Rev. Paul B. Nickerson
MACUCC
1 Badger Road
Framingham, MA. 01702
Nickersonp@macucc.org

The Backdrop for Worship

It is not 1955 and people don’t just come to our worship services because we have been on the town common for several hundred years. In this postmodern world of the 21st century, there are several dynamics going on in our culture.

• People are hungry for God, there is great interest in spirituality in the world, but sadly, people don’t think they will find an experience of God in our worship services.
• People are not only church shopping today, but spirituality shopping, trying many places on the internet, television and elsewhere as they seek to understand the spiritual realm.
• Post-moderns are not looking for a “nice”, orderly worship service that is always predictable. They are looking for an experience of the holy.
• This experience is marked by the desire for a mystical experience that brings hope for their lives and abandonment, a giving over completely to God.
• The post-modern world is most like the 1st century world of the early church.
• Churches that are going to respond to this world need to be crystal clear about Jesus, just as the early church was clear.

Some other important factors to remember:

1. Only 22% of the population in this country goes to worship anywhere. In many urban areas, the percentage is down to single digits.
2. In the 1990s there was not a single county in the U.S. that showed an increase in aggregate average worship attendance.
3. 60% of people in the U.S. have had some experience of worship, but most of those experiences were negative.
4. On a first-time visit, people make up their minds in the first 4-8 minutes whether or not they will return again.
5. Less than 25% of MACUCC churches have increased worship attendance over the past 5 years.

Strategies for Worship in this Changing World

Strategy One: Focus on Transformation

In many of our congregations the worship service is almost identical every week. There is:

• A standard order of worship with hymns and unison prayers inserted in each week.
• Members know exactly what to expect from each week.
• Everything in worship is tightly orchestrated and planned.
• The goal of worship is to have a “nice” worship that sends everyone off to lunch feeling harmonious.

The key word is many of our worship services is control. Our trying to control worship causes it to fail.

“Standing on a hose, they (clergy and worship leaders) wonder why the water does not pour out. They are really more fearful that the hose will fly out of control if they dare remove even one foot”. Jeff Patton, God at the Crossroads.

And we wonder why worship feels “dry”? To change worship we have to abandon the idea that we are in control.

Instead we need to focus on transformation.

In worship, we are seeking divine intervention. We are to create room for the Spirit of God to do its work. To do this we need the intersection of who we are as a person (self); the world experience we have had (lived world); the emptiness and hurting we feel (void); and the presence of God (holy). Worship seeks to bring these four together and it is at this intersection that transformation happens.

The style of worship is only a tactic, what we are seeking is God changing lives in worship. We bring all that we are to worship, which transforms us. This accelerates our spiritual life, causes us to go deeper during the week and points us to the mission field. Rather than sending us off to lunch, transformative worship sends us off to a week of discipleship.

Churches that are pursuing such transformative worship set up prayer teams that are in prayer during the worship service (in a nearby room) asking God to make a difference in people’s lives. Churches that engage in such prayer find the worship service changes in its feel and quality.

What might it look like if people were transformed in your worship service? Who would like it and who would be scared to death?

Strategy Two: Think in Terms of Worship Teams

Postmodern worship needs to focus not on professionals leading worship, but on faithful, creative teams that lead a congregation in an experience of the holy and in transformation.

The beginning of this process is on the lives of the team members. Their faith experience and their experience of the community around them leads to creative worship design that is transformative.

The faith journey of the worship team leads to worship that matches the faith journey of the community around the church. Worship design and worship change only make sense in a church that is changing on many fronts. Leadership encourages teams that are set free to mix their faith experience, the longings of the congregation and what they are learning about the mission field or community around. Out of that milieu, comes worship design which will constantly change as the faith experience changes.

Strategy Three: Multiply Worship to Meet a Variety of Faith Journey Needs

Given the high percentage of un-churched in this world, and the varying spiritual needs of people, it is difficult to design one worship service that meets all needs. Also, worship is often a “stand-alone” event, unrelated to the spiritual lives of people. Many newcomers find traditional, lectionary-based worship difficult to understand or to find meaningful. To begin to change worship dynamics think about two tracks of worship, based not on personal taste, but on the spiritual needs of the church and community.

There is a new resource called the “Uncommon Lectionary” which addresses these different needs. It encourages churches to form two tracks of worship.

Track One-The Seeker Cycle

This worship service is to help those who are relatively new to the Christian faith. The lectionary is set up with 52 stories that every Christian needs to know and it connects to the secular holidays that form the rhythm of life for many people who are not familiar with the faith. Some of these holidays include (although each church needs to adapt this to their community).

New Years/Super Bowl/Valentine’s Day/Easter/Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/4th of July/Back to School/Halloween/Thanksgiving.

This worship service is specifically designed to help strangers begin to relate their lives to the grace of God. This service is not aimed at church members. It is adapted to meet the special rhythm of your zip code and introduces people to the Christian faith. In addition to scriptural suggestions for worship, there are meditation themes each week for worship teams.

Track Two-The Disciple Cycle

This worship service is designed for those who want to go deeper in the faith. Participants in this worship service are expected to be part of a small, mid-week group that will further deepen their faith development. The purpose of this worship is to build people’s relationship with Jesus and the emphasis is on how we will behave as Christians. The worship team and the small group leaders will jointly design worship. The Disciple Cycle of scripture covers five major story lines found in the Bible. They include:

1) Israel’s Covenant
2) David’s legacy
3) Faith Servants (prophets)
4) Jesus’ Purpose

5) Christians’ mission

The idea behind these two cycles is to completely link worship and discipleship. Someone new to the faith would come to the Seeker service, whose music and style would be based on the needs of the community around the church. Church members might attend this worship service to provide hospitality and mentoring to those new to the faith. As people grow they would then attend the Disciple Service, which in most cases, will be a smaller service because of its deeper commitment. Those worshipping at this service will intentionally go deeper in faith, explore their gifts and calling and prepare for the mission work God is calling them to.

Summary

1) What do you currently think is helpful in your worship service? What is not?

2) How does your church help people find transformation through the divine intersection of self, lived world, void and the Holy?

3) What would it take for your congregation to form a true worship team?

4) Would two tracks of worship be beneficial to your congregation?

5) Other comments, questions, insights…….