song

Creative Service Ideas

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Most Sunday Services in most North American churches look pretty much the same. There is usually an opening, announcements, singing, and a sermon. Sometimes there are a few extras like a special song sung for the congregation or something like that. As pastors, we tend to do things the way we have always done them because we have found a pattern that works, but for those who are interested in changing things up, I would like to share some creative service ideas you could try occasionally. I don’t believe there is a reason that every Sunday Worship Service has to look exactly the same or even include all the elements we regularly have.

The following ideas for Sunday Services can be done in place of a sermon. Some of these ideas may be quite different from what the congregation expects each Sunday, but, in my experience, with careful introduction and scriptural support, they can be well received. Before any service that I am drastically changing, I make sure I know what I am hoping for. This way I can clearly communicate these expectations to staff and volunteers. During the service, I also make sure to walk the congregation through the activities I’ve planned and how they can participate. Sometimes I make a special effort to explain how the creative idea is scripturally sound and appropriate for Sunday morning.

Here are the ideas:

Worship/Music Sunday

Most services place the sermon as the main event in a service. It would be appropriate to occasionally have a whole service of song, scripture, music, and praise. The singing and praise of the Lamb in Revelation 5 would be a good background for this service.

Prayer Sunday

While we often pray at different points in the service, or have designated prayer meetings, it is quite appropriate, in place of a sermon, to lead the congregation in a guided prayer time during the Sunday Service. Prayers of the Bible can be used as a guide for a Prayer Sunday, or use a guide like the “Five Finger Prayer.”

Scripture Sunday

We often read a scripture or two and preach from scripture, but it can be encouraging to have a complete service focused on the reading and quoting of scripture. Children can share verses they have memorized in Sunday School or at camp. We can imitate Timothy who was charged with the “public reading of scripture” (1 Timothy 4:13).

Sharing Sunday

Some churches have a brief Prayer and Share time as part of their service. This could be expanded to fill the whole morning as long as a leader is prepared to give some direction and guidelines. The leader can offer suggestions of sharing answered prayers and God’s work in their lives, as well as giving parameters of what is appropriate to share in a public setting.

Communion Sunday

Many of our communion celebrations are tacked onto the end of a service, sometimes following a sermon that had nothing to do with communion.  A complete Sunday devoted to communion might have a great impact on the people as you take time to explain and understand communion with more detail.

Communion Sunday – with Interactive Stations

Often, the communion celebration is only focused on the bread and juice. I have used interactive stations inviting people to enter into the story with more of their senses. Each station invites worshippers to read scripture and participate in a physical activity surrounding communion. An example would be to read scripture about forgiveness and having them write out confessions and nail them to the cross, or to read about the temple curtain being torn in two while tearing a rag in half. The hope is to engage more of the senses as people enter physically into the communion celebration.

Baptism Sunday – all focused on Baptism

Find ways to make the whole service a celebration of baptism. Explain the meaning and importance of baptism. Invite candidates to share their testimonies. Invite others to pray for each one being baptized. Encourage people to remember their baptism and to recommit to serving God as they did at that time. No matter what service you plan, include scriptures that speak to the theme of the service.

I hope you can try a few creative services. Let me know how they turn out. And let me know if you have other creative suggestions.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

The Power of Music and Song

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Music is a part of our lives. From the song playing on your radio alarm as you wake up, to the elevator music you hear on you way to work, to the dinner music at a dinner out with your special person, music is all around us. Lullabies put our children to sleep, national anthems announce the start of a hockey game, and Happy Birthday makes us smile around a candle-lit cake. Music is also a big part of the church.

  • Music triggers memories.

Some couples have a song. It could be the song that was playing on their first date or another significant moment. Songs can take us back to occasions or moments of significance to us. I remember singing How Great Thou Art with some friends underneath tall evergreens on the shore of Heart Lake in northern British Columbia. We sang of God’s work in creation as the rain poured down and the lightning flashed against the night sky, lighting up the mountains around us. Every time I hear that song, I remember that place and that special moment.

In church, some songs remind us of special moments we had with God. The Goodness of God, by Bethel Music has a special place in my heart because I first heard it while in a low point in my life and it did a lot to lift me up and reorient myself with a renewed trust in God.

  • Songs teach us.

The tunes that stick in our head through the week remind us of the sermon we heard last Sunday and the truths that the Holy Spirit revealed to us. Humming or whistling a tune reminds us of something even when the words aren’t sung.

Statements read or spoken are not as easily retained as when in a song or put to a tune. As we sing songs together on Sunday morning or on our own throughout the week, we begin to internalize the words, and ultimately learn from them. Some of the great hymns of old were powerful because of the biblical truths they teach.

On the other hand, some of them taught us things that were not true. Christmas carols for instance taught us that baby Jesus didn’t cry, which can’t be true if He was truly human. How else would he have communicated his needs as a baby? We Three Kings declares there were three wisemen or Magi when the Bible doesn’t say that. Songs make assumptions and take poetic license, which is fine until we assume the words are truth.

Songs teach us. We just need to be aware what we are learning as we sing. Do the lyrics declare biblical truths that we can stand behind, or do they teach something contrary to what we preach and practice?

  • Songs speak to our hearts

Songs, and the music we sing them to, have a way of grabbing ahold of our hearts. They become personal expressions declaring great truths we agree with, or prayers expressing our hearts in a way we couldn’t until we heard and sang this song. Songs are the expression of the writer, and when we find a song where the writer expresses exactly what we want to say, it can be a wonderful experience. It gives words to feelings we may not have been able to articulate.

I have had songs help me declare my faith in God in the middle of the storms of my life. When everything seemed to be going wrong around me, I could join in with the song and reaffirm my belief that God was and is still sovereign even in my tough times.

Songs can make us laugh and make us cry as they enable us to put words to our emotions.

  • Songs Invigorate Us

Armies often had battle songs. National anthems inspire athletes to do their best at the Olympics. And songs can help us to rise to the challenges that face us every day. They don’t just give us something to identify with but draw us to commit to action. Songs can invite us to declare our allegiance to our God and King again.

There is power in music and song. We need to recognize that power and use it in a way that will continue to remind each other to keep looking to Jesus and honor God with our lives. Let’s encourage and inspire each other as we sing.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe