This weekend I have the opportunity to lead worship at an International Justice Mission Local Prayer Gathering. And it dawned on me that there are going to be a lot of people there that I don't really know. So, I found myself asking the question: how should I lead them differently? Maybe you've been in a similar situation.

As you lead your church week after week - Sunday after Sunday - for years or even decades - you build up a certain amount of trust and understanding. You know what songs they respond well to. You know what's going on in their lives. But, when you lead a group of people you've never met before, you don't have that same foundation. So, how can you still lead them well?

Here are 3 tips for leading people you don't know in worship:

1 | Pick familiar songs

When you lead people who regularly attend your church, you can familiarize them with any song. You have time to slowly introduce it to them and teach them until they can sing along. But, when you lead people who don't regularly attend your church, you only have a limited amount of time.

That means that you should pick songs that are already familiar to them! How do you know if a song will be familiar? A great place to start is by looking at the CCLI top 100 list. These are statistically THE MOST POPULAR songs in the universal church. Think about it: nearly every church has a CCLI license. And they report the songs they use to CCLI - who in turn takes those statistics and forms a list of the most popular songs.

2 | Get to know them as much as possible beforehand

Just because you don't know the people you're leading doesn't mean you can't GET to know them. Spend as much time before you lead worship meeting people. Introduce yourself and have a quick conversation with them. This builds trust with the people you're leading and you'll know them just a little bit better which can help you lead them more specifically.

3 | Have a theme

Plan your set list so there's a cohesive theme. If it's a specific gathering, work with the other people involved to see what their vision is. If it's just a worship night, choose 1 specific aspect of God's nature to highlight.

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