“Koi hota jisko apna, hum apna keh lete yaaron.
Paas nahi toh durr hi hota, lekin koi mera apna.”
(If only there was someone who was mine, I could call him/her mine, friends.
If not near, he/she would be far away, but someone who is mine.)
These are words from the title song of an old Hindi movie ‘Mere Apne (My People)’.
At least once, if not more, we would all have said something similar. And why not!
At the end of the day, we all want to belong – to someone or to something that we can call our own.
The Fear We All Carry
A 1960 study at Emory University found that children are born with only two kinds of fear: fear of loud noises and fear of falling. Every other fear is acquired as we keep growing.
One such acquired fear? The fear of rejection.
And where do we feel it most?
Sometimes, right there—leading worship from the front.
“Am I doing a good job?”
“Am I being disliked?”
“Am I singing in tune?”
“Am I playing the right chords?”
“Am I making a fool of myself in front of these people?” I could go on.
These are just a few of the thoughts that often rush through our minds.
They stem from that deep-rooted fear of being rejected.
Why? Because we all long to be accepted.
We all long to belong.
Belong to Whom?
Whether it’s work, church or life at large, most of us battle this fear of rejection. All because of this innate drive to belong. After all, the Bible does say in Genesis 2:18, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone…’.”
We’re created to belong.
We’re meant to belong.
We’re destined to belong.
The problem is, even though our family, church, and community are meant to be places where we feel a sense of belonging, they can sometimes be inconsistent. It’s often within these very spaces that we experience the deepest hurt or rejection.
So while family, church and friends are an expression of God’s providence of belonging for us, they’re not the foundation of our belonging.
Jesus is the Only One with Whom we belong unconditionally and unwaveringly.
Romans 1:6 says, “And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
Worship Leader, You Have An Unshakeable Belonging
Fellow worship leaders, one of the most glorious aspects of our calling is that we belong to Jesus Christ. There is nothing that we can do or not do that changes this privilege.
When Jesus looks at you and me, not just corporately but individually,
He smiles and says, “Mine.”
And because it goes both ways, we get to look at Him and say, “Mine.”
Positional Truths: Who You Are Before You Lead
There are some truths about us that are unchangeable, irrespective of how we feel or act on any given day. Our gender. Our biology. Our demographics.
At the same time, some spiritual truths about us are unchangeable. They apply to us under the new covenant as a result of the finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross. Of course, this applies to us provided we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. These unchanging truths about us are referred to as ‘positional truths’.
They’re based not on what we do, but on what Christ has already done for us.
Here’s one example:
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13
If we have believed in His name and have received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, then we now have the position of “The child of God”.
It is a positional truth that applies to us, on any given day, no matter how we feel.
A Thought Worth Sitting With
It would do us well to go through the entire New Testament and mark every verse that talks about such positional truths.
Several preachers and teachers have used different analogies to double down on positional truths. For instance, in his book ‘Go Dream’, Mark Birch-Machin dedicates two entire chapters to home in on the concept of positional truths by using the analogy of 2 chairs. Just for the sake of these two chapters, I would highly recommend reading this book, although it’s largely about interpreting dreams. (And no, I don’t get any commissions from these recommendations.).
As worship leaders, we need this truth on repeat, especially on the mornings we’re about to lead.
Before the mic.
Before the guitar.
Before the set list.
Before we step out…
We are already accepted.
We already belong with Jesus Christ.
The Heart of Our Identity As a Common Worship Leader
Before we learn anything else about worship leading, it is very essential and imperative that we really understand and internalise the concept of identity. This is because our Christian faith and worldview are unlike any other worldview when it comes to identity.
Timothy Keller defines identity as a “stable sense of self”.
He says, “All systems, be it ancient, modern or religious, say that your identity is achieved, not received. In that system, you say, ‘I obey, therefore, I am accepted. ’ But a Christian gospel is the only system in the world that says, ‘Your identity is received, not achieved. ’
Every other system says that if you follow the rules, then you have a stable sense of self (identity), but Christians get a stable sense of self and then follow the rules, because they already know who they are in Jesus.”
No More Striving
Do you see why it is imperative for us as worship leaders to ‘get this’?
Because unless we learn to accept our identity in Christ that is already given to us, we’ll always feel like we’re working to earn our place.
Trying to prove we’re worthy through our ministry or our music.
Rather, the truth is that no matter how our worship set goes, whether excellent with the congregation in tears and expressive worship or terrible with bored, uninterested faces in the congregation, we belong with Christ fully accepted.
And if we could just get hold of this one truth, our positional truth of belonging with Jesus, then each of our worship sets would be successful.
Not because we would be leading worship for the sake of acceptance or fear of rejection. But because we would be bringing an offering of gratitude to King of kings and Lord of lords, who has already accepted us and calls us His own.
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The Common Worship Leader 
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