Elders’ Development 5 - Elders’ Role in Worship
Slide
Description of Contents
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In a survey a few years back, congregation members were asked what their experience of
worship was like if it was likened to a colour …and to state what that colour was …
…it was a sad report that most indicated their worship experience as being GREY!
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What is “Worship”?
Ask folk for some descriptions of what they understand “worship” to be ....
Remind them that our word derives from the term “worth-ship” so what we offer to God is
“worth-showing” of who and what God is...
According to the list in the list of Elders’ functions the 2nd function is to see that “worship is
offered”
This not just about having the “pulpit filled” every Sunday but involving other
members of the congregation as well so that worship is collaborative and
participative ...
... In the Reformed tradition Elders are called to “exhort” the congregation ... To
encourage them in their spiritual journey
What are the main elements that folk can identify?
(Refer to the next slide for list of the “typical elements of worship”)
What are “essentials”....those aspects without which we might feel we have not worshipped?
What might be the main aspects of being a “church”...and how do these relate to worship?
Historically our form of worship comes from 2 sources:
1. Service of the Synagogue – readings, sermon, prayers, chants/singing
2. Remembrance of the Upper Room – communion, thanksgiving, sharing together
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Some of the Aspects of worship are:
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Listening as Bible is read and expounded
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Receiving bread and wine
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Giving financial gifts for God’s work of mission
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Sharing stories of God’s activity in peoples’ lives
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Liturgical and spontaneous elements.
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Singing hymns/songs and offering prayers & praises
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Hearing notices which involve us all in the life of the church
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Meditating silently
• Symbolic actions, processions, dance, drama, mime, etc.
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Aspects of Worship to think about.
To form a better Biblical understanding we can explore a passage from Romans 12:1-21
vv1-2 are about ADORATION of God
vv3-8 are about the kind of SERVICE we should offer
vv9-21 concern the LIFESTYLE we as Christians
At its heart worship is an Encounter with God …(refer to the diagram on the following slide)
Our theology begins who God is. For example if you walk see a bull in a field, you may run. If
you hear funny joke, you laugh. It's in the very nature of those things that you respond in a
particular way. So it is with God.
True worship reminds us that God is not "out there": God is close to each one of us. Worship
can and should be a meeting with God; while it is our duty to worship, it can and should be
our joy too.
So how does this encounter happen? At times God encounters us, and sometimes to our
surprise we find ourselves responding to God in worship. But is more likely we will encounter
God by coming consciously into God's presence and giving God some quality time. That is
what church should be about. Whether or not we feel that we have encountered God, the
fact that we attended a service means that we come to meet with God. Worship is a
response to the unchanging character of God irrespective of our changeable feelings.
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Begins with Exultation as we exalt God
We give God our time and attention in worship services to exult in God’s presence, and to
exalt God’s name. In other words to enjoy God and tell God and others so. Psalm 96 is one
example of worship song which has this dual focus, a concern to join in the worship all
creation is rightfully and joyfully giving to God, and a call to others to be part of the
celebration.
Such worship opens us to receive from God a fresh infusion of "every spiritual blessing in
Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).
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This could lead to Edification as we in community are built up/edified in realising
and appropriating God’s presence.
Through corporate worship, God desires to edify God’s people, building up or leading them
forward in their discipleship. God may speak to us through the reading and exposition of
God's word, through the liturgy, sacraments or music, or through a prophetic word picture.
We may have one of those "Aha!" moments when a light bulb is suddenly switched on for us,
and we see or understand something for the first time.
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This attitude then gives rise to an encounter with God through which we receive our
Encouragement
Even if nothing that is earth-shattering happens for us, we may still be encouraged by having
been with God’s worshipping people. Psalm 92 tells us that it is good to praise the Lord, and
even if this is not been life changing, we can still feel something of the peace, presence and
power of God in anxious questioning hearts.
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And through this encounter/encouragement we can be Empowered to continue in
our witness and discipleship.
Through this we may be empowered to live for God after the worship event is over, so that
our whole life becomes a sacrifice (the spiritual act of worship demanded by all in Romans
12:1).
The aspects of worship act as in a helix—they are cyclical but the circle does not return to
itself but rather moves on to yet a new understanding and encounter with God and thus to a
new/deeper form of encouragement and empowering.
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Worship of God as an “encounter” implies two “parties” which becomes a two-way
experience...
...not that God worships us but through the encounter we are encouraged and
empowered and thereby worship in a new and deeper way which again leads to a new form
of encounter and empowering which allows us to worship with new insights and so on...
Some questions for group discussion:
1. Bible base.
Read Psalms 95, 96, and 103. What elements of worship are described? What aspects of
God's character are singled out for worship? How might we include these in our worship
services?
2. Explain yourself!
One Sunday you are visited at your church by a complete (and culturally different) stranger
who has dropped in the morning service. This stranger is friendly but curious to know what
you are all doing. Role-play your explanation of the service, and remember that you have a
golden opportunity to share your faith with the stranger.
3. Listen to each other.
Share together about your most memorable worship experiences. Bear in mind that as each
of you describes the favourite, you may be hearing something very precious and special,
which deserves a reverence and respect. Spend a short time in silence to reflect on what has
been shared.
Now try to analyse things a little more. In particular, trying to spot any common factors
which emerge from different people's stories. To what degree was a sense of the "presence
of God", or an encounter with God, significant for people and how was this
conveyed/communicated/demonstrated?
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Role of Worship in Mission.
Worship is first and foremost something we offer to God. It is our gift to God and we must
trust that it gives God joy and satisfaction. Worship however has a secondary function: as
well as offering something to the worshipped, it also has a huge impact on the worshippers.
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Worship exposes the ways a church relates to the surrounding community & culture.
The more honest the service to God is within the worship service, the more logical it is the
service to others will flow out as part of our service to God. The worship service is of utmost
importance in leading the local church to an insight of its service character to others.
Because worship as an impact on worshippers, the true character of the witness of the
church can be seen in its worship.
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How we think about something determines the words (and theology) we use.
It is important to remember that understanding the themes of worship and the use of images
and/or symbols (as well as the words we use) gives shape to the life and mission of a church.
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In worship views on change can be advocated.
A worship service can reinforce shared ideas and sentiments by having them affirmed and
thus communicates commonly held values beliefs and behaviour of a congregation.
How these shared ideas and beliefs are communicated can also influence either the stability
or change required within the church.
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Through worship (and the encounter with God) we can witness convincingly to
others.
There's a distinct possibility of witnessing our fundamental beliefs and values for worship
service and by implication a witness to those attending the worship service. Witness should
arise from our worship in church and be with us in the wider world.
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The more authentic the worship is the more likely that service will flow as a result
It is been shown that experiences are more powerful than preaching in terms of transforming
people's faith. However, it needs to be remembered that much of Sunday worship is
inaccessible to those with a low level of religious literacy.
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Worship for Mission
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Impact of worship on attenders - to inspire and equip for life and service.
The sense of “coming to be empowered in worship, to go and worship in our work and
witness” should be a function of our gathering together.
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How ‘accessible’ is worship - to those with a low level of religious literacy? Use of
whole person (body, mind and spirit) in worship to enable faith exploration and
worship appropriation.
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Multisensory worship experiences – it has been shown that experiences are more
powerful than preaching in transforming faith plus the fact that contemporary
culture tends to have more “regard” for artists than it does for orators—just think of
the so-called celebrities’ influence!
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Use of themes and images/symbols – the focus on themes has been shown to be
more evangelistic than using a lectionary (statistically the growing churches use
themes rather than the lectionary for worship/teaching focus) and the use of
images/symbols helps to shape life and mission of a church by allowing people to
better connect because “learning styles” differ making this approach is more holistic.
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Worship reinforces shared ideas – communal and participative worship embodies
the ideas of the body of the congregation rather than just the worship “leader” and
so communicates and reinforces the commonly held values & beliefs of the
congregation which give rise to the way the church fulfils its missional tasks.
Why a ‘missional’ worship?
 We serve a missional God
The creative love of the Father, the coming of the Son in an incarnational way and the Gifting
of the Holy Spirit are aspects of our God who longs to relate with (a lost) humanity.
The central and most fundamental part of any church’s life is its communal worship. If we are
to be a missional church, serving a missional God in a mission field then we need missional
worship.
 We operate in a mission field
Most people (especially those under 50) have little contact with “attractive” and relevant
Christianity. They might have been to church but it has not attracted or connected with
them. However there are still significant numbers of folk search for:
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Love, help or support
mystical/spiritual reality and experience
answers to difficult questions
a community of caring people
some sort of hope and direction for the future.
 Aims of ‘missional worship’ – to intentionally:
Encourage & inspire regular, committed worshippers.
Draw in and make more regular those occasional attenders on the edge.
Welcome & connect with the searchers and those enquiring about faith and questions of
faith.
So it can be seen that missional worship is not just for outsiders. It is good for us all, drawing
us closer to the living Christ, the heart of the church, and creating both belonging and
believing it every level.
For discussion:
you might like to think about and possibly discuss with other members, what affect your
church worship is on:
a) the committed regulars
b) the occasional attenders
c) the searchers and enquirers
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“Accessible” Worship
There is no overall ‘model’ to adapt because each congregation, each building, each local
community, each need and each context is different!
 Key users aren’t just those attending at present
Although their needs, likes, attention span, culture and language are first considerations.
Consider different groups of people and how they can ‘connect’ with worship
 Impact on worshippers/attenders
cf 1Cor 14:20ff about the impact of worship—people visiting can quickly discern if the
worship style/format and how people worship is real or not.
Worship when real and authentic will have an impact/influence on those attending.
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Need for authenticity
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Most people will sense the reality of what we are doing and so relate to it.
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This is not about the use of gimmicks nor "special services" such is the socalled "seeker services" in order to draw people in the church. Rather it is
focusing on the worship of each Sunday and attempting to make it authentic,
real and relevant to all those attending the worship service.
Guiding Principles
Although there are no models to apply because of the different contexts of each church
there is, however, a growing body of good practice to share into fundamental principles to
guide our thinking and work. They are:
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User-friendly worship:
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Shorten the length of your service
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Move to a better time
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Develop a warm welcome
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Use fewer books and pieces of paper
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Have one Bible reading
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Introduce a visual element to services
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Simplify and improve the music
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Serve good quality coffee
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Provide clean toilets
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Improve access and facilities for people with disabilities
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Introduce baby-changing facilities
Worship enrichment
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Reduce the number words used throughout the service
• improve the presentation and delivery of these
• use spotlighting
• fit them switches
• use CD music
• introduce quality dance and drama
• improve the quality of preaching
• encourage the congregation to sit together
• bring the Communion table closer to the people
Different Formats or Styles of Worship
 What flexibility is there?
How willing is the congregation to explore new worship styles?
How willing is the church “leadership” to encourage change and experimentation with
worship?
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“Fresh air in the pulpit” (from a book by Stuart Briscoe on new approaches to
preaching)
He advocates doing the predictable in unpredictable ways—present aspects of worship in
new ways so as to heighten expectation of the congregation.
For instance some of the ways that anticipation can be heightened is by having dramatised
Bible readings, presenting a sermon as a dialogue between 2 people, having people sit during
a hymn instead of standing to sing, or getting people to bring the offertory forward instead
of relying on others to collect it from them.
 Some formats to explore …
 “Traditional” with a bit of flexibility to how some aspects are presented.
Cafe style with a more informal format and encouraging people to participate and discuss
issues.
 Stations—like Stations of the Cross but instead of the focus being on Christ’s last
journey choose another theme and depict it in different ways for people to engage
with.
 New “Sermon slot” in which the “sermon” is delivered through discussion and
involves objects and symbols so that all ages can be involved and connect with the
theme.
 “Choice4Church” in which the congregation gather for a time of praise and hearing
the main Bible reading as well as prayers and then go to areas of the building to
pursue their choice of listening to a reflection on the reading, a discussion based on
the reading, or possibly designing a skit or dance portraying the main aspects of the
reading. Once the allotted time is over (say 40 minutes) they all reconvene to have a
final 10minutes of joint worship before leaving.
 “Xplore” similar to the stations above but with only say one or two presentations and
for group discussion on the theme and the presentations.
 Other .....what formats can the participants think of to better engage the
congregation?
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Use of a worship team/group:
In wanting to explore worship styles/formats (and in fact for whatever the regular pattern of
worship might be in a church) it is best to involve a small group of folk from the
congregation. It would be good to draw these folk from as wide a cross-section of the
congregation as possible in terms of age, gender, Christian experience etc.
Some of the benefits of using such a group are:
• Participatory—by its very nature the group can (and should) give input to
services as well as be prepared (even if necessary coaching is given) to help
lead/facilitate various aspects of the worship they plan together.
• Sharing and learning—the process is one whereby people share their views
about worship and learn from others different perceptions of worship. This
becomes a growth process not just in terms of knowledge but also worship
experience for them.
• Creative—having input from a number of people leads to a more creative
approach and as people share ideas they spark each other into creativity.
• Widening the 'pool‘ – by drawing others in and getting them involved it has
been seen that this involvement leads the participants to get even more
involved and develops their faith and participation in the church.
• A form of discipleship—from the above we can understand that this sort of
coming together, sharing and learning is at the heart of what Discipleship is
about.
For Discussion.
Does your church provide opportunities for folk to provide input into how services could be
formatted? How willing are people to provide ideas and be involved in putting worship
services together?
If no such opportunities exist at the moment how easy would it be for you to start such a
group in your church?
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“Emergency” Services
So what happens if a scheduled preacher or worship leader is unavoidably detained or
prevented from attending a planned service?
Do you have someone to stand in for them or what measures do you have in place for such
an eventuality? One suggestion could be the ...
Emergency Services “Toolbox” and in this to have the following:
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A list of hymns/songs that are well known and can be sung easily by the
congregation
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Have 2 or 3 different books of prayers with bookmarks for typical prayers of
Approach, Confession and Intercession.
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Also useful would be a typical order of service with spaces for filling in
hymns, readings and so on for that service.
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Some 'Vestry' prayers, for those leading worship to pray through (or
preferably to be prayed for) before the service.
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Some Bible texts with accompanying reflections that could be used in place
of a prepared sermon.
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A current Roots Worship or Salt, etc. Magazine to give some ideas for the all
age address.
Have an emergency service outline on hand to use and have the Elders periodically look at it
and be reminded of their duty to “ensure that worship is offered” and role play what would
need to happen and who would do what in an “emergency service”...
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This is the format of an Affirmitive Inquiry (AI) approach to have people explore what
worship means to them and areas that could be addressed for the future development of
worship in a church.
(Allow about 10 minutes for each of the first two questions to be addressed and about 15
minutes for the last two questions to be discussed.)
1. In 2s or 3s share the following and outline why they felt that way, the context of the
worship and who the “key” people were...
When was a peak experience in your church worship life . . . a time when you felt most alive,
engaged, energized, and proud of yourself and your church community?
2. In the same couple/triad of people share....
What do you value most about your church? Your worship?
3. Now have two or more of the couples/triads come together to form groups of say 6
to discuss the following (and take brief notes to share with the larger group
gathered)...
What are the core factors that give life to your worship when it is at its best?
4. Keeping in the same larger groups, share with each other (and again take notes to
share with the whole group afterwards)....
If you could make three wishes for your worship to come true in the next 3-5 years, what
would they be?
At the end of the last question reconvene the whole group of folk and on a flipchart list the
feedback from the smaller groups for the third question and see if there are any similarities
and group them together.
Do the same with feedback from the last question and see if there are common
themes/aspects. These then could be used to explore how to implement them and by who
and by when (also noting if there are any cost implications for each).