Date

10-16-2025

Department

School of Music

Degree

Doctor of Worship Studies (DWS)

Chair

Ryan Loche

Keywords

Worship Leadership, Abiding in Christ, Fruit of the Spirit, Christ-centered worship, Biblical leadership

Disciplines

Leadership Studies | Religion

Abstract

With a society focused on performance-driven worship, most worship leaders today have difficulty maintaining a God-focused, Christ-centered, and Spirit-filled worship experience during worship services. Worship leaders are having difficulty leading worship because they do not follow Christ daily to produce fruit that will help the leader effectively lead worship that honors God. This qualitative research explores the Bible, explicitly using John 15:1-11, Galatians 5:22-23, and 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 as the foundation for the worship leader to remain in Christ to produce the fruit of the Spirit and lead with Godly wisdom and understanding. Worship and leadership textbooks and dissertations covering the subject matter supplement the Bible. The results demonstrate a compelling relationship between remaining in Christ and being an effective worship leader. Daily prayer, meditation on the Word of God, and reliance on the Holy Spirit are the spiritual disciplines consistently practiced by worship leaders who show the fruit of the Spirit in their personal lives and the ministry. Those who fail to practice spiritual disciplines daily cannot model leadership like Christ and cannot maintain an atmosphere of true worship. The research demonstrated that staying in Christ drives personal growth and worship leadership. The study emphasizes the need for ministry leaders to be connected to the Vine to produce good fruit, which affords the leader the opportunity to grow personally and spiritually and enables the leader to be faithful to God's purpose.

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