Beyond an “Order of Worship” Facilitating Spiritual Atmosphere Sources: George Barna, Kennon Callahan seminars

Barna Survey of 1800 Christian Households 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” Instructions: This is an embedded graph. To edit this graph simply double- click anywhere on the graph. When you’re done editing the graph, click outside of the graph to return to PowerPoint.

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 –7 th grade Average linguistic complexity of U.S. evangelical sermon: –12 th 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 SimpleComplex StirringProfound InspiringThoughtful EmotionalIntellectual Music Preaching

Existing Worship Imbalance SimpleComplex StirringProfound InspiringThoughtful EmotionalIntellectual Music Preaching

Worship Balance SimpleComplex StirringProfound InspiringThoughtful EmotionalIntellectual 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 Copy right John P. Chandler, 2002