Worship Leaders Should Be Rooted In A Local Church – Anna Golden

There’s so much in this Worship Sound Bite by Anna Golden that’s “gold.” (Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. The pun was staring at me and I caved under the pressure.)

“I’m never not planted in a local house of worship.” What our worship leaders do is and always should be connected with a local church. To Anna’s point, being a part of a local body eliminates any concern celebrity worship because you are accessible to that congregation.

It’s also part of the biblical model of living The Way. Our Church was formed on the premise of doing life with and being a part of a community of believers. Even when you’re an “artist” and on the road, you need to be connected back to a community.

We heard a story about a VERY successful artist who is on tour this fall and she wouldn’t allow her team to schedule any concert that conflicted with her being back in her church on Sunday morning. This decision meant the artist would sacrifice some financial success in order to honor this part of her practice as a worship leader, but is it really a sacrifice if God is behind the decision? Is it really a sacrifice if it builds up her faith walk so that, when she’s back on the road, she can actually serve the Body of Christ from a place of overflowing versus a place of road fatigue?

Anna also says in this sound bite that, “God will never sacrifice you as a human to get something through you.” Amen.

At the end of the day, worship leaders write songs for a church to sing and therefore how could they ever imagine being able to do that well if they are not serving in a local church?

More from Anna Golden

Transcription

One thing I love, there’s a pastor in Miami, he pastors Vous Church, his name is Rich Wilkerson Jr. and he talks about balance, and he- he always kind of navigates where he says it’s less of balance and it’s more of a dance. And sometimes things look a little differently and you’re just swaying and flowing with it a little differently.

And I think that there are certain seasons where the worship leader side of me is more pulled on and the worship artist side of me is more pulled on. But to gravitate and keep the balance of pure and heart is I’m never not planted in church. I think that this separation from a worship leader and a local house of worship is detrimental to your heart, to your spirit, to your mind, your soul and body.

God will never sacrifice you as a human to get something through you. That’s a misconception. It’s always going to be about your health and then others next. And I think that also being planted and serving in a local ministry eliminates celebrity. Like, when did we stop becoming touchable? When did we stop becoming reachable? Like, if you’re not out in the lobbies- I love being at my church.

It is honestly the most fulfilling thing that I do out of any aspect because I get to be with real people every single week who get to know me and be in my life. And they have five kids working a full time job, but they got up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning to come serve and lead worship like the audacity of me to think that I can’t- these people are incredible. And just to get that frame of perspective all the time is like why we do what we do. At the end of the day, we wrote songs for these people to sing. And how could I ever write a song for Lori who sings on a Sunday morning, if I don’t know- if I don’t know her and she doesn’t know me?

So it’s eliminating that untouchability as well. And that’s something that I love the dance of it. Like some seasons, it looks differently, but something that I’ll never sacrifice is being planted in ministry and serving in a local church.