inside a larger circle. The largest circle is the broad picture of a life of worship, and the smaller circle represents our times of corporate singing. Yes, singing is worship; but all worship isn't song. To say that worship is only when we crank the amps up to 11 and pound out the latest worship tune is quite limiting; but for the purposes of this column, we're going to deal with corporate worship as expressed through singing.

Who's It For?

We also have to be careful about the attitude we encourage students to bring to a singing time. It's a delicate line. On one hand, we shouldn't come to God as a consumer. The point of a worship time isn't to improve our self-esteem or cheer us up or even to enjoy good music. I cringe when a certain song goes up on the wall and I hear students say, "Yes! I love this song!" as though that's what this is about. This isn't karaoke or "American Bandstand." The focus shouldn't be on which song you like or whether "worship was good" or not, but whether you were able to meet and exalt God in your heart and mind. Was your heart softened? Were you called to repentance and action?

On the other hand, we shouldn't come to the moment thinking we have something to give God and nothing to gain. John Piper compares God to a mountain stream against a water trough. A water trough needs help to remain full, while a mountain stream is self-replenishing and needs nothing. How does one honor a mountain stream? By drinking deeply. That's precisely God's invitation in worship, to come and drink deeply of the living water. God doesn't need our worship, but we can come and have our thirst quenched.

The Worship Junkie

This discussion is especially important as the contemporary worship movement cranks into full gear. I for one am eternally grateful for all that this movement has done for my own relationship with God. It caused my understanding of God to broaden when I was a senior in high school and led me to the realization that I actually can experience the presence of God when I sing songs of praise and worship. If we don't also foster a passion for study, evangelism and ministry, we can breed a dependence on a worship experience. Our students can become worship junkies, people who are only happy when they're "in the Lord's presence in worship." They very easily can worship the act of worship instead of worshiping God.