Coresound | Can “Less” Actually Be “More” in Worship?

There are countless books, articles, podcasts, shows, and more on how to eliminate excess in life. Minimalism. Essentialism. Eliminate hurry, kill hustle. I personally ascribe to all these things and love its continued effect on the balance of my life.

Yet in the midst of a worship service, a worship leader who considers themself a minimalist elsewhere in life can still find themself with the opposite (...maximalist?) mindset when it comes to worship. 

Dead space can be awkward, yes, but does that mean there needs to be a constant wall of sound with no room to breathe in between songs? 

Filling out your sound is important, but does that mean you need to have multiple instruments playing at all times without fail?

I'm a big believer in allowing for ambient pads to not only provide an incredible sonic atmosphere within your worship sound, but also to provide the freedom to be, as one might say, a minimalist within a worship service.

With a well-chosen ambient pad, you can linger for just a moment (or several moments!) in between songs without need to move forward quickly because of the potential for dead-air.

With that same ambient pad, you're afforded the opportunity to lightly improve on your instrument of choice –allowing the pad to be a musical-safety-net of sorts while you gently add on another instrument – instead of demanding the entire worship team needs to keep playing at all times just to fill the room.

There are countless other ways to apply this analogy that I haven't even begun to mention (or think of, for that matter), but the fact is being able to eliminate excess within a worship service will allow you to focus in more singularly on connecting with God, worshiping Him, and leading others to do the same.

The less effort and energy you point towards worship-"management" instead of actual worship, the better! 

So don't be afraid to try something new, make a moment or two in this coming week's worship service a bit more "minimal", and see if you enjoy it. It might feel risky or out-of-place at first, but eliminating the excess within your worship service might surprise you as to how refreshed you feel afterwards.

Learn more about our integrated ecosystem at MultiTracks.com.