Worship Leaders are lay people who:

• are growing in their Christian life and faith;
• are members of the Methodist Church;
• worship regularly in their Local Church and receive Holy Communion;
• have integrity in their lifestyle;
• with the help of the Circuit LP Meetinghave discerned their call to a lay ministry of leading worship, normally in the church where they are members;
• respond to God’s call to the ministry of Worship Leader;
• have completed training that equips them for that role;
• offer to preachers their skills in worship leading, their knowledge of a local Church and their own spirituality;
• have a congregation’s trust to lead that congregation in worship and help them encounter God;
• to this end, work in collaboration with musicians and others contributing to worship in a way that achieves what a preacher asks, and in a way that enhances worship for all;
• reflect on their practice as Worship Leaders;
• take responsibility for their own continuing spirituality, learning and development;
• develop their awareness and understanding of contemporary issues in society and of current religious experience;
• continue to develop new and existing skills in leading worship.

prayerful preparation of worship items (agreed with the preacher) that:

• is open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit;
• gives glory to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
• expresses convincingly the Good News of Jesus Christ, e.g. in readings and prayers;
• seeks to achieve what a preacher asks;
• seeks to enable congregations to worship and encounter God;
• seeks to enhance worship for all;
• invites appropriate responses by all worshippers;
• uses the gifts and talents of the worshippers, including the Worship Leader’s own;
• seeks to include others appropriately in contributing to worship, includingmusicians, readers etc;
• makes arrangements that enable worshippers to focus on God rather than the mechanicsor choreography of leading worship;
• reflects Methodist emphases in theology and doctrine.

leading of worship that:

• prompts adoration of God;
• gives voice to individual and corporate frailty in serving God, in following Christ,in being led by the Holy Spirit;
• proclaims assurance of God’s love and forgiveness in the crucified and risen Christ;
• gives thanks for God’s goodness, generosity, grace;
• embraces concern for a suffering world with the love of a suffering Saviour;
• expresses self-giving love for a God of self-giving love.
• uses the arts and technology (as appropriate and as available) to communicate the GoodNews and to present God’s Word with creativity and imagination;
• enables shared expression of faith and love by the worshipping community – e.g.: insongs, hymns, psalms, responsive prayers, silence, activities (and much more);
• makes worship accessible to all e.g.: through sensitivity about language, style etc;
• invites both a personal and corporate response to God in Christ;
• provides an appropriate context for preaching (or its alternative as led by the preacher) and does not attempt to become a preaching ministry.

The above descriptors indicate what Worship Leaders aspire to, recognising that nobody achieves all of them equally well. As such they become a useful tool in shaping the initial training and the continuing development and the 3-year review of each Worship Leader.

They help to explain:

• why there is a requirement of training to prepare people for the role and
• why there is a need for all Worship Leaders to engage in continuing development.