The Values in Structuring Worship

Worship is my spiritual coffee. While everything that we do throughout the week matters, and there are certainly other ministries and events that get me fired up, worship is a unique experience As a pastor, I have the opportunity to orchestrate an event that not only helps people grow in faith, but can help people looking for purpose find renewal, the hopeless be lifted from despair, and the lonely find community. That type of opportunity gets me going in the morning. But how do we build effective worship services? I have three main values that guide me in how we structure worship.

1) Meaningful: I want what is said and done on Sunday to have an impact on Monday. How do our liturgy, songs, and preaching not just uplift spirits temporarily but actually changes how people interact with their neighbors on Monday?

2) Fun: We should take our faith seriously, but that does not mean we should take ourselves seriously. If we want our worship to make an impact beyond Sunday morning, we can't sit there stone faced and not have any joy. That doesn't mean there aren't serious subjects to be discussed. We're currently doing a series on mental health. That's serious stuff. At the same time, we did our first ever Holy Humor servic e the Sunday after Easter and it clearly made an impact. We can and should have fun in church.

3) Accessible: To paraphrase Methodism's founder John Wesley, we are called to offer plain truth for plain people. What he meant is that we need to make sure that what we say and do can be understood by anybody who just walks in off the street. If I can't communicate the Gospel to people in ways that make sense to them, that's a problem. Our songs, liturgies and messages should all be able to be understood. That doesn't mean we dumb anything down. But it does mean we ask ourselves if our words are closer to a seminary paper or a conversation at a Midwestern dinner table.

Every week these values are what guide me in how we create worship. What is meaningful for you in worship? Feel free to reach out and share your thoughts to me at besteele@gmail.com or text/call 269-274-0029.