It has been a couple of weeks since the announcement from our government that our country, South Africa will be heading into a 21-day National lockdown in the aid of flattening the curve against the spread of Covid-19. To many people this caused fear and uncertainty to fill their hearts. Doubts quickly filled the mind of how they will survive and provide for their families. In a time of crisis, the church is a place that provide comfort and hope, and sadly for many churches this lockdown meant that they will simply have to close with no means of being a voice of influence. With no meetings taking place, how can the church provide comfort and hope to a world in need? 

I’ve taken the time to write this article to all worship leaders, to encourage you to be a voice of influence, and help you motivate your worship team. 

When a soldier heads into battle, he does so with the knowledge that he has gone through vigorous and precise training for the battle. He was made well aware that the day will come that he will have to step out into a battlefield. For every Christian, the same principle applies. The day for us to step out and fight the good fight of faith is here. Any soldier that fears, will freeze, resulting him end up being killed. As a soldier, their basic training has been drilled into them, and became their basic instinct to act upon. For us as Christians our basic training to combat fear should be our faith in the Word of God. Our position as worship leaders is crucial in this time. We know from 2 Chronicles 20 that the musicians were sent ahead of the army to praise God, and that is what gave them their victory. We as worship leaders have been given a voice and a platform which we should be using during this time! We are to lead the church into a time of Praise and worship! We don’t praise God for the situation, but we give Him all the praise because He has already overcome! The battle is the Lord’s the victory is ours!

How do we keep ourselves and our teams motivated?

This is not the time to sit and feel sorry for ourselves, or see this time as an extended vacation, or shall I say “staycation”. James 4:8 says that when we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. 1 Corinthians 14:4 and Jude 1:20 shows us that we strengthen ourselves in prayer! Any worship leader should be using this time to pursue quality time God. Let us use this time
to build our faith, improve our skills as musicians and build stronger relationships with our loved ones and our team. Some of your members might be struggling in this time, and now is a crucial time for you to stay connected.. Give them a video or phone call. Send voice messages to encourage them to stay in faith and draw near to God. Encourage them to push their skills and creativity to the next level. Show your team members that you love them. Pray for them and pray with them. Reassure your team that if any of them are struggling that you and the rest of your worship team family is there to help.

Church is closed, now what?

Hebrews 10:25 says that we should not neglect the gathering of the saints, but to encourage each other and even so more when we see the Day approaching. This at first seemed to be a catch-22 situation. How do we obey God’s word and gather, but at the same time submit to the instruction of our government? The Word says to obey the leaders of the land and also commands us to pray for them. As I read through various discussions on submitting to the president vs not neglecting the gathering, the Lord revealed to me that in adhering to the law of the leaders I am fulfilling the commandment to love my neighbor. When questioned, Jesus answered that the greatest commandment is to love your neighbor! It is because I love them that I stay home to help keep my neighbors safe. For the church to gather, we don’t need a building. We are the church. We can make use of every bit of technology to stay connected. In my church, we have set up that our pastor preaches live via our website as
well as social media platforms. It was truly amazing to see so many people interact and get into the Word in the comment section, and seeing that we are all gathered together! We have called for our worship team to each record themselves singing a specific song at home. I have put all the recordings together and we created a virtual choir. As the video played during our Sunday online service, the amount of comments kept streaming in with many people sharing how much the song and team has blessed them and brought many to tears. It might not have seemed grand recording on our own at home, but was truly amazing to see how God used each and every one of us collectively when it all came together. Ephesians 4:16 tells us that we are each a member of the body, knit together, and as each of us do our part, it causes the body to grow. The situation might be unfamiliar, but the truth of the fact is that each of us has been called with purpose. Every one of us have a part to play during
this time to help the body of Christ. Use what you have been given to inspire, encourage and lead others from a place of fear, to a place of faith with our focus on Jesus.

As worship leaders, now is the time, more than ever to use what God has given us to spread the message of hope, love and salvation.

Chris van Zyl

My Church / The Bay Christian Family Church
My Facebook / Lets Connect