What is a "Worship Workshop"?

We keep talking about doing these worship workshops in Ireland and it occurred to me that there are probably many that have no idea what that is all about. So if you have been wondering what a worship workshop looks like, here's my best effort to describe it...

Beth and I meet together with worship leaders, worship teams and anyone else who might happen to be interested, and have an open floor discussion about Biblical and practical issues regarding worship and worship leading.

We have had as few as four and as many as a couple of dozen so far. We don't lecture. There are several reasons for this. First, we feel that learning is best done interactively. When one actively participates, rather than passively absorbs, one will remember what has been discussed. Second, participants will stay awake. Third, discussions are dynamic and unpredictable, so participants enjoy the process and are stimulated to learn. Fourth, we (Beth and I) nearly always come away having learned something. One thing we learn is how the group thinks and feels and we can make modifications to our plan on the fly. We also might actually gain new insights into the topics discussed by way of comments and observations by the participants. We are also learning about the culture and its prevailing attutudes and viewpoints.

Our discussion times, while free flowing, are directed and focused. We have an outline to follow that is tailored to each particular workshop as suggested by the worship leader. If we use the entire outline, our discussion times may take up to about 6 hours. That doesn't include a lunch break, or any type of practicum with the worship team.

A practicum might be allowing the band to do a few songs and then giving constructive criticism and pointers as to musicality and presentation. Alternatively we might divide the group into vocalists, keyboardists, etc. and give practical insights in the use of particular instruments or vocal harmonies. We also may teach a new song and demonstrate effective rehearsal techniques. The thing we try to stay away from is style. Our style may not be that particular fellowship's style and we don't want to put up any walls because of it. I'll get into musical styles in worship at a later date.

I'm sure by now, you're wondering why in the world I'm boring you with all this. I don't know. Just felt like it. Thought there might be a couple of people who might think it was interesting.

I'll finish up with our basic discussion outline:

The Theology of Worship
- How do we define worship?
- Why do we worship?

The Philosophy of Worship
- Why is the worship of God important?
- What else seeks our worship?
- Why does God seek our worship?
- Forms of Worship
- The Role of Music
- The Music/Spirit/Worship Connection
- What is the right music for worship?

The Practice of Worship Leading
- What does it mean to “lead” worship?
- Who needs a worship leader?
- Who is the ultimate worship leader?
- Why have a worship leader?
- What are the requirements of a worship leader?
- How is one enabled for the task?
- What are the worship leader’s responsibilities?
- Planning Times of Worship
- Planning the Rehearsal

Practicum – Working with the team
- Effective Rehearsing
- Effective Arranging
- Playing as a unit
- Yes, even the bass player is a worship leader (Leading From Your Instrument)
- Developing Flow
- Q&A/Discussion