When Worship Isn’t the Problem: The Discipleship Gap in Our Churches

If you’ve ever heard this line in your church: “Our worship just isn’t what it used to be” — you’re not alone. Every pastor and worship leader eventually hits the moment when the songs feel flat, the engagement feels thin, and the room doesn’t seem to come alive. It’s tempting to treat this as a worship problem. Switch up the setlist. Buy new gear. Bring in younger musicians. Try out that latest “it” song. And let's be real - sometimes we do have music problems, gear issues or rusty songlists... But here’s the truth: most of the time, what we think is a worship problem is actually a discipleship problem. Worship reveals discipleship. If a congregation doesn’t know God deeply throughout the week, why would they expect to sing with passion on Sunday? If people don’t open their Bibles, wrestle with their faith, and learn to walk with God in daily life, worship will always feel shallow — because there isn’t much to overflow. Sunday worship is meant to be the tip of an iceberg: the visible expression of a life hidden in Christ. If the depths of that iceberg aren’t being formed — through discipleship, spiritual practices, and genuine community — Sunday will never be what it’s meant to be. Discipleship fuels worship. When people are being discipled — when they learn to pray, confess, repent, forgive, and trust God in the everyday grind — they come to worship already primed with gratitude. Songs of faith become their songs, because they’ve lived them. They know what it means to sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” after walking through suffering. They know the power of declaring “The Lord is My Shepherd” after experiencing His provision. No worship leader can fake that. It can’t be conjured with volume or lights. It can only be grown. The challenge for leaders. If you’re a pastor or worship leader, maybe the question isn’t “How do we fix our worship?” Maybe it’s: “How do we deepen our discipleship?” Are we equipping people with tools to engage God Monday through Saturday? Are we showing them how to root their identity in Christ, not just sing about Him? Are we walking with them long enough to see lives shaped by the Spirit? The strength of Sunday worship will always rise or fall with the depth of weekday discipleship. So perhaps the next time your team feels pressure to fix worship, the answer isn’t just a new song or a better sound. The answer might be a call back to the basics of discipleship — because worship is always downstream from formation.