Leading worship online feels different to leading in a live atmosphere. Here’s how to connect with the people on the other side of the lens.
In this season, it feels like people are being forced into God’s presence… exactly the time for worship leaders and their teams to keep leading worship! The question is… how? How do you lead worship through a camera?
Here are five ideas (or download the full summary notes) from Ps Wayne Huirua from Equippers Church in Auckland shared with over 150 worship pastors and leaders on an online gathering for APCCS.
1.Stir up worship from within you.
Gone is the crowd right in front of you, and leading worship in front of a camera means there’s no response from the congregation. But even without the scaffolding of an audience, you still can stir up worship from within you – it’s no less imbued with the Holy Spirit.
2. Assume that the Holy Spirit’s anointing has gone before you
Sometimes the difficult thing about pre-recording a worship set is that you simply don’t know the scenario in which the recording will eventually be played. Who knows what’s going to happen two weeks later when the recording is aired? Well, God knows – and He also knows the atmosphere of each home in which your recording will be played!
Ps Wayne shared how they recorded seven weeks’ worth of worship services and as the weeks unfolded, each session would be taken by the Holy Spirit and made fresh and current.
3. Be extra encouraging and intentional in engaging through the camera
- To the extent of being quite instructional, you may have to be speak out many things that might feel quite natural with a Live audience. For example, you could say:
- “Come on stand to your feet – we’re going to lift up Jesus!”
- “Come on it’s a good day to praise God! Let’s make your home the worshiping church right now.”
- “Let me say this over you and then you lift up your own prayer.”
4. Look right into the camera lens whenever you can
Looking right into the camera lens helps you engage with whoever is looking at the screen on the other side. Lock your gaze and attention right through because that reduces the “bystander effect” and draws people into praise and worship… rather than have them watch someone else (you) worship.
5. Don’t be afraid of silence
When you get into a worship moment, just be become aware of God’s presence around you. In that way you are leading the atmosphere you’re building. Worship leaders operate in that grace of creating something that the congregation – through the camera – can follow. The silence may feel awkward for you as a worship leader, but not for them.
Here are just five tips, but you can uncover more tips from the summary notes downloadable here.