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Beyond an “Order of Worship” Facilitating Spiritual Atmosphere. Sources: George Barna, Kennon Callahan seminars [email protected]. Barna Survey of 1800 Christian Households. www.Barna.org surveys regular (2x+ /month) attenders of Christian worship : - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Beyond an “Order of Worship”Facilitating Spiritual Atmosphere
Sources: George Barna, Kennon Callahan seminars
Barna Survey of 1800 Christian Households
• www.Barna.org surveys regular (2x+ /month) attenders of Christian worship:
• “When did you last experience the presence of God in worship?”
“When I Last Experienced God’s Presence in Worship”
within last month
41%
1-12 months ago11%
not in past year16%
never have32%
Conclusions
• 32% who regularly attend claim to have never experienced God’s presence in church
• 48% have not in the last year• Note: the younger the person, the less likely
• Millions regularly attend U.S. worship events, but relatively few worship
Reasons for Poor Worship: Cultural
• Burger King spirituality
– “Have it your way”
• Egocentric, need-meeting expectations imported
– Consumer thinking of worship as something God does for us
Reasons for Poor Worship: Congregational
• Worldliness – Goal of pleasing
people, not God
• Educational– Goals of learning about
God rather than connecting with God
– Information > transformation
Reasons for Poor Worship: Character
• Wrong criteria– Professionalism
– Peppiness
– Willard’s A-B-C’s
• Right criteria– Awe, reverence,
humility, gratitude
– Intimacy with God
Reasons for Poor Worship: “Order”
• Premodern: chaos– You look like an incompetent,
thoughtless idiot
• Modern: order– You look like a cheesy
manipulator of unspoken will
• Postmodern: chaordic– You look prepared but not
scripted
Chaordic: Spirit and Form
“I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day …”
• Revelation 1:10
• Animating Spirit
• Ritual-shaping Form
Spiritual-Ritual
• Will attend to non-cognitive, character-related spiritual dynamics within and around the worship event
• Will think steadily about formal characteristics of physical, temporal, and interpersonal environment
An alternate image: Worship “Hardware” and “Software”
• If the building (hardware) is uncomfortable …
• If the time of service is wrong …
– … then the spiritual atmosphere will be poor
But …
• By attending to hardware and software dynamics, leaders can facilitate an effective, chaordic spiritual atmosphere
“Software” Issues in Worship Atmosphere
• 1. Preaching
• 2. Music
• 3. Personhood
• 4. Environmental
1. “Spiritual” Preaching
1. Preach to prepare people to grow spiritually– Are your goals informational, congregational, ___?
2. Consider “tone”– “Ought/must/should”– People remember twice as much on how one preaches vs.
content of what one preaches
“Spiritual” Preaching: Missionaries recognize cultural limitations!
• Average comprehension level of U.S. adult– 7th grade
• Average linguistic complexity of U.S. evangelical sermon:– 12th grade
• Average U.S. boomer/buster attention span: – 6-10 minutes
• Average U.S. evangelical sermon:– 32 minutes
2. Spiritual Music
• Beyond “style” – “sing psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs” (Col.3)
• Beyond the cognitive– Music offers access to
emotive realms key to spiritual worship and personal transformation
Spiritual Music
• Away from presentational and toward the participatory– Recognizing cultural limitations
re: music education
• Away from the yo-yo of the order of service– 20 minute minimum?
3. Personhood
• Issues of the character of the worship leaders
• Philosophy of ministry– The funeral leader?
– Follow me?
Effective Worship Leaders
• Personally engage in worship
• Coach folk to come along in the vacuum
Characteristics of The Great Worship Leader
• Inscrutably sold out to Christ
• Fruitful character (Galatians 5:22f)
• a student of the Bible
• Devoted to prayer
• a skilled musician– not world-class– music is a means to the
end
• submissive to church leaders
Characteristics of The Great Worship Leader
• An intense worshipper
• willing to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading– Spirit/Form
• Perceived by others as authentic and genuine
• Sensitive to the worship climate
• still growing spiritually in significant ways
• willing to assess
4. Environmental
• 5 Keys
– Prayer
– Length of service
– “Flow”
– Intentional contrasts
– Climate details
Environmental: Prayer
• Intercessory prayer
– for worship attenders • before and during service
– for those who may not get there • the “empty chair”
– for the event and leaders
Environmental: Length of Service
• Culturally determined
• Long enough to have people connect deeply with God, cut off when it wanes
• Preaching: 32 vs. 6-10
Environmental: Flow
• Often more simple than sophisticated– major moves vs. choppy parade
• Think “blocks” of time
• The incessant announcements
• Swoosh?
Environmental: Intentional Contrasts
• Beyond hyper-modern cognitive gymnastics
– Heart/head
– joy/contrition
– security/awe
– intimacy/reverence
Existing Worship Imbalance
• Simple Complex• Stirring Profound• Inspiring Thoughtful• Emotional Intellectual
MusicPreaching
Existing Worship Imbalance
• Simple Complex• Stirring Profound• Inspiring Thoughtful• Emotional Intellectual
MusicPreaching
Worship Balance
• Simple Complex• Stirring Profound• Inspiring Thoughtful• Emotional Intellectual
Music Preaching
Environmental: Climate Details
• Light• Sound• Temperature• Typos• Length of time on site• Time of day• Local/national news• The bulletin: an excuse not to worship?
• how about handing out on the way out?
Facilitating spiritual worship means paying attention to:
1. Cultural conditions that obstruct worship
2. Critical thinking about “spirit”and “form”
3. Praying & planning about “software” issues of preaching, music, personhood, & environment
What is the goal?
• Non-offensive ritual?
• Ever-stimulating excitement?
• Consumer need-meeting?
• New information?
• Connection with God
• Expression of love, need, and gratitude
• Personal and corporate transformation
• Congregational mission
Good worship can make Great Christians!
• People who have worshiped God profoundly tend to grow in the most remarkable ways as Christians
• We can help this happen by facilitating spiritual worship
Beyond an “Order of Worship”Facilitating Spiritual Atmosphere
Dr. John P. Chandler
www.rasnet.org
[email protected] right John P. Chandler, 2002