Workshops harmonise worship and music styles

Workshops harmonise worship and music styles

In our churches, music is central to Sunday morning worship – it’s part of our Lutheran heritage. But musicians and members alike are sometimes left wondering, ‘Could we do this better?’

New Zealand-based musician and instructor Grant Norsworthy answers that question with a clear ‘Yes!” and is bringing his More Than Music Mentor workshops to Queensland in the second half of July – helping church-based musicians to find their own ‘Amen!’

Paul Colman Trio, Sonicflood… Grant’s contemporary Christian music pedigree stretches back more than 25 years.

Internationally, highlights with Paul Colman Trio included winning a Dove Award (Best New Artist, 2002) and nomination for a Grammy Award (Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel album, 2002) while the band has remained consistently popular across Australia and New Zealand.

From 2004 Grant joined US-based gospel band Sonicflood as bass player for about three years, and the differing approaches of the two bands have inspired the work he does now.

Grant says, ‘Paul Colman Trio in concert was very much about performance. Primarily we were asking our audience to watch and listen to us. We three guys in the band were all followers of Jesus, sure, and we wanted our songs to declare Jesus as The Christ, but it was a show!

‘Similarly, a Sonicflood concert was a show too. Lights, smoke, big sound and the guys in the band moving about the stage. But the songs were usually in the form of musical prayers. We’d encourage the audience to sing these prayers. The lyrics were often projected on screens,’ Grant said.

This caused something of a collision in Grant’s mind and soul. ‘It struck me that, if Sonicflood really wanted the audience to sing heartfelt prayers to God, to worship through the songs – surely we’d want to be less of a distraction. Do less performing. Be less of a show. Help people focus their hearts and their voices on God and forget that Sonicflood was there.’

Led to think deeply about this apparent contradiction, Grant’s More than Music Mentor workshops now take him around the world from his New Zealand base, to meet church-based musicians in the places where they worship. Already this year he has worked with musicians at Immanuel Lutheran Church Woden Valley (Canberra) and been guest speaker at the 2025 Better Blokes Conference at Warrambui Retreat Centre, New South Wales.

Grant at a recent conference in Melbourne. His More than Music Mentor workshops now take him around the world, meeting church-based musicans in their places of worship. Image by Tono Soetojo.

His Queensland workshops will include a Friday evening workshop in Toowoomba on 18 July (the venue is still to be confirmed) and a Saturday afternoon workshop at Prince of Peace Everton Hills, on 26 July. Discussions are ongoing around holding a third workshop north of Brisbane. Grant is also offering weekday rehearsal workshops to church musicians in their own spaces, within a limited timeframe. He is also keen to discuss opportunities to support congregations as a guest worship leader or speaker.

‘I want to help the regular, in-the-trenches singers, instrumentalists and technicians who serve local churches – of any size and any denomination – get on the same page. Know what they’re shooting for. Equip them with an approach and set of skills that help them make better vocal, instrumental and technical choices that will more warmly invite every member of their congregation to sing as an expression of worship to Almighty God,’ Grant says.

More than Music Mentor July/August workshops in Queensland are supported by the LCAQD Commission for Mission. Venues and times will be updated on the LCAQD Facebook page as they are finalised. For more information email Rosie Schefe at missiontemp@qld.lca.org.au or visit Grant’s website: https://www.grantnorsworthy.com/