13. Leading (4) - Sending People Out

The fourth and final video in our mini-series on 'when you're actually leading' - sending people out.
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13. Leading (4) - Sending People Out
Sung worship doesn’t exist on its own: it’s part of a whole service of worship. We can become more aware of this when leading worship by asking three questions:
- What’s just happened?
- What’s happening now?
- What’s happening next?
These three questions develop our awareness of sung worship as part of a whole service, and enable us to lead by linking different parts together.
That first question - ‘What’s just happened?’ - is most important when you’re gathering people into worship. ‘What’s happening now?’ is something we looked at in the video on reading the room: being attentive to the work of the Spirit in the moment and then responding.
This time, we’re coming to the end of this time of sung worship and asking ‘What’s happening next?’ There are usually two situations when you’d ask that question: either in the middle of a service, or at the end.
In the middle of the service, you’re probably looking ahead to a sermon or some kind of teaching from the Bible. To lead through that transition, you might want to pray at the end of the last song of your set: thanking God for his presence, welcoming his Spirit to teach and form his people through his written word. Then you can invite people to sit down, and welcome up whoever is going to lead the next part of the service. Again, that physical posture change signals a new moment, and a change in mind and heart posture.
Now let’s think about the end of the service. ‘What’s happening next?’ might seem like a strange question to ask here - it’s the end of the service, so nothing’s happening next, right? Well…no.
Sung worship doesn’t exist on its own: it’s part of a whole service of worship. In the same way, a service of worship doesn’t exist on its own either: it’s part of a whole life of worship.
So, ‘What’s happening next?’ is exactly the right question to ask. The end of a service is a great opportunity to look ahead to the coming week and make some kind of connection between the gathered church and the scattered church: this moment of worship together, and our whole lives of worship elsewhere.
It might be that another service leader does this and concludes the worship service. But if it’s you, then take the opportunity to draw the threads of the service together and then guide people’s attention outward again.
You could do this through a closing prayer, thanking God for something that has come up in the teaching or the prayers, and connecting that to life outside the gathered church.
You could also do this with your choice of closing song: could you choose a song that encourages people to look outward into the next week, or start praying into the situations they’ll be in?
You can do this with a more specific invitation too. I’ve often paused in the middle of a final song, kept playing, and then invited the congregation to sing a verse or chorus again, but with their workplace, or school, or street, or family in mind.
The point here is the same one we spoke about in our first video, What is Worship? Worship is a whole-life response to God’s mercy, and gathered worship in church helps to train God’s people to worship God in the whole of life.
Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21). And as worship leaders, we have the honour of reminding God’s people about how Jesus sends all of us out into the world in the power of his Spirit, to live and work to his praise and glory.
So, to sum up: sung worship is part of a whole service. Three questions to ask, what’s just happened? What’s happening now? What’s happening next? In the middle of a service, end the worship set in a way that prepares people for what’s next (often learning from the Bible); and at the end, if it’s you closing the service, draw the threads together and guide people’s attention outward again towards worship in the whole of life.