DEEPENING FAITH

THROUGH PLANNING AND LEADING WORSHIP

What follows is the process I used when facilitating a group of kids to plan worship for the whole congregation.

START WITH SCRIPTURE

Many church traditions utilized a Lectionary. The Revised Common Lectionary is an ecumenical calendar of scripture readings laid out over a three-year period. If you read the passages laid out each week, after three years you would have covered almost all of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) and about three-quarters of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Many preachers preach one or more of the texts from the Lectionary each week. It keeps us from just picking our favorite passages all the time, or writing a sermon and then finding a scripture that goes with it. Using the Lectionary challenges us to struggle with difficult passages.

When I am planning worship with youth or an intergenerational group, the first thing I do is gather them together to read and talk about the Lectionary passages for the week they will be leading worship. We usually read all four of them (there is a text from the Psalms, a text from another part of the Hebrew Scriptures, a text from one of the Gospels, and a text from another part of the Christian Scriptures.) The Bible is of course a wild and wonderful book. Some of it makes sense immediately, while other parts sound or seem pretty strange to 21^st century brains. We talk about when they were written, what they may have meant to the people writing them or hearing them for the first time, and their message and relevancy to people’s lives today. Out of this discussion we usually choose one text to build the worship service around.

EXPLAINING PARTS OF WORSHIP

Once we’ve settled on a scripture and the main theme of the scripture, I talk about the five parts of worship. These happen to be in the order that I usually do them, but steps 2-4 are done in different orders in different congregations.

1) Gathering and inviting God and the people

The beginning of the service is the time for people to take a breath and really get themselves present at worship. It is a time to begin to invite God into our minds and hearts; a way of saying God is here and so am I. It can be a place to introduce the theme of worship through art or music or words.

I usually ask the group to brainstorm what happens before or at the very beginning of the service.

· The sanctuary is prepared, banners or other art are put up, candles are lit, flowers are arranged, the lights are turned on, etc.

· The worshipers come in and are greeted at the door with a handshake or a hug, given an order of worship, welcomed with music (the prelude).

· The worship leaders take their places: minister(s), liturgists, choirs or other musicians.

· There is usually some spoken greeting from the chancel welcoming the people and acknowledging God’s presence.

· Often there is a song or hymn, which speaks of gathering and God’s presence.

· Often there is a “Call To Worship”, which is spoken back and forth between the people and the liturgist.

2) Offering our prayers

There are many ways to pray: with music, with words, with silence. Prayer is a time to communicate at least three types of things with God:

Thank you. These are prayers of celebration and gratitude. (Chocolate, for instance, is often in this category)

I’m sorry. These are prayers asking God to forgive us for things we’ve done individually or as a community that hurt others, the creation, or ourselves.

Help! These are prayers asking God to give special care to people or situations that are hurting. These are also prayers asking God to give us the strength and wisdom to also help those people and situations.

Most services include these three types of praying as well as music to help quiet us and ready us for contemplation and/or silence. You could use louder praise music as the congregation moves into the Thank You prayers.

Most services also include The Lord’s Prayer which actually has all of the above within it. It is powerful to remind ourselves that Christians all over the world have said the Lord’s prayer for over 2,000 years. Saying the Lord’s prayer helps us remember that we are part of the larger communion of saints, globally and throughout time.

3) Proclaiming the Word – Preaching the Gospel

This is the part of the worship where we share the Scripture and explain how its message is important and relevant to our lives. Usually this is done by reading the scripture, by having an anthem or song that relates to the message, and by preaching the sermon. The scripture and sermon can be done through traditional reading and preaching, through music, through drama, through art, through an activity, through video or film or slides, or through other forms as the Spirit moves you.

4) Offerings and dedication of gifts

This is the part of the service where we take stock of our gifts, talents and blessings and offer them back to God for work in the world. Traditionally this includes a money offering to keep the church budget afloat, a musical “offering” to God, and a prayer dedicating the gifts back to God. All of these can be done in a number of ways. Sometimes, along with the money in the collection plate, it is good to have people write down what gifts and talents they have been given by God for use in God’s work in the world. These can then also be dedicated back to God in a prayer.

5) Sending the people out of the Sanctuary to do God’s work

At the end of most services there is usually a song or hymn about going out and doing whatever the message of the service is. Someone often carries the altar flame out of the sanctuary to symbolize God’s presence in the larger world. The minister or liturgist gives the benediction, which is different from a prayer. A benediction is a challenge to go and carry out God’s work in the world. Often there is a final piece of music to inspire us in our journey (the postlude).

PLANNING WORSHIP

After everyone understands the parts of worship, it is time to generate ideas and put it together. If you have a small group, everyone can do the planning. If you have a larger group you could divide them into five groups and have each group work on a different part of the service, keeping the scriptural theme in mind.

You could brainstorm about possibilities for each part of worship, and then craft the whole service for them. For instance, I was working with a group of Jr. High kids on a passage in Matthew (10:26-27) about God casting out fear. We brainstormed all the things they were afraid of as little kids, and all the things they are afraid of now. Then we brainstormed all the people and things God gives us to comfort our fears. Out of those lists we crafted the call to worship, the sermon, the prayers, even pieces for the offering (see worship resource “Have No Fear” for an example of the sermon we wrote).

You could brainstorm and then have the group craft the service together. With younger kids I often did the brainstorming with them and then crafted the service from their ideas with different kids doing all the parts, myself acting as sort of a director and MC. I have found older kids perfectly able to craft a worship service themselves with resources and guidance.

There are a few things to keep in mind so that it will be a worshipful experience for those planning the service and for the whole congregation:

· Know your congregation and push the envelope of “traditional” but don’t go so far that people feel confused.

· Pick a few familiar hymns or traditional touchstone pieces (like the Lord’s Prayer) to ground the more non-traditional pieces of worship.

· Keep in mind that worship isn’t a performance of the worship leaders for the congregation. If there is any performing in worship it should actually be the congregation and the worship leaders for God. That is a long way of saying make sure the congregation is participating and it’s not just a showcase for talented worship leaders.

· Make sure you schedule time before the worship service to run through the whole thing. Worship leaders need to practice with microphones. They need to practice entering and exiting. They need to practice the transitions from one piece of the worship service to the next.

· Be explicit about appropriate dress for leading worship in your congregation.

· Be very clear in your communication about the service with the regular worship leaders, i.e. organists/regular musicians, sound or tech people, head ushers, whoever does the flowers, etc. If the group will be greeters, make sure whoever is in charge of getting greeters each week knows that, etc.

Much of what is in this process can also be true for a worship service the group is planning for itself on a Mission Trip, or at a retreat, or at camp.

Deepening Faith: Youth Ministry Resources and Some Miscellaneous Advice

Rev. Lizann Bassham, Front Porch Spirit Press