Worship Weblog

Iowa City Book Group – Second Meeting

Posted by cicw

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Book Groups

We invited 34 book groups across the U.S. and Canada to meet and discuss The Church of All Ages and its implications for their worship, and to share their notes here.
Learn more

Eight pastors and lay leaders from three Presbyterian churches in Eastern Iowa met together over lunch at a local restaurant to our discussion of The Church of All Ages and its potential impact on the congregations we serve. Following brief introductions of participants who were attending for the first time, ordering our food, and opening our time with prayer, we began to focus on chapters 6 + 7.

Four questions were sent out to participants to contemplate over while reading the two chapters on preaching to an intergenerational congregation.

1. What has been your biggest challenge in preaching to a “Church of All Ages”?
2. Describe a moment (either in your preaching or in a sermon you heard) where you felt all ages were engaged at one point or another.
3. What type of preaching (or characteristics of preaching) has been most influential on your faith formation? What kinds of “extras”, if any, were utilized (projection, drama, outlines, etc)?
4. Talk to your own children (or “adopted” children) about their impressions of worship, specifically regarding the spoken word. How would they answer questions 2 + 3?

Our conversation began reflecting on the influence of preaching on each of our own lives:

• Memories of a sermon specifically spoken to a group of children ages 8-10 regarding vocation. (Bob, interim pastor, St. Andrew)

• A strong recollection of sermons where every message was a story. This particular pastor had a strong gift of storytelling that engaged people of all ages while clearly communicating the good news of the gospel. (Kyle, pastor, St. Andrew)

• Witnessing the power of conversational-type preaching to children and youth vs. a more structured and “delivered” sermon. (Michael, pastor of One Ancient Hope, a new plant church)

• A powerful memory triggered by reading the chapter by Jeff Barker when students from Northwestern College came and presented Sioux Center Sudan along with enacted prayer – a powerful vision of the work of the Holy Spirit that has stayed with them. (Sarah and Patti, St. Andrew).

• A positive comment, overheard from a resident of a retirement facility following a sermon that utilized storytelling, showed the effectiveness of this means of communication to people of all ages. (Helenka, First Presbyterian, Williamsburg)

• Raised in a Roman Catholic home, the proclaimed message (very often brief) was often overshadowed by the drama of the Eucharist. (Bob and Sarah)

Preaching to a diverse congregation definitely poses its challenges. When asked how they decide on communication tools, these pastors answered:

• When the matrix of people you are trying to reach is so broad, it is necessary to focus on context and what is happening in the midst of the community of faith, the wider community, the state, the nation, the world. We must ask, “Who most needs to hear a word of good news today?” and choose appropriate illustrations (including humor!) to communicate the message of the text. (Bob)

• One needs to trust that the telling of story will reach across all ages. Select stories that will resonate with the community. (Kyle)

• In a post-modern era, we need to connect the Biblical witness to a culture that does not understand the original context in which these texts were written. Today’s culture tends to read everything through their eyes (culture and experience). Communicating the Truth of the Bible requires delving into the world in which the texts were written and drawing out the eternal truths of God’s Word. (Michael)

Our conversation moved to the power of story and how it is being used outside of worship.

• In study on children’s television programming it was discovered that children crave a good story. When writers from Sesame Street (where the original focus was on short, fast-moving segments) left to develop Blue’s Clues, they altered the programming to incorporate longer storylines. (James, St. Andrew and Michael)

• This year in confirmation, the Biblical story is being taught by storytelling. It has been found that youth are discovering a way to better understand and tell the over-arching themes of the salvation story by re-communicating what is being taught in various modes of storytelling. (Kyle)

• When discerning elements to be used in worship for their new plant church, it was decided to draw upon the traditions (both ancient and modern) of the church to weekly communicate the salvation story. A recent example was given of a woman who felt she was converted (in a Wesleyan heart-warming experience) by the power of the Spirit during the act of the Eucharist. (Michael)

It was quickly discovered that within this small cross-section of pastors and lay leaders from Eastern Iowa many forms of communication take place weekly. Many styles used have been shaped by long-lasting impressions of effective preaching from childhood. Each congregation served requires a very different “mode of operation”, from expectations set by the congregation to other “unexpected venues” that can clearly proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Our final meeting will focus on the last three chapters of the book and lead us into discovering practical ways of effective intergenerational worship planning.

Tags: bgiowacity, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational