Worship Strategies

In the past year our church created new mission and vision statements.  It was an incredible process and I believe in what was created.

Our Mission - To share with all people the unconditional love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Our Vision - A community of faith where everyone is welcomed, respected, and valued and where individuals are transformed by the abundance of God’s grace into passionate disciples who are changing the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The next step was to create strategies to live out our mission and our vision.  The team identified five areas of focus (worship, evangelism, mission, discipleship, fellowship), but fell short on developing strategies in these areas.  After eleven months we were tired.  Therefore I am using this blog to help create and develop strategies beginning with worship.  I hope you will share your thoughts. 

Strategy #1

We are committed to worship that is authentic and relevant.

Practices

1.   Worship can never feel manipulative.  It is not about creating an emotional response of joy or sadness or guilt or compassion.  These may be the result of worship, but they are not the goal.  The goal is an encounter with the living God through an experience of worship.  Our hope is that at some point during worship we are overwhelmed by the realization that God is present among us.  God's Spirit cannot be manipulated so authentic worship begins with a spirit of honesty and vulnerability before God.

2.   We stand in a rich tradition of worship styles and practices.  Many battles have been fought over the correct way to worship God, but these battles attempt to place limits on our creativity.  The more important question is not are we doing it correctly but is it meaningful to our community?  Worship is meaningful when it speaks the language of the culture.  If any element in worship is unable to speak to the culture, it ceases to be relevant.

Comments

[Diana]

I love when I walk away from a sermon feeling connected to the past by a story that placed the scripture in my here and now.