Why Should Worship Leaders Study Theology?

Studying theology should be a desire for all worship leaders. I think that it should actually be a requirement, more so for Worship Pastors, but nonetheless worship leaders too. No matter what age a Christian is, they can study theology. As a worship leader who is studying theology, I’ve come to understand the importance of having good theology. The importance of having sound doctrine and good theology during corporate worship is wholly and entirely a biblical concept. God desires for us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. For effective worship to happen we cannot choose one or the other but rather, both. We live in a culture today where the truths of scripture are not being preached or sang enough in our churches. Not to point the finger, but in my opinion, I think this has a lot to do with the well-known worship leaders and writers of our day. The famous celebrity worship leaders and pastors that so many young immature Christians idolize, are the same leaders that write songs with little to no biblical content. Many churches don’t sing and preach out good theology. I’ve witnessed this at quite a few churches and it’s disheartening. Unbiblical songs are one of the most dangerous tools used by the enemy to keep people from knowing who God really is. This is why it’s so important to study theology as a worship leader. Heretical songs and feel good sermons week after week are a danger to the church body. Often times, worship leaders will choose songs that musically sound good but do not have good theology. There’s plenty of songs, old and new, that support good theology and sound doctrine.

The areas of theology that I believe are important for worship leaders to study are the foundational truths of the reformed Christian faith. That God is Sovereign over all, humanity is broken as well as this whole world due to man’s sin, and that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. I believe worship leaders should understand The Five Solas of the Reformation. These are; Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Solo Gratia, Solus Christus, and Solo Deo Gloria. This means, Scripture alone, through Faith alone, by Grace, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Knowing and unerstading these biblical truths are very important for the worship leader when studying theology.

Leading a congregation in worship is a very important task and should be taken with extra care and caution. I realize that everything the worship leader sings or says has the ability to either glorify God or glorify man. Most Christian worship leaders that I know want to glorify God at all times in their leading but at times fail to because of their lack of studying the word of God. Studying biblical theology and having sound doctrine heavily impacts the way in which I plan and lead a worship ministry. In my planning, I choose songs that proclaim the truths of who God says He is and who we are in relation to Him. I try to choose biblically rich songs because I understand the impact that music and a song can have on a person. The songs sang Sunday morning are the same songs that the congregation will be singing throughout the week, at work, or at school, or whatever they’re doing. As a worship leader, it’s my responsibility to choose songs that are biblically rich. In my leading, I want to be careful that everything I say and do is aligned with scripture. I know too well the dangers of a worship leader just babbling on and on about his opinion rather than bringing it back to the scriptures. I grew up in a Pentecostal church that taught a lot of heresy and false doctrine. Thankfully, I was able to recognize this problem during my undergrad years as a college student.

It’s my desire to continue to study theology as well as write more biblically rich songs. I recently, wrote a song with a friend that I went on a mission trip with to India. The song is entitled Nothing Is Better than This. It’s based on the story of the Prodigal’s son in Luke 15. It was my first time writng any song. I loved the process of digging into the word of God and writing it straight from there. I hope to see more and more biblically rich and biblically inspired songs come to light throughout the church. I also hope to see more worship leaders come to the understading of the importance of stuyding the word of God.