Are We Actually Prepared to Worship?

We spend a lot of time preparing worship. But how much time do we spend preparing to worship?

The worship leader prepares.

The band rehearses.
The production team checks everything.
The pastor studies.
The slides are built.
The songs are chosen.
The transitions are planned.
The room is ready.

But what about the people walking into it?

More importantly:

What about me?

Am I prepared to worship?

I recently came across a Barna study that stopped me in my tracks—not because it was new, but because it wasn't.

It was published in 2001.

Twenty-five years ago.

Barna found that 92% of churched adults said worshiping God was very important to them. That's encouraging.

But then the study went deeper.

Only about one-third of church attenders said they always experienced God's presence or interacted with Him at church. Another third said it happened often, while the remaining third experienced it less frequently.

Then came the statistic I haven't been able to stop thinking about:

Only four out of ten adults said they always came to church having prepared themselves to worship.

That means the overwhelming majority said worship mattered.

But far fewer were actually preparing themselves to do it.

We Prepare the Worship Service. Do We Prepare the Worshiper?

Barna made this observation:

“Part of the challenge may relate to personal preparation to worship.”

The study went on to find that many church attenders did not practice worship throughout the week, instead treating it as a special weekend activity. And while 68% said they always looked forward to worshiping God, millions still struggled to clear their minds enough to actually focus on Him.

I know this research is 25 years old.

But I fear little has changed.

We may have gotten much better at preparing worship services without necessarily getting much better at preparing worshipers.

Our technology is better.

Our arrangements are better.

Our musicianship is better.

Our environments are better.

Our planning systems are better.

And I love all of that. I believe excellence matters. Preparation matters. Creativity matters.

But none of those things can prepare my heart for me.

A perfectly prepared worship service cannot substitute for an unprepared worshiper.

Worship Isn't Something You Turn On

George Barna's comments following the study are fascinating. He observed that many people were attempting to walk into a worship gathering and immediately enter into something they had given little attention to beforehand.

His conclusion was that a truly worshipful experience isn't something people can simply “turn on and turn off at will.”

That language caught me.

Because isn't that exactly what we sometimes expect?

We live hurried, distracted, self-focused lives all week.

Then we walk into church.

The countdown hits zero.

The lights change.

The first chord rings out.

And suddenly:

Worship.

Go.

But worship doesn't work like a light switch.

Because worship isn't primarily a musical activity.

Worship is the orientation of our lives around the One who is worthy.

That's why I've become increasingly convinced that what happens in the gathered church cannot be disconnected from what happens in the ordinary life of the worshiper.

Sunday worship is meant to be the gathered expression of something already happening.

We Don't Start Worshiping When the Music Starts

This is something I talk about throughout ReWorship.

Corporate worship was never meant to carry the entire weight of our relationship with God.

We don't arrive on Sunday empty and ask the band to manufacture hunger for God in us.

We bring our lives.

We bring the prayers we've prayed.

We bring the Scripture we've been sitting with.

We bring the gratitude we've practiced.

We bring the obedience we've chosen.

We bring the repentance we've walked through.

We bring the God we've been delighting in on Tuesday, surrendering to on Thursday and depending on Saturday.

Then we gather with the people of God and say:

Let's tell Him together.

The easiest church to lead in worship is the church that wants to worship.

And that desire doesn't have to begin when the band does.

Maybe Our Churches Need to Learn How to Prepare

One of the most striking conclusions in the Barna study wasn't really about music at all.

Barna said many people had “never been taught much about worship.” They became frustrated when they couldn't connect with God at a deeper level but didn't know what to do about it.

That sounds less like a worship-leading problem and more like a worship-discipleship problem.

What if we actually taught our churches how to prepare to worship?

Not legalistically.

Not, If you didn't have thirty minutes of prayer before church, you're doing it wrong.

But intentionally.

What if we helped people understand:

You don't have to wait for us.

You can begin before you leave the house.

You can begin in the car.

You can put your phone away for a few minutes.

You can pray:

God, clear the distractions in me.

Search my heart.

Remind me who You are.

Help me see You.

Help me hear You.

Help me respond to You.

Today isn't primarily about what I receive. I've come to offer myself again to You.

That's preparation.

And honestly, that's worship.

Come With an Offering

Throughout Scripture, God's people didn't approach Him casually.

The Psalms repeatedly give language to this intentionality:

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”
—Psalm 100:4

Notice the posture.

Enter with thanksgiving.

There is already something in their hands—or more accurately, in their hearts—when they enter.

Psalm 96 says:

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.”

Bring an offering.

What if we recovered that mentality?

Not simply:

I wonder what worship is going to be like today.

But:

What am I bringing?

Gratitude.

Praise.

Attention.

Surrender.

Repentance.

Expectation.

My whole self.

Romans 12 takes the idea even further: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice… which is your spiritual worship.”

I don't merely come looking for a worship experience.

I come as the offering.

The Goal Isn't Better Participation

And this is where I think worship leaders have to think bigger.

Of course I want people to sing.

I want hands raised.

I want people engaged.

I want our churches to be expressive in their worship.

But ultimately, I'm not trying to manufacture participation.

I'm trying to help form worshipers.

Because I don't simply want someone who knows what to do when the chorus hits.

I want someone who desires God.

Someone who knows how to turn their attention toward Him.

Someone who recognizes His worth.

Someone whose worship on Sunday is connected to their surrender on Monday.

Someone who doesn't need a worship leader to convince them that God is worthy because they have been discovering His worth all week.

That's a very different goal.

Twenty-Five Years Later

Again, this study was published in 2001.

And that's the part I can't shake.

Twenty-five years ago, researchers were already telling us:

Worship mattered deeply to churchgoers.

But many weren't preparing themselves for it.

Many weren't worshiping throughout the week.

Many struggled to clear their minds and focus on God.

Many had never really been taught how to worship.

And I fear little has changed.

But I'm hopeful it can.

Actually, I'm convinced it can.

And I think the implications could shake the nations.

Imagine churches filled not simply with people who attend worship services, but people who are learning to live lives of worship.

Imagine thousands of people walking through church doors already hungry for God.

Imagine worship leaders who aren't spending all their energy trying to convince a room to participate, but are giving language to a praise already rising from the people.

Imagine children growing up understanding that worship isn't the songs before the sermon—it's the proper response of their whole lives to the God who is worthy.

Imagine families worshiping throughout the week.

Imagine worship gatherings becoming the overflow of thousands of private moments of surrender, gratitude, obedience and delight in God.

What would happen if the Church didn't just get better at preparing worship services?

What if the Church became a people prepared to worship?

I want to find out.

Maybe it starts before the first note is ever played.

Maybe it starts with us walking into the room saying:

My heart is ready. My attention is Yours. My life is the offering.

Let's worship.