Small Group Worship

Two weeks ago in our small group we had a time of worship that was filled with passion, prayer, and the tangible presence of God. It did not include a guitar, or any music for that matter. It was not lead by a "worship leader" nor was it hyped up in any way at all. It was simple and powerful, and it looked like this:

Tom Valdez was sitting on his couch and the rest of our small group (about 10ish people) were scattered around him in various chairs, couches, etc. I had asked him to lead the worship time by picking a section of scripture that talked about the biggness/goodness of God and to lead a time of prayerful worship around that. He started by explaining that he'd had a pretty crappy week and that when I had asked him to lead the worship time he was a bit skeptical, but decided to go for it. Then he read Psalm 103 and gave a very brief explanation of how these verses on God's love and redeeming character had lifted him out of his circumstances. Then we prayed. We prayed into the truth of these verses. We told God how he had lifted us out of pits, how he was our Rock, how much we appreciated the fact that our sins were removed "as far as the East is from the West." It wasn't fancy, it wasn't flashy, it wasn't hyped...but God was there, by his Holy Spirit, and we sensed his presence and love. We bowed our wills before him and we threw our affections toward him, and he poured out his love into our hearts.

Small group worship times can be pretty awkward at times, but if led well they can be simple yet transformative times. They can include guitars and singing songs from song sheets, they can be raised voices singing songs from our hearts, they can look like what Tom did in our group. There are a variety of ways to have corporate small group worship. The point is, they need to be led. Tom told us what to do, led us through the scripture, and then we were led in corporate prayer together. I would encourage those who lead these times to follow some very simple points as you lead:

1) Tell the group what you're going to do:
(Example) I'm going to read some scripture about the goodness and greatness of God. Pay attention to who God says that he is, or how he responds to us as we go through the scripture. Then we're going to pray our thanks and for those things and speak back those things to him. This isn't about us, it's about praising him.

2) Encourage the group to participate...don't be afraid to be expressive and passionate: 
(Example) Let's not ask God for anything during this time. Let's just lift our voices. (Then start out by going for it yourself...pray BIG prayers, or maybe even prep others by asking them to start out the prayer time beforehand. Just to say, prayer times can look like all the people raising their voices at once...which can be very good, individuals praying, or a combination of the two. Again, let people know what you're expecting.)


3) Lead by example in praying out, singing out, and sharing the prophetic

4) Look for opportunities to encourage people in your group afterward


Small groups are safe places to worship, build community, and practice the gifts of the Spirit. Let's continue to move forward as a church and lead people well into times of expressive worship!