“Around 1 in 4 Protestant churchgoers (24 percent) say their church has a very liturgical style…. (42 percent) says their church has some liturgical elements, while 27 percent say their church has none of the liturgical style and 7 percent are unsure…. (75 percent) are satisfied with their current worship style.” - Baptist Press
“Evangelical worship services often feel kind of shallow. A lot of times it’ll feel like a concert and a TED Talk about Jesus.” - Gavin Ortlund
“…since ordering my church’s worship is a part of my job, I knew I needed some help. I needed to get organized. For pastors like me, here are some tips for getting organized for the task.” - 9 Marks
“Each Sunday gathering has two themes based on the preached Word: a theme of revelation and response. The first focuses our attention on a facet of God’s glory and grace. The second focuses our response in a way appropriate to what God has revealed.” - 9 Marks
“more important than the shape of our meeting space is the shape of our meeting. What are its parts, and how do they flow from one to another? Those are the questions we will consider in this post.” - 9 Marks
Churches worship in a variety of ways—some good, others … not so good. The “right way to worship” question often ends up at a discussion of the regulative vs. normative principles. Here, I’ll do something different. I’ll simply describe how our congregation worshipped one Sunday in April 2024. Perhaps it will help you. Perhaps it will encourage you. Maybe it will give you some ideas. Maybe it’ll let you know what not to do! But here it is.
This is our service order:
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Call to worship |
“Even in the ‘freest’” of liturgies, the leaders have established at least some order of events. Further, we must remember the clear command from the Apostle Paul: ‘Let all things be done decently and in order’” - Ref21
“Apart from a real encounter with the Spirit of the Living God, liturgical traditions are little more than superstitious incantations….However, I have begun to think that many of our evangelical churches have overcorrected for these shortcomings.” - Kainos
“Benedictions can be confusing. Are we blessing God? Is God blessing us? Is it a prayer? Is it a pronouncement? The answer to the questions above is yes. But also that it is more of some of those things than others.” - Ref21
I’d like to share the way our congregation structures its worship service. I have nothing special to offer―only my own reflections on where our congregation is, and perhaps where we’ll go. What we do on Sunday mornings, and how we do it, is important. Perhaps my comments here will be useful.
Many Christians don’t think critically about what happens on Sundays. This isn’t a rebuke, just an observation. Over 40 years ago, Robert G. Rayburn shared similar misgivings:
