Worship Ministry
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GUIDELINES 2017–2020 Prepares leaders for their ministry roles in Worship ministry The worship ministry of the local church is often the first entry point for people seeking to establish a relationship with God in a Christian community. The ways in which we worship and honor God set a tone for the overall ministry of the church. This Guideline will help equip you to implement and guide the work of this ministry area. This is one of the twenty-six Guidelines that cover church leadership areas, such as Church Council and Small-Membership Church; administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness: Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship, Christian Education, age-level ministries, Communications, and more. Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2017–2020—Complete Set Available in print (ISBN: 9781501830112) and flash drive (ISBN: 9781501830143) formats. Also available for eReaders. The full set includes: • 26 individual booklets (also available for individual sale) • Visit www.UMOfficialResources.com/Guidelines for the following free resources: * “Guide to the Guidelines” (includes an Orientation Workshop) * Supplemental Materials (ready for use) www.cokesbury.com Cover Image: Thinkstock 9781501830051_CVR_worship.indd 1 8/2/16 2:28 PM G U I D E L I N E S Worship The Gifts of God from the People of God Taylor W. Burton-Edwards Discipleship Ministries 9781501830051_INT_layout.indd 1 8/8/16 3:03 PM WORSHIP Copyright © 2016 by Cokesbury All rights reserved. United Methodist churches and other official United Methodist bodies may reproduce up to 500 words from this publication, provided the following notice appears with the excerpted material: “From Guidelines: Worship 2017–2020. Copyright © 2016 by Cokesbury. Used by permission.” Address requests for quotations exceed- ing 500 words to Permissions Office, Abingdon Press, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37228 or [email protected]. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISBN 978-1-5018-3005-1 Unless noted otherwise, paragraph references to and quotations from The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church and The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church are to the 2012 editions. Copyright © 2012 The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission. All Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.CommonEnglishBible.com MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 9781501830051_INT_layout.indd 2 8/30/16 10:44 AM Contents Blessed to Be a Blessing . 4 Theological Reflection . 5 Getting Started . 7 Responsibilities of the Worship Committee The Worship Committee: Getting Started Your Role as Worship Committee Leader The Worship Planning Team . .12 Who Serves on a Worship Planning Team? How a Worship Planning Team Works Vital Worship: The SLICE Model . 15 Vital United Methodist Worship Is Sacramental Vital United Methodist Worship Is Liturgical Vital United Methodist Worship Is Indigenous Vital United Methