Speaking or praying in worship can be terrifying for worship leaders.

Leading a band and singing songs is awesome. Public speaking is not!

Here are scripts for 25 things you can say in worship to help you sound
theologically coherent and confident as you lead your congregation
between songs. These scripts are grouped into five different
categories appropriate for various parts of the worship service.

Call to Worship
A call to worship is toward the beginning of the worship gathering. Its
purpose is to focus the congregation’s attention on the vertical
dimension of worship. Encourage your congregation to participate in
worship. Use readings from the book of Psalms to provide a biblical
justification for worship.

1 - Good morning and welcome to Your Church Name. During this next
hour of hour worship gathering, I want to invite you to focus your
attention on the reason we are here. We gather to worship every
weekend to encounter our God. We are not here to be entertained.
We are not here to check a box off of our list of religious
responsibilities. We are here to unify our church body in worship
before our God who has saved us and gives us new life.

2 - There are so many things in this world vying for attention. We are
constantly being pulled to worship things like materialism, status,
devices, bank account balances, celebrities, sports teams, and
relationships. It’s so easy to become transfixed on those things
because the human heart is an idol factory. We love to worship. The
truth is, there is nothing or no one in this world who can bring
fulfillment through worship. Only God can fill that hole. He is the only
one who does not disappoint when we put our ultimate hope in Him.
3 - Psalm 95 reads, “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout
aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with
thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” This passage is an
invitation for all of us to worship God, our creator, sustainer, and
redeemer. Our band is not here to put on a show. We are here to
provide an environment for you to praise God with music and song.
Accept this invitation and join us as we worship.

4 - Psalm 98 reads, “sing a new song to the Lord, who has worked
wonders, whose right hand and holy arm have brought salvation.”
God has worked wonders in the lives of many of us gathered here. He
has brought us out of darkness into light. He has healed relationships,
addictions, and disease. He is restoring hearts and ultimately one day
will restore the whole world. So as the Psalmist wrote, let’s sing a new
song to the Lord, who has worked wonders in our lives and our
church.

5 - Today we worship the God of the universe. He created everything

out of nothing. He has power over death. Nothing can stop Him or
stand against His purposes. That’s who we worship this morning.

Confession
The practice of confession is often missing in modern worship
gatherings. God desires that we be honest about our sinful condition.
Our relationship with God cannot flourish if we are not authentic
about our shortcomings and the various ways we wrong Him. Find
opportunities in your service to lead your congregation in corporate
prayers of confession.

6 - God, as we worship you this morning, we are in awe of your

greatness and holiness. But, we look at ourselves and realize how far
we have fallen short. We have wronged you, and we have wronged
our neighbors. We ask for your forgiveness, and we ask that by the
power of your Holy Spirit we will walk in your ways and live life as you
desire.”

7 - Father, we ask for your mercy. We are lost. We have strayed away
from your ways. In your Word, you have laid out a clear path for us to
live life to the fullest. Instead, we put our trust in the things of this
world. We put ourselves first rather than having the posture of a
servant. We are quick to anger when people offend us. We seek
mercy knowing that you are a gracious God.

8 - We live in a society which encourages us always to look our best.

When’s the last time you posted on Facebook that you argued with
your spouse, lied to a co-worker, or fell into addiction? Never, right?
God wants our honesty. Healthy relationships are based on honesty. As
we draw near to God, we must be honest about our condition. Let’s
humble ourselves for the next few moments and silently acknowledge
to God how we have sinned against him and our neighbor.

9 - In the Bible, there are a lot of examples of the heroes of our faith
who messed up. Despite their imperfections, what makes these
people heroes today is their honesty in dealing with their sin. David is
a great example. He messed up big time, but he confessed his sins and
asked God for mercy. Let’s join him in praying the words he wrote in
Psalm 51. “Have mercy on me, O God…(have the congregation read
Psalm 51 with you.)

10 - The book of James reminds us that Jesus experienced the same

temptations we do. Despite being without sin, he sympathizes with us.
He knows what it’s like to experience the temptations that cause us to
sin. That’s why we can be honest with Him. He is not a cold and
distant authority figure looking to crush us for messing up. He loves us
and has mercy on us. Let’s take a few moments of silence and
acknowledge how we have sinned.

Assurance
It’s always a good idea to follow a confession of sin with an
assurance of God’s love and forgiveness. That’s why we can confess
our sins in the first place. We confess in the context of covenantal love.
Each week we want to remind our congregation of God’s relentless
and tenacious love for them. There are dozens of scripture passage to
use in this scenario.

11 - In Psalm 103 we read that our “God is merciful and gracious, slow
to anger and abounding in love. He does not deal with us according to
our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is
from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.” I want to
remind you this morning of the hope we have in forgiveness through
Christ. No matter how much you feel you have fallen short, God still
loves you.

12. Among human relationships, love can often seem fickle. It’s based
on feelings and circumstances. God’s love for us is based on a
promise. While God may feel disappointed when we disobey with
Him, he is still committed to loving us because of the covenantal love
displayed on the cross. He is gracious and offers us forgiveness. That’s
something worth thanking and praising God for.

13. In Romans 5, Paul writes, “God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God forgives us
regardless of our moral standing. It’s one thing to make a huge
sacrifice for people who deserved it. It’s an entirely different level of
sacrifice when you die to save unholy and sinful people. Even when
we were in willful rebellion against God, he sacrificed his Son to save
us.

