Worship Weblog

Lucknow Book Group – Third Meeting

Posted by cicw

Friday, December 11th, 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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Having gathered these three times to discuss The Church of All Ages, we achieved this: we talked and we listened– to each other, intergenerationally.

We began our third discussion with chapter 7: The Power of Preaching to All Ages. The reaction was immediate: Ron rose to the defence of us pastors and wondered if perhaps the author was selling preaching short. We had to unpack chatting, gossiping and daydreaming as legitimate descriptors of what happens in the pulpit. Christine captured the concern when she insisted that there has to be “some seriousness.” Four of us present, three pastors and one layperson, have preached and we recognized that personal style has to be considered. Grace reminded us that one never knows how the Lord will use our words.

The following chapter, about one congregation’s deliberate efforts to understand how generations might worship together, raised what was becoming a common thread in our discussions: authenticity. Meghan interpreted the need for passion as simply being genuine, acknowledging the presence of our youth through natural exchanges, rather than artificial and token acts. Turns out that older adults are just as nervous about these exchanges as are the youth. Jocelyn observed that while we want to approach our younger members we might hesitate to do so because we wonder what they might think of us. Getting past this concern is important and Karin underscored this when she said that the best gift we can give our kids is to be passionate about worship. Ken agreed. He said that challenging and encouraging will always be more effective than brow beating our children into full participation in worship.

In our new spirit of openness, Meghan and Christine said they don’t like litanies; Ron said he does. Some thought we should use blogs and facebook more extensively; others said we would just be adding one more task to the pastor’s schedule.

The final chapter of the book about worship planning led us into a discussion of how this topic differs for larger churches as compared to smaller churches. Together we represented two smaller churches of approximately 100 members, and one larger church of 500 members. Ken observed that it is a bigger struggle for larger churches to build community. Siemen, as the pastor of a smaller church, found much of what the book covered to be common sense stuff. Ron recognized that the need for discernment, humility and patience is vital for all. Jocelyn pointed out that in a smaller church we need everyone and therefore intergenerational worship evolves more naturally. Ken concurred – when everyone pulls together, intergenerational worship just happens.

Having gathered these three times to discuss The Church of All Ages, we achieved this: we talked and we listened– to each other, intergenerationally. Meghan found that the process had brought her a greater understanding of her own feelings about worship. Christine had to re-think her assumption that as a young child the sermon and much of what happened at church was not really intended for her. Grace, our senior member, saw some good things happening as we read and discussed the book: “it got us talking,” she said.

It is my prayer that the conversation will continue in all of our churches.

Tags: bglucknow, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational