6 Books Every Worship Leader Should Read (2023)
Zach Mabry and our SWO Band are passionate about focusing our music on Christ and His Gospel. Worship isn’t about us and what we are feeling. The goal of a worship leader is to proclaim the glory and might of King Jesus.
Here are our top books we recommend to others on biblical worship and worship leading. We hope they remind you of our Lord’s character and nature, and of the great joy we have to lead others to abide more deeply in Christ and His character.
If you’re interested in learning more, listen or watch Zach’s session on leading Corporate Worship.
If you like this list and want to see our top picks in other categories, then go over and download our Favorite Books of SWO document. Over 129 titles are included!
Christ-Centered Worship
By Bryan Chapell
“We cannot honor the gospel and, at the same time, worship in ways that distort it. This would necessarily be the case if we praised God for his holiness but did not acknowledge our sin, or if we acknowledged our sin but not mention his mercy.” – Bryan Chapell
Doxology and Theology
By Matt Boswell
“We lead people to ourselves rather than Jesus, and then wonder why power has left the pulpit and why the deep theological treasures of some of the old hymns have degenerated into songs that exalt us above the glory of our Creator.” –
For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship
By Dan Block
“In the end it will not matter how we have told our story, but only how God sees it.” –
Valley of Vision
By Arthur Bennett
“I live here as a fish in a vessel of water, only enough to keep me alive, ut in heaven I shall swim in the ocean. Here I have little air in me to keep me breathing, but there I shall have sweet and fresh gales; Here I have a beam of sun to lighten my darkness, a warm ray to keep me from freezing; yonder I shall live in light and warmth for ever.” –
Worship By the Book
By D.A. Carson
“Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship. In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it’s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset.” –
Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God
By Bob Kauflin
“The Great God values not the service of men if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart; he has no regard to outward forms of worship, if there be no inward adoration if no devout affection be employed therein. It is, therefore, a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged steadfastly for God.” –
We’ve prepped this list of recommended books from our Snowbird teachers to help encourage the habit of learning! We also encourage you to read critically, evaluating every book, Christian or secular, through the lens of the Bible.