14. It’s a well-known truth that we are sinners. But we have hope in a
greater truth that in Christ, we are forgiven by God. If you turn from
your old ways and trust in God’s promises, you will be saved. You are
a new creation.

15. God knows us more intimately than we can imagine. He knows our
thoughts, our desires, what we’ve done, and what we will do. None of
these things are beyond his forgiving love. Humbly cry out to Him for
mercy and He will forgive you in Christ. You are accepted, loved, and
forgiven.

Personal Connection
Worship leaders often overlook the need to make a personal
connection with their congregation. Find opportunities in worship to
introduce yourself, share a bit about yourself, and share testimonies
about how God is working in your life. Here are a couple of examples
of personal connections I’ve made.

16. Friday evening my wife and I went to a Rockies game at Coors

Field. Honestly, I’m not that into baseball, and I find it quite boring. But I
love when it gets to the seventh inning stretch. Although it is so routine,
there is something powerful about all 40,000 people standing and
singing “take me out to the ballgame.” I transformed from a passive
spectator to being a passionate bandwagon fan for all of two
minutes singing that song. Singing is powerful, and that’s why we do it
together at church. But we have a much greater reason and purpose
other than sports tradition. We get to unify our voices together to
praise God.
17. Good morning, Deer Creek Church. My name is Jake, and I’m
excited to worship with you this morning. I have been friends with
your staff for a while now, and I love how vibrant and life-giving your
church is. To tell you a little bit about myself, I am married to my wife
Kaylee, and we do not have any kids, but we have four chickens…
(everybody laughed and I invited them to sing. This was a church I
was interim worship leader.)

Song explanation
One of the best ways to lead your congregation in by explaining the
meaning of songs in worship. Some songs are straightforward and
don’t need much explanation. Other songs have deeper or thoughtful
meaning behind them that could use some unpacking. Keep the
explanations short.

18. Touch the Sky by Hillsong United - We are going to sing a song that
reminds us of the upside-down nature of God’s Kingdom. The world
tells us that if we are to advance or make progress in life, we need to
acquire more, become greater, and more independent. The way of
God’s Kingdom is much different. If you want to ascend in status, you
must descend. If you want to be great, humble yourself. If you want to
find life, be willing to give it up. This is tough stuff, but it’s how God
does incredible work in our life. Let’s sing this together.”

19. What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong Worship - There is no other

name in history as influential as the name of Jesus. Billions of lives
have been saved and transformed by placing their trust in his name.
The next song we are about to sing walks us through the narrative of
the Gospel. God longs for restoration between heaven and earth. He
longs for us to be saved. Jesus made that possible through his death
and resurrection. That’s why we join our voices in praising the
wonderful, beautiful, powerful name of Jesus.
20. Reckless Love by Cory Asbury - You’ve probably never thought of
God’s love as being “reckless.” Reckless means doing something
without regard to the danger or consequences of that action. While it
may seem strange to sing about God’s love as “reckless” we need to
look no further than the parables in Luke 15 that describe God’s love.
The shepherd left the 99 sheep in search for one sheep. The woman
puts aside everything to search for the lost coin. The prodigal son’s
father throws a huge party and radically accepts his rebellious son.
Those are all examples of reckless love. That’s the type of love God
has for you and me.

21. O Come to the Altar by Elevation Worship - In the old testament,

the altar was a place where people came before God and sought to
be made holy for His purposes. Back then they sacrificed animals to
experience communion with God. Since Jesus’ death was the ultimate
sacrifice on the altar of the cross, we can come before God without
needing to make animal sacrifices. Instead, we surrender our own
lives to God so that we can be living sacrifices. That’s what this song
is about. I want to invite you to embrace God’s transformative love for
you through Christ. You are made holy and accepted by God because
of Jesus' blood.

22. Lion and the Lamb by Leeland Morning - Our God is all-powerful
and unstoppable. At the same time, he is tender and loving. The bible
is full of examples of this. In some passages, he is described as being
a strong lion. In others, he is a humble lamb. He fights our battles and
is willing to lay down his life for us. As we sing this song, be
encouraged he is both for us and with us.

23. King of My Heart by Sarah Mark MacMillan - Life is full of ups and
downs. Joys and sorrows. Victories and tragedy. No matter our
circumstances, God is still good. Life with Jesus doesn’t mean we are
not going to face hardship. Sometimes we may even face more
hardship because of our faith. Our ultimate hope is in God being with
us during the hard times. If our hope is in his goodness rather than our
circumstances, He will never let us down.

24. This I Believe (The Creed) by Hillsong Worship - For nearly 2,000
years, Christians have been professing the tenants of our faith with
the words of the Nicene Creed. Creed comes from the Latin word,
Credo which means, ‘I believe.’ These ancient words are still relevant
to our modern faith. The help us better understand the God we serve
and worship. They unpack the story of the Gospel. Let’s reinforce these
truths in our hearts and minds by singing this song together.

25. Only King Forever by Elevation Worship - There are so many things
and people in this world grasping for attention, devotion, and
allegiance. Consumerism, politics, and our sinful desires want to be
king over our lives. As we sing this next song, let’s declare that Jesus is
the king of our individual lives and king of the whole universe. He is
the only king that can bring restoration and healing to our world. Not
a political movement, not technology, and not ourselves.

Found these tips helpful? Visit churchfront.com to learn

more practical skills to help you grow in worship and
creative ministry.