Book Review

Kauflin, Bob. Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God. Wheaton,

Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008.

Author’s Biography

After receiving a piano performance degree from Temple University in 1976, Bob

traveled for eight years with the contemporary Christian group GLAD as a songwriter, speaker,

and arranger. He continued to write and arrange for the group until 2010, and was a major

contributor o the  A Capella Project (1988). In 1984, he left GLAD to pursue active involvement

in a local church associated with Sovereign Grace Churches.

In the early 90s, he helped to plant what is now CrossWay Community Church in

Charlotte, North Carolina, and was featured on the Integrity’s Hosanna! CD, Chosen Treasure.

In 1997, Bob moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland, where he led corporate worship at

Covenant Life Church and became the Director of Sovereign Grace Music. He’s written two

books: Worship Matters  and True Worshipers. He currently has the joy of being a pastor at

Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville.

Bob and his wife, Julie, were married in 1976. They are blessed with six children and an

ever growing number of grandchildren. (https://sovereigngracemusic.org/about/bob-kauflin/)

Purpose of the Book

The purpose of this book is to help the worship leader do his work better, more effectively,

more skillfully and more faithfully. But this is not all. The author seeks to get the worship leader

to love Go, live for Him and be the people He loves (page 17).

The first part of this book is about the leader, the second about the task of the worship

leader, the third about healthy tensions and the fourth about right relationships.
 The author in the first part elaborates on the important things about the worship leader.

He says worship matters to God, to the believer and to the worship leader. To a worship leader,

what really matters is his heart, the situation of his heart as he comes to lead people in worship.

He also needs to know and believe the truth about God. “The more we know God through His

word, the more genuine worship will be” (page 28). In addition to right knowledge and right

belief in God, the worship leader needs to practice. In fact, his skills need to grow for him to

minister well. Also, a worship leader must make sure that his life proof that he is obedient to

Jesus, and he is truly magnifying him, not just on stage but everywhere and all the time.

Part two comes up with the task of the worship leader. He says here that the goal of the

worship leader is not success, popularity or personal fulfillment, but an expectation to hear the

words “well done, good and faithful servant” on the last day. The task of the worship leader is to

magnify the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, skillfully

combining God’s word with God glorifying and Church edifying and music, thereby motivating

the gathered church to proclaim the Gospel, to cherish God’s presence and to live for god’s

glory.

In the third part, Bob Kauflin talks about healthy tensions. In worship, there are some

healthy tensions we must keep. We do not need to overemphasize God’s immanence over His

transcendence or vice versa, we need to strike a balance between biblical knowledge and

emotion, we need to make sure our that physical expressions of worship stem from an inner

reverence for God, we need to make sure that we are glorifying God and edifying the people at

the same time. Also, we need to plan well for a worship service, but still leave room for

spontaneity as the spirit leads, we need to draw upon the rich heritage of the past and still be able

to communicate the gospel in ways our culture can understand and we need to balance our skills
with a genuine heart of worship. In continuation, our worship needs to serve the needs of our

congregation and also the needs of the visitors and unbelievers, we need to worship God when

we come together as a congregation but still do so on our own on a daily basis.

In the fourth part of the book, the author talks about cultivating the right relationships.

One of the most important aspects of the worship leader’s life is his ability to relate with people.

The worship leader needs to build healthy relationships with his church even if the feedback he is

getting is not encouraging. They are God’s treasured people. The leader also needs to relate well

with his team, no matter how different the members are in their way of speaking, reacting or

their temperaments. The worship leader’s relationship with his pastor should be one of

cooperation and submission. The pastor on his own part needs to be able to care for the worship

leader, lead him and speak the truth to him at all times. With this, the worship leader will do a

better job.

Themes

One of the themes the author handles is that of belief. Concerning belief, he insists that in

order to be a good worship leader, one must have the right knowledge about God and the right

belief in Him. If this is not the case, the worship leader will not be worshipping God.

There is also the theme of practice. Practice has to do with spending time on what we use

to worship in order to give in our best. The instrumentalist must work intensively and be focused

in order to gain the skill he needs and to worship better. The singer on his own part has to learn

the songs well and train the voice where necessary.

Worship leadership is also a theme that is really developed in this book. The

qualifications of someone who leads worship are listed. He must magnify the greatness of God in

Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining the Word of God with music,
thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the Gospel, to cherish God’s presence and to

live for His glory.

Lastly, there is the theme of relationship. Every worship leader must be one who

cultivates the right relationships with his congregation, with his team and with his pastor. If these

relationships are well taken care of, ministration will be a success.

Critique

Positive points: Bob Kauflin dismisses the misconception that the worship leader is

somehow responsible for making God to show up or for bringing down the presence of God (53).

This misconception usually makes worship leaders to feel like they are indispensable and makes

them stubborn. He says that this is not supposed to be the case.

He also clears the air concerning the relationship between music and worship. We do not

only worship God in singing, but singing is just one of the ways in which we worship God. To

add to this, he says that the word worship is hardly mentioned in the Old Testament in reference

to singing.

He also considers what D. A. Carson suggests about the term “worship leader”, that it

should be abolished (though he does not completely gets rid of it) because it makes it look like

the rest of the church service is not worship. As a result, Kauflin adopts different terminology

like “Music Minister”.

Negative Point: Bob Kauflin writes from a completely Western background, and all the

experiences and examples he cites are for a Western audience. It would have been good for him

to consider the African context too.

This book has been quite helpful to me. Through this book, I have learned how to balance

my instrumental and vocal skills with the Word of God without emphasizing one over the other.

I have also learned a lot about relationships. I have to relate well with my team, with my leaders

and with my church members. Also, I need to be ready to do what God wants me to do, even if

the fruits seem to delay in coming.

I recommend this book firstly to the church praise team members, as it is very vital for

their growth. The praise team leaders and the pastors are not left out. If they must pass the right

information on to their Christians, this book is a good resource. Also, Church leaders and

seminary students need to read it in order to stet straight their conception about worship.