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For many church-going people, worship means singing -and it means singing at church. But worship isn’t limited to Sunday morning and it’s not limited to a specific place. Whether you’re looking to expand your understanding of worship or you are a worship leader in a local church, this post is for you. We’ll be exploring not only different ways to worship God, but why it matters.
What Is Personal Worship
Christian worship involves giving God glory, adoring Him, and revering Him. It’s not only the recognition of His greatness, but it’s also our choice to love and serve God first and only. While worship throughout the book of Psalms is often seen in the form of singing, Romans gives us a broader view of worship:
I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:1
In the context of the modern church, the term “worship” often refers first to corporate worship. Corporate worship is when a group of people come together to adore God, and together they sing the same songs and pray the same prayers; this is our Sunday morning service. In the midst of corporate worship, we can also have very personal experiences with God.
But if worship only happens corporately on a Sunday morning, we’re missing out on the fullness of experiencing God every day of the week. This is where personal worship enters the scene. Some of the most powerful worship I’ve ever experienced were not in a church service at all. They occurred while I was hiking on a trail, sitting on a rooftop in Mexico, or hearing the buzz of a hummingbird hovering over my shoulder.
Personal worship is being able to see God in the ordinary, everyday moments. It’s deeply intimate and profound. It can be planned, but is often spontaneous. It’s the recognition of His presence, His involvement, and His care.
Sadly, personal worship is often a missing part of discipleship. When our experience of worship is limited to church services, it leaves us dependent on having a worship leader or believing that the best worship involves talented musicians and being “led” by trained ministers.
This incomplete understanding of worship is quite tragic, and often leaves smaller churches feeling as though their worship comes up short with limited musicians or budgets that can’t accommodate high-end equipment. And this is so untrue!
In reality, worship is about our amazing God, and He is not limited by our talent or possessions. The recognition of that truth combined with heartfelt adoration, that’s worship. Whether corporate or personal, that awestruck, heart-pounding encounter with the All-Mighty, All-Knowing, Ever-Present, Fully-Loving God of the Universe … it’s not limited to talent, singing, sound, or equipment.
Let’s explore different ways to worship God and why it matters.
Why Is It Important To Be Worshiping In Different Ways
The importance of worshiping God in different ways is both about us and about Him. I’ve been a follower of Jesus Christ for over four decades, and although music has been a key form of worship in my life, there have been times when worshiping through music was inaccessible. Not only have I experienced illness when I could not use my voice for an extended period of time and migraines where avoiding any form of sound was necessary, but I’ve also experienced seasons of spiritual dryness when worship music felt more disconnecting than helpful.
Spiritual stages of growth include times of trials, dryness, and doubt (and yes, this is normal!) where worship takes on a whole new look. These stages can be incredibly God-honoring and an important part of deepening discipleship, but we cannot expect our experience of worship to remain the same.
And apart from our unique experiences and growth stages, God is anything but predictable!
Throughout the Old Testament, God showed Himself in wind, fire, and pillars of smoke. He sent manna from the sky, dropped in plagues of frogs, and parted a sea. And as if that wasn’t enough, generations later He sends His son to earth, and we see God showing up in the flesh! People of old were moved to worship in the wilderness and when they were grieving, celebrating, or even fleeing from their enemies. In addition to spontaneous or situational worship, we also see organized and planned Biblical worship in the form of annual celebrations, seasons set apart, and traditions of remembrance.
With the vast variety of worship mentioned throughout scripture, it makes me wonder how the modern church seems to have put worship in a box of corporate singing with the help of an organ … or an electric guitar. (By the way, I love worship music and the power of melodies, harmonies, and instrumental mastery. I just know that God has more for us!)
Let’s keep in mind that it was God who created us not only to speak and hear, but to see, feel, touch, taste, and smell. He created us physical, intellectual, emotional, relational, and spiritual. I believe all this variety not only allows us to more fully experience the world around us, but also has the potential to lead us to experience God’s fullness too.
Different Ways To Worship
If worship is about adoring God, consider all the tools and experiences at our disposal! Consider all your senses, abilities, and capacity in worshiping the God who created you. As Mark 12:30 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Here are a few of my favorite forms of worship. The list is not exhaustive by any means, but rather a few ideas to add variety, depth, and experience to our worship. All of these can be utilized in private, personal worship. If you are also a worship leader in a local church, consider ways to bring new experiences into weekly worship too. We can also use corporate worship to teach personal worship and remind our church members that Sunday morning is just a taste of what God has for us all in the upcoming week.
1. Experiencing God In Nature
We can rush through creation and be unmoved – or we can experience God through the nature that surrounds us every moment. Sadly, most of us live a life unaffected by all creation waiting to usher us into God’s presence.
Worshiping God in nature begins with noticing and calming our hearts and minds enough to see, feel, touch, and sense. While I love a nature walk or an extending hike away from the hustle, God’s creation is accessible by looking out any window, raising our eyes upward, or bending to touch the earth – in any climate and any season. From creepy, crawling things to warm, fuzzy snuggles from furbabies, the wonder of creation can only be missed by our choice to not notice.
God has made it so easy! Green things growing, water flowing (whether from springs or faucets!), and the highlight of His creation: humans. The sight of a sunset over a mountain peek causes many to bow in the wonder of a glorious Creator. But can you imagine if that emotion welled up every time we encountered His most prized creation: humankind?
2. Conversation With God (aka Prayer)
Considering prayer as a conversation with God opens up a world of possibility. Our childhood view of head bowed, eyes closed, and hands clasped is a valid, but limited, view of prayer. Check out the Christian classic Talking With God, by Francois Fenelon if you’re looking for inspiration on how to talk with God about everything that fills your heart! Prayer as worship can be shouting the joy of the Psalms and even laughing with God, as well as confession, thanksgiving, and requests. Prayer is not limited to quiet reverence or a set-aside time for quiet.
3. Meditation
While new-age meditation is often described as emptying your mind, Christian meditation is an opportunity to fill our minds with scriptural truth, Holy Spirit inspiration, and the reminder that God delights in us! Meditating on God’s love, His provision, and His greatness is a way to stay on the vine (John 15). While daily quiet times can be a great discipleship tool, when practiced as the checklist of Christian discipleship, they are incredibly lacking. Instead of abiding in Christ. Instead of abiding on the vine, daily quiet times can become similar to hopping in and out when it fits our schedule. Meditation is a way to fill our minds with the things of Christ all day long.
To worship fully goes beyond our thoughts. When we intellectualize the concept of mediation by solely considering our minds, it again, limits the great God of variety and all He has for us to experience.
To move deeper in worship through meditation, include your imagination with color, sound, scent, and touch. We can engage our senses in meditation whether we’re chewing on scripture passages, engaging in nature, or even considering God’s will for our lives.
4. Christian Service As Worship
Not all service in the church is worship. Again, it’s not the action that makes it worship. Service becomes worship not in our choice to work unto God, but in engaging our hearts, minds, and souls with the Holy Spirit. To be present with God and recognize His involvement and care for us in our moments is vital. Too often, church service feels obligatory and heavy. This is when we need the refreshment of Jesus’ easy yoke. Experiencing service as worship is not only possible, but life-changing.
5. Creative Expression
Oh, the arts! If this concept makes you cringe because you have experienced the arts as performance-oriented or another opportunity to fail, you are not alone. This is another tragedy of our modern world and it should not be! Please grab some playdough, swirl the colors, and enjoy the beauty! Whether music, art, dance, movement, painting, writing, building, constructing, journaling, or creating … these are all meaningful ways to interact with your Creator. It’s using what He created to connect with Him.
Playing with words, colors, movement, and more can open your heart to new freedom (and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!). If you are a worship leader, please consider adding poetry, tactile elements, and arts to your corporate experience. Check out this post on how a creative team can impact your church.
6. Silence
I was in my 20s when I experienced my first short, silent retreat. In a world full of noise, rush, and stress, silence can be unnerving. It’s so foreign that we might even want to recoil from it and many work hard to avoid it. However, I find God in silence, often. If worshiping God in silence is new to you, I encourage you to remove any expectations of what “success” in silence should feel or look like.
I love how Dallas Willard talks of silence in his book, The Great Omission.
Solitude well practiced will break the power of busyness, haste, isolation, and loneliness. You will see that the world is not on your shoulders after all. You will find yourself, and God will find you in new ways. Silence also brings Sabbath to you. It completes solitude, for without it you cannot be alone. Far from being a mere absence, silence allows the reality of God to stand in the midst of your life. God does not ordinarily compete for our attention. In silence we come to attend.
Dallas Willard
7. Ordinary Tasks
If you’ve never worshiped God while washing dishes, pick up the short book written by Brother Lawrence, The Practice Of The Presence Of God. It’s the shortest read that ever changed my life. A Christian classic, it is a clear depiction and testimony of how the mundane and the ordinary moments of our lives can be transformed into worship.
8. Liturgical Worship
While highly misunderstood by many contemporary churches, the word “liturgy” simply means having an order of service. Liturgical worship generally refers to a set of prayers, readings, and songs. Liturgy is less about how formal a church is, and more about structure and the participation of the people. In contrast, non-liturgical worship is more leader-centered and leader-dependent. Liturgical worship invites responses in reading and corporate prayers often spoken together.
After worshiping in non-liturgical churches for the past few decades, I have an even deeper love for liturgy than ever before. I’m reminded that corporate worship isn’t a show and doesn’t necessitate slick transitions or perfect harmonies. The public reading of scripture, lighting of candles, and responsive readings draw me to God afresh.
9. Non-liturgical Worship
Non-liturgical worship simply means unstructured. If you’re used to more structure in worship, consider mixing it up with the unexpected! Variety in worship can help us experience God in new ways. A spontaneous prayer, unplanned song, or open mic sharing praises can awaken our hearts like nothing else.
When worship becomes predictable, we are not experiencing God’s fullness. Noticing God and engaging with the Holy Spirit should be anything but mundane!
Your Style of Worship Might Look Different From Others
The nine ideas above are a tiny sampling of ways we can worship God. Worship is deeply personal, and it is also a journey of change and growth. Even in a corporate setting, worship is an individual experience. As uniquely as God has created each of us, our worship styles and preferences are also unique.
While some of our past experiences, relationships, and encounters with the church can be helpful in our spiritual journeys, others have caused harm. Some concepts and styles of worship may trigger past memories that cause us to move away from God instead of toward Him.
As we learn to worship and experience God with more fullness, I encourage you to extend grace to yourself as well as to those around you. Move away from feelings of pressure or requirement, and instead step out with curiosity and open hands to explore what newness God might have for you.
Experiencing God In Worship
To worship God is to know Him, love Him, and choose Him. We can’t know God without experiencing Him, and until we see Him face-to-face, there is always more. You are dearly loved and God delights in you. How have you experienced Him in worship so far? What’s next? Considering these questions and allowing God to grow you will encourage your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Read More:
Come Thou Fount: A Creative Worship Response – Small Church Ministry
