Preparation Worship

Do you remember how you prepared your first worship, the first time you played in front of people?
Are you still preparing your worship like this?

Worship preparation for most is a matter of 5 minutes, just write a few songs into the plan and send them to the sound engineer. Is this the optimal preparation?
Of course it’s not.

Here you will find a few points to prepare your worship more effectively and successfully:

1. pray before you begin
Praise is for God and you do it easier if you ask the one for whom it is. Often we have our preferences for certain songs or styles, but how should God work in others if you only play what is good for you?

2. Keys
Most of Chris Tomlin’s songs are not feasible for most worship leaders because he has a very high voice. Therefore it is necessary to transpose, from Songselect it is very easy, you can click on another key there and try if it fits this way. Adjust also the keys of the following songs, try to use the same keys, then the keyboarder can play a simple transition and there is no mood break.

Also, if you’re a little further along, you can try mixing songs in the same key and, for example, jump from the bridge of the first song directly to the chorus of the next song. That doesn’t always fit, but sometimes completely new creative transitions arise.

3. New songs
New songs are great and can be a real refreshment for the church when they have been singing the same songs for 20 years.
Important: Bring in at most one new song on Sunday, people must first learn the lyrics and the melody. Play this new song again the following Sunday, so you can remember it better. You can also point to the new song during the time of worship (“This morning we brought a new song about Jesus who finally set us free”). If it’s an English song, you can also translate a part of it

4. Mix English – German

the next point i wrote as a german, if you are american, then logically not english is the language that people don’t speak, but maybe spanish

Yes, English songs are modern and have a place in every modern church service, but you have to make sure that the mix of English and German songs is right. In “normal” churches in Germany no more than 50% of the songs should be English.
Most people understand and love the language, but the head is more bursting than with German songs. The second reason is that never 100% of the worshipers speak English fluently. There are always people in our service who do not speak English very well. Especially the modern English songs are very lyrical.
Translations of English songs are to 85% absolute catastrophe, there are only very few who sound like decent German and also still sound good. Especially since the translations often speak a very pious language, whereas the original English songs were in everyday language. So please think twice before you play a translation.
Examples for bands that translate songs: Urban Life Worship, Celebrate Jesus

5. Strategy
Think about a strategy, when you want to play which song and for what reason. The frame of a praise with 4 songs is the following:
Song 1: happy, easy to sing
Song 2: somewhat calmer
Song 3: deep song of praise (e.g. Holy Spirit)
Song 4: happier and louder again

It is important to start with a song that slowly leads people into worship, lets them arrive. Do not overburden them with a heavy deep song of praise. Even at the end of the time of worship there can’t be a very quiet song, because the people should start the sermon brightly awake, so it’s important to wake up the visitors who are a bit tired.
The order of your songs is very important.

Here are the 10 best worship songs in German and English
click here