Worship Weblog

Surrey Book Group (Tom's Group) – Third Meeting

Posted by cicw

Friday, November 6th, 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.
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Chapters 7 – 10

Preaching is so important in our Reformed tradition and it was good to read the chapter on it. We all agreed that many of our people are post-literate. That means we need to use images in preaching – engaging the eyes so that the listeners catch more of the message. Also, how do we make the Bible text come alive? Story-telling, using different versions, having someone recite the passage from memory. Our group shared stories of pastors who have done this effectively. Grace still remembers one pastor’s creative telling of the message thirty years ago.

Passion is a key word that we drew out of La Grave’s experience. We agreed that style does not capture the minds and hearts of teens, but it is passion. If a church is passionate about what it does, that church will retain its members, including youth. Sue talked about a pastor who had been passionate about including children and youth in worship. He remembered their names, spoke to them directly, and always gave encouragement when they helped in music or sound. Carolyn told how she encourages the youth who help with music.

We discussed the definition of worship as “relaxed joyful reverence.” We resonated with this definition and spoke about the fine balance between preparing well and being sloppy. Sometimes worship teams think that they don’t have to practice very much because they want it to have a natural, spontaneous feel to it. Yet they have to watch out for the “cringe factor” when things don’t work out.

We also wondered about rudeness in worship. In Chris’s church, some older people plug their ears when the drums get too loud. They sometimes grouse and criticize the worship teams. How do we foster openness and graciousness in worship? Chris said that this book has helped her be sensitive to these matters. And what about youth who move to other churches that are geared specifically to their cohort? What does that teach about the body of Christ and being gracious with each other?

We talked about who should be in charge of worship. Should it be a committee or a director? Grace said that there should be a committee. A worship director tends to take too much control and often takes too much heat. A committee can diffuse these things. It also gives the members yet another way to be involved in the church and helps them take ownership of the planning process.

We were challenged with some of the practical ideas near the end of the book. Carolyn’s church is about to go through a building program and she gained some good insights on p. 174 about what spaces may be needed. We ended with a sense of appreciation for this book and a renewed desire to plan intergenerational worship.

Tags: bgsurreytom, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational