An Internet journal featuring the
latest research, articles and practical applications
for church growth from UFMCC's Strategic Growth Initiative.
The Rev. Elder Don Eastman, Editor,
James Birkitt, Jr., Associate Editor
The Rev. Arlene Ackerman, Contributing Editor
SMALL-CHURCH GROWTH: FOCUS:
Making Worship Better
Volume I, Issue 2-B: Part II:
July-August, 2000
Dear UFMCC Friend:
The Rev. Elder Don Eastman continues his newest article, "A
Place To Grow... A Place To Give." This chapter focuses
on improving worship in your church.
This is one of five helpful chapters in the current issue of The
SGI Bulletin.
Following this article, you'll find excellent worship resources and
ideas by The Rev. Colleen Darraugh, President of Worship Wisdom.
And as always, we welcome your feedback and ideas at The
SGI Bulletin.
You may contact the Bulletin
by e-mail at SGIBulletin@aol.com
James Birkitt, Jr. Associate Editor,
The SGI Bulletin
Step 5: Make
Worship Better
You have only one chance to make a first impression. For most
newcomers, that will happen during your worship service.
The key question
is: "Will they encounter a transformative, memorable
experience?"
Good worship has a lot in common with good theater. At its best,
theater communicates truth through an experience. So does good
worship, where people together experience God. They experience who
God is, who they are, and how God wants to fill their lives with
purpose, meaning and joy. Like good theater, good worship speaks
powerfully to the human condition with humor, heart and hope.
But how does a
small church, with its very limited resources, offer a meaningful
experience of worship? It
seems so difficult, when comparing your small church with the very
large or megachurches. I believe that small churches can
offer a very powerful worship experience, but it will be a different
kind of worship
experience in comparison with large churches.
I found some helpful insights in a recent book, The
Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business A Stage,
by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. They begin with the
observation of a major economic shift. Agricultural commodities
formed the economic basis for the existence of people for millennia.
The industrial revolution then shifted economic dominance and
dependence to the production of goods. An economy based upon
services began to take over in the 1950s, when services employed
more than 50 percent of the U.S. population. Today, a new economy is
emerging based on the
delivery of experiences;
it will grow to exceed the service economy.
More and more, people will consider churches as they do other
organizations: they view them In light of the experiences provided.
The analogy of theater is helpful. Pine and Gilmore point out that
there are four
forms of theater: street, platform, improv and matching.
Each business (or church) must determine which form best suits its
circumstances. A megachurch with its 60-voice choir and 40-piece
orchestra in a well-staged presentation is similar to the platform
theater seen on Broadway. Worship in a small church may be analogous
to street or improv theater. Each
can be done with excellence to produce experience.
If I were a leader
in a small church today I would focus on increasing quality in
worship by creating a path to constant learning and continuous
improvement.
Here are the
actions I would take to make worship better:
-- Devote significant time to planning
an authentic worship experience.
Authenticity is the number one quality of excellent worship. It
often includes spontaneity but it does not happen by accident. It
arises from an attitude rooted in a deep hunger for God and a
sincere compassion for others. When this attitude is combined with
the discipline of planning, the stage is set for a true worship
experience.
-- As a pastor, I would work constantly to improve
my preaching and teaching.
Become a life-long student of excellence in preaching. Learn from
others, including adaptation of ideas and sermons. Give credit where
credit is due, and remember; it does not matter if the recipe is
original when the food is good.
-- Work to improve
the quality of the music.
This is often a smaller church's greatest challenge. If this is a
difficult area in your church, explore and expand your options.
Improvements may be made by finding additional personnel, adding new
instruments or technology, or by careful planning and direction of
the current music personnel.
-- Attempt to achieve
greater precision in the worship service.
Carefully organize the work of all worship service personnel:
preachers, celebrants, acolytes, readers, communion servers, ushers
and musicians. Provide training for them. Create time limits and
assure they are respected. Most importantly, keep working to improve
the precision and timing in the worship service.
-- Evaluate your
worship services.
Define the principles and outcomes that will help measure your
evaluation. Solicit information from congregants and newcomers
occasionally to gain feedback. Schedule a periodic meeting with your
worship personnel to debrief the worship services. Invite
suggestions for improvement.
Here are some
resources you can use to make worship better:
At the recent UFMCC Leadership Conference, Rev. Colleen Darraugh
presented an excellent workshop, Finding
Diverse Liturgical and Musical Resources.
A summary of her suggestions is included with this issue of the SGI
Bulletin. Also, you might want to visit her website at www.worshipwisdom.com
Worship resources
are also available at the UFMCC Intranet website; go to www.ufmcc.com
then select the button marked "Intranet" and you will be
asked for a user identification and password. The user id is "ufmcc"
and the password is "charisma."
Be sure to use all lower case letters for the user id and
password.
Once in, check out
the Benchmarks of
Excellence for Worship
and the resources listed there.
ADDENDUM: WORSHIP
RESOURCE:
Excerpts from "Finding
Diverse Liturgical and Musical Resources" presented
at UFMCC Leadership Conference by Rev. Colleen Darraugh, Worship
Wisdom
We need to
continue to evaluate our "favorite" resources.
When was the last time you "analyzed" your worship and
music library?
This is a principle I learned from Rev. Jim Mitulski and which I
believe is invaluable! Many Christian publishing houses are
denominationally affiliated. If our resources are all obtained from
one publisher, that translates to our resources coming from one
denominational tradition. The diversity of our resources will be
reflected in the diversity of publishers
as well as the content of particular volumes.
While there are certain worship texts that I consider
"standards," I would be remiss if that was all I
recommended to someone for their library. Because of our commitments
to inclusive language, texts and music by Jane
Parker Huber and Ruth Duck and lectionary
resources by Lavon Baylor and James Kirk are quite useful.
However, if that is all one uses, we have lost the true meaning of
diversity. We have exchanged one "sameness" for another!
All of us have our favorites but we need to add to our frequently
used list.
The World Council of Churches publishes
the Worship Books of each Assembly of the WCC. They are an
incredible resource. They include resources from a host of
denominations and traditions and from a wide diversity of countries
and languages. They are very useable. Much of the music can also be
obtained on tape through the WCC. The worship resources are
published in English, French, German and Spanish. This is one of the
few resources that I would recommend ordering from past decades.
Sadly, the last Assembly published the Worship Book in separate
language editions. Previous Assembly Worship Books contain all four
languages in one volume.
What are you reading about worship? With
all the changes and developments happening in the worship world,
what is the publication date on the resources you are ordering? The
challenge is to be reading current materials about trends. This
applies to music as well. Many MCC's are implementing Praise and
Worship services or components to their services, yet are using
music and models from the 70s and early 80s.
One of the joys of modern technology is that you can see what you
are reading about! A number of worship texts are now including CD's
that visually supplement the text. This increases comprehension and
makes it much easier to share concepts or teach worship teams.
(i.e., "Out On The Edge: A Wake-Up Call
for Church Leaders on the Edge of Media Reformation,"
by Michael Slaughter, Abingdon Press, 1998)
We need to listen
and expose ourselves to new materials
Pastors, I believe, need to be listening to a wide variety of
Christian music and spiritual music. This is
not the sole the responsibility of the Music Director.
Pastors, and other Worship Team members, need to know what trends
are taking place. You may hear something that you would like to
implement. You may hear something that you can't implement now but
when someone new comes to your church wanting to do "xyz,"
you will know what they are talking about!
Are you familiar with trends in contemporary gospel music? Have you
heard the term secular spiritual music? Do you know what kinds of
music your congregants listen to outside of church? Do you know what
kinds of music are popular with constituencies not attending your
church? Listening to music needs to include
listening for education as well as pleasure. Worship planners
need to move beyond listening to what they like. If we want to get
diverse in the sound of our worship, we need to begin with our own
listening!
If you have the chance, visit other churches.
Visit growing churches. Get video tapes of churches if you can't
attend. Check out cable TV worship services. Look past the theology
and see what they are doing. Listen for the "beat" of the
service. Then add in the critique of the theology. How is the
theology expressed in the service format and music style (not just
words)? How is our theology expressed in our services?
The make-up,
communication and sharing of resources of our Worship Team is
critically important.
Many churches utilize a worship team composed of lay volunteers.
They may or may not be worship leaders or coordinators of ministries
related to worship. No matter who the team is, the question must be
asked, "What training do these people have for planning
worship?" Churches must continue to
provide ongoing education. Diversity of resources and styles
will be restricted without ongoing education and exposure to worship
trends and developments. When was the last time your Worship Team
went to a worship conference? When was the last time individual
members of the team went to a conference specific to their area of
responsibility? What is the budget for the Worship Team? What books,
tapes, resources are being purchased to equip the Team?
No longer can worship be planned with each
person working in isolation. For example, the community is
done a disservice when we simply "plug in" a processional
hymn, hymn of response and commissioning hymn. Worship planners need
to communicate. We need to know why we
are doing what we are doing; what we
want to happen; where we want to move the community; and how
we want to leave them. For example, too often the sermon ends on
an energetic note and the hymn of response is quiet and reflective
-- or vice versa. This causes an "emotional yank" to
worshippers. Worship should not be an emotional roller-coaster
although it should intentionally move people through an experience
(which will have varied emotional responses according to the
individual worshippers) and towards an experience of God.
The Music Director and the Preacher are not
the only people involved in planning worship. Today,
we need to include technology people (sound, video, PowerPoint) and
other visual ministry people: dance, art, banners. These people have
ideas to contribute. They can do more than execute our ideas!
Creating a visual experience may or may not involve electronic
technologies. Remember multimedia is just that: multiple mediums.
There are people in our congregations who "produce" events
in the business world and even the entertainment world who might
help us think differently about "producing" a worship
experience.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: See The
Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business A Stage,
by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, Harvard Business Press.]
This means that more prep time is required. Despite
the need for additional advanced planning, this does not need to
squelch the Spirit! If the members of the Team are in sync with each
other, adjustments to plans can be made with ease. Communication is
key. Spiritual connection is the other key. I believe a truly
effective worship team is one that prays together. Such a team
shares a common focus, common commitment, and common inspiration!
There are lots of
resources available!
The Internet makes resources so readily available. When conducting
Internet searches, remember to vary your search word. Try: worship,
liturgy, Christian celebrations, Christian rituals, rituals,
lectionary resources, spirituality, Christian Music, Sacred Music,
Spiritual Music, Spirituals, Gospel Music, Contemporary Gospel
Music, Contemporary Christian Music, Praise and Worship Music, Hymns,
etc. Each word will bring up only a segment of the diverse resources
available! Keep an eye out for subcategories. There are some gems
out there that do not come up on your first string search.
Most publishers have 800 #'s or on-line ordering. Check with church
publishers for church library discounts and/or pastor's discounts.
Many Music Clubs provide quarterly or seasonal packs of new music
for you to review for a minimal cost. They often include a discount
for orders placed through the club.
Worship Wisdom will be opening a new page in the near future called
"Keeping Up." It will contain an annotated list of new
resources, links, and ideas.
Some Thoughts on
Creative Worship:
-- Creative
worship is not limited by the history of worship or its
essential components but only by our imagination!
-- There are only four basic elements to
worship: 1) we gather; 2) we hear the Word; 3) we respond to
the Word; 4) we go out into the world. The rest are the details.
-- Creative worship should be God-centered.
Whether the experience focus is to God or about God, it involves the
people of God in relationship with God. The social justice dynamics
of our inter-relationships emerge out of the world's, our,
relationship with our Creator.
-- Creative worship always has an educational
component. Worship always teaches. As an expression of the
Word, it teaches us about God, about ourselves, about our
relationships to each other and to God.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rev. Colleen Darraugh is a worship consultant, designer and trainer
with Worship Wisdom. UFMCC experienced her worship expertise as the
Liturgist for the past 4 General Conferences. Having pastored in
small, medium and large sized MCC's for 17 years, Rev Darraugh
speaks of worship design from a practical and possible
standpoint.
Her experience also includes a
breadth of ecumenical involvement and community service. She is a
nine-year certified Diversity Trainer with the National Coalition
Building Institute. Rev Darraugh currently serves as the UFMCC
representative to "The Inclusiveness and Justice Standing
Committee" of the National Council of Churches of Christ (USA).
She holds Bachelor of Music and a Master of Divinity degrees. You
may contact Wisdom Worship at resources@worshipwisdom.com
Next:
Focus on Fostering Spiritual Growth
TO RESPOND TO THIS ISSUE OF THE SGI BULLETIN, CONTACT:
The Rev. Elder Don Eastman
UFMCC Strategic Growth Initiative
8704 Santa Monica Boulevard, Second Floor
West Hollywood, CA 90069 E-Mail: SGIBulletin@aol.com
Next:
Focus on Fostering Spiritual Growth
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