Tips for Leading Worship at Lifegroup
As the person leading our time of encountering God, you have an opportunity to create a sacred space for group members to meet and worship God, in community! Here are a few ideas as you plan for this time:
PREPARE
- During the week, pray and ask God for a theme or songs to lead the group in. You are creating an atmosphere of worship (not just hitting ‘play’ on a youtube video).
- Check in with the Lifegroup leader on how much time you have.
- At the beginning, take a minute or two to share with the group a little bit about the activity/songs you chose, and give a simple prayer inviting God into the space and a prayer to close the time.
SETTING THE TONE: Focus on and Worship Jesus
- Silence: Most people come to Lifegroup after a busy day full of distractions. It may help to start with a minute of silence before moving into worship.
- The “Why” behind Worship: Remind people what worship is about - to focus and declare who God is because He's worthy. As we set our eyes on who He is, then that sets our hearts in the right place to be able to encounter Him!
- Start with Gratitude: Psalm 100:4 reminds us, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.” It’s great to start by thanking God for who he is and what he’s done in our lives.
WORSHIP MUSIC
- Choosing songs: Youtube songs with lyrics are best. You can also check out the Epicentre Church Spotify playlist for ideas.
- Lyrics: If you find your own worship videos without lyrics, you can text the lyrics to the group.
- Mute ads: Sometimes ads play in between videos, so be ready to hit mute if that happens, or pray/speak out between songs if there’s a long silence.
- Asking God to Highlight others to pray for: For longer times of worship, you can invite people to ask God to highlight someone to pray for and pray for them while the worship music is playing.
BE CREATIVE
Think outside of the box in what “worship” is: centering on Him and honoring who he is as our Lord, King Savior, etc. Meeting with him can look like musical worship, or many other forms (ex: art activities, meditating on a characteristic of God). Some ideas:
Art night: Play instrumental soaking music while people take time to reflect, draw/write out who God is or what he is saying. Some reflection questions to guide this time:
Testimony night: Invite group members to thank God for specific ways they’ve experienced his goodness/character, and/or tell short stories of how God's moving in their lives. Example questions: "How have you seen God show up in your life lately?" or "What's a story of God moving in your life?"
Remember God’s Faithfulness: Pass out sticky notes/paper and have people write down how they’ve seen God show up in their lives/what they’re grateful for from this week (they can use multiple sticky notes per person), then get into small groups and share what they wrote, then pray for each other.
Art night: Play instrumental soaking music while people take time to reflect, draw/write out who God is or what he is saying. Some reflection questions to guide this time:
- Father, what aspect of your character do you want me to focus on?
- What is one truth about you or how you see me?
Testimony night: Invite group members to thank God for specific ways they’ve experienced his goodness/character, and/or tell short stories of how God's moving in their lives. Example questions: "How have you seen God show up in your life lately?" or "What's a story of God moving in your life?"
Remember God’s Faithfulness: Pass out sticky notes/paper and have people write down how they’ve seen God show up in their lives/what they’re grateful for from this week (they can use multiple sticky notes per person), then get into small groups and share what they wrote, then pray for each other.