I've posted comments on a few other blogs about this, so thought I might as well blog about it.

I've been learning recently that worship in Church is actually a relatively small part of our worship to God. And really, that it's a very specific type of worship.

I listened to a great sermon by Graham Tomlin (HTB) over Christmas (via the podcasts - I was in Thailand!), about how God's creation is in constant worship by just being. The mountains... animal kingdom... humans... just by being alive we're living an act of worship. Humans have the added responsibility of choosing to worship Him, and not just on Sunday mornings, but with everything we say and do.

Blogger Tim Hughes has posted quite a lot about leadership in worship. Leadership is an incredibly important and emotive subject. I look to leaders for guidance and 'best practice'. I don't look to worship leaders only on a Sunday morning, but also to help guide me in a more holistic approach to worshipping in my daily life.

Of course, this particular responsibility of leadership does not rest only on the shoulders of a worship leader - it rests on all of us as we serve others around us. But worship leaders can certainly encourage, focus and give you opportunities in this act through the means of music and poetry - a powerful medium for a lot of people.

Blogger 80db has voiced his opinion that worship at HTB is too loud.

I think part of the problem here is hoping for worship on a sunday to be your only weekly act of worship. It therefore has to be 'just right' and suit your own personal preference.

For me, loud Sunday worship is more enjoyable if I anticipate the occasion after a culmination of a week's worth of worship in my private life, at work, walking down the street, in my small group (I've never needed and amp in a small group). I currently live in an apartment (in Beijing) where I can hear the families either side of me go to the toilet! I'm very conscious that when I pull my guitar out, I need to keep the volume down...

I find worship in Church to be more like a celebration of worship that we participate in together - a very unique form of worship. 'Celebrations', in most forms, tend to be reasonably loud occasions, especially when you get hundreds of people together in the same place.

PERSONALLY, I quite like being in an environment, once a week, where I can join in with hundreds of others and loudly proclaim God's glory, led by an excellent team of musicians. I then have the rest of the week to worship quietly, in whatever and every form that may take.

Perhaps some are more stirred when 'playing it loud'. There are certainly times when I turn up the volume on my ipod when listening to worship music. Recently, I've done that a lot with Al Gordon's new song 'How Long'.

And foolish as it might be to try and picture it, I think Heaven will have all sorts of wonderful worship. So integrated will it be to our existence, that every mood and every personality will be accommodated for. And our leader? Well, none other than Jesus himself.