Planning is key to vital worship

Planning is key to vital worship
Ken Walker

Churches moving to contemporary worship far outpace traditionalists, but congregations of fewer than 100 people are much less likely to imitate that trend, according to Ellison Research. That makes the 185-member Stokelan Drive Christian Church in Malden, Mo., a counter-cultural congregation. However, since adopting a newer style of music in 2000 in order to appeal to younger families, Sunday attendance has mushroomed by 76 percent.

That boosted Stokelan Drive out of the "small" category and made Pastor Dan Hargrave appreciate the necessity of worship planning.

Today, the Missouri church mixes gospel songs and newer tunes with classic hymns. It also incorporates video clips periodically to prepare worshipers for a sermon, Communion or special music. Changing a church's atmosphere

Stokelan Drive also became more demonstrative. When the pastor preached a series on building a great church, he handed out hardhats to members. Volunteers also assembled a tool display to emphasize the theme.

Last Easter the decorating team constructed an empty tomb on stage and handed out river stones with "hope" etched on them.

"It's not just singing a few new choruses," Hargrave says.

The evidence such planning works is seen in the numbers: the average parishioner's age dipped from the mid-40s into the 30s, while children's attendance spiked from half a dozen to around 35.

Fine tuning the service

At the other end of the scale are megachurches, such as non-denominational Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nev. Weekend attendance is nearing 11,000, up 3,000 the past two years. With 35 members rotating through its praise band, 35 vocalists and two campuses, planning is an ongoing challenge for music pastor Aaron Stewart.

Worship consists of three songs and one special number, designed to fit within a service that runs exactly one hour. Run five minutes late and traffic can back up in the hallways and parking lot. "Our strategy is tailored to our community," Stewart says of the brief attention spans of many in the audience. "People we're trying to reach out to move here for many different reasons. They're used to entertainment and big, flashy stuff."

Instead of a single pastor leading a group of volunteers, Stewart directs a worship staff that decides what songs will best tie into the senior pastor's sermon. Meanwhile, a creative department comes up with dramas, videos and props to better illustrate the message.

Planning months in advance

The planning process extends from three to six months, although Stewart says preparation for specific services is closer to two months in advance.

However, adjustments still occur the Tuesday prior to each weekend, when staff members evaluate last Sunday's service and discuss what they hope to see God do the next weekend.

"For us, planning is absolutely essential," says Stewart, who as a conference speaker is often asked why smaller churches should plan so far in advance. His reply: know why you are doing what you are doing. "For a small church to do what I do would be overkill," Stewart says. "But when I sing a special song...for six weeks I've been listening to it five times a week, so when it comes I don't have to think about it. I can communicate the song and worship myself.

"When I only have two days (of rehearsal), I'm focused more on remembering the lyrics and trying to follow the music. It lets you be more spontaneous and excited at the same time."

Tradition isn't dead

While contemporary worship is king, tradition lives on in such places as College Church in Wheaton, Ill., a non-denominational, evangelical congregation. Averaging 2,000 on Sunday morning, attendance has grown nearly 40 percent the past eight years despite what music pastor Charles King calls "low tech" worship featuring organ, choir and instrumental ensemble. "There's no contemporary worship per se," King says. "It's very vertical and very reverent. Our music is designed to have some vertical thrust in its expression to God and reach down emotionally to touch people's hearts."

Still, conventional services take as much planning as contemporary. When he came to Wheaton in 1996, King felt services were too stodgy and the music interrupted too frequently. To create a better flow, he welcomed people before the prelude, and removed announcements in the middle of music. When they went to three services, King scrapped the introit and other brief choir numbers to economize on time.

His planning for Sunday morning and evening typically takes the equivalent of 12 hours a week, starting 8 to 10 weeks in advance and finalized 10 days before the service. "For me, planning is finding people talented enough to (play and sing) and find them far enough in advance," King says. "In a large church, planning is important because of the complicated schedule of people's lives."

No matter how complicated, worship participation is critical for any congregation. According to Stokelan's Hargrave, churches should do more to involve people in worship. That may mean planning non-musical expressions of worship, too, Hargrave says: "Worship is more than singing songs."