SUBSCRIBE TODAY:
iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play • Spotify
Tim Cool and Tom Metz from Cool Solutions Group join us today to discuss worship planning and its role in the revitalization of a church as well as some tools for revitalization related to worship planning.
Episode Highlights:
- Regardless of the size of your church, you need to be planning your worship services well.
- More people than just the pastor and music leader are involved in planning a worship service.
- Your church building should help your church better fulfill its mission of making disciples.
- Regardless of the size of your building or congregation, planning is necessary.
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
- Cool Solutions Group
- Worship Planning
- ChurchAnswers.com
- Find more resources at the Revitalize & Replant page at ThomRainer.com
Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.
Submit Your Question:
Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.
Great podcast! Lots of valuable information.
So agree careful planning is needed and appreciated from the pew!
I will offer one caveat, and that gently: there have been a couple of times that in order to stay faithful church members we would attend SS and skip church. Both times the reason was the same (and yes, I am a musician albeit a very poor one but was in on what was being attempted.) That reason was leadership willfully, deliberately, and mindfully using manipulation techniques to engender specific emotional responses. All in the name of making it easier to worship, or helping us open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, or some such noble cause. But the sad, real, hard truth was manipulation rather than waiting for the Holy Spirit to move.
If you are manipulating tempo, loudness, temperature, or lighting to do that please…stop. It is blasphemy. Trust the Holy Spirit and choose music that is accurate theology, easy for the congregation to sing whatever the genre, and do it well.
It is sadly fairly easy to manipulate people to respond, come forward, or have an awesome worship experience.
True conversion is much slower and harder. But it is real, manipulated responses are not.
Not to mention today’s teens keep saying “I see what you are doing” and “the emperor has no clothes” and walk away totally done with church because of this fake worship.
Thank you Linda, somewhat related, this reminds me of taking my daughter to a healing service where she wasn’t healed. It was 12 years later that she confided in me that on that day she no longer believed in God. If he didn’t care about her, she didn’t care about him. She asks me to pray for her and her friends now, but what wasn’t real to her 12 years ago has affected this past decade.
I love my church, believe in their vision/mission statement, but often don’t make it into worship during the first 15 minutes. Following Linda’s reasoning.
Blasphemy? I think that’s pretty harsh. Sure there are churches that are too entertainment oriented, but what is wrong with creating a more worshipful atmosphere by adjusting the lighting, tempo, sound, etc.? If it helps people set aside the distractions in the room and in their lives, and focus more effectively on worshipping, so be it! As for your claim that today’s teenagers are turned-off by such tactics, it’s just not true. I have been a youth pastor since 1975, and I assure you that they are actually drawn to more contemporary methods of worship, today. It’s dull, unemotional, traditional worship methods that drive them away from the church.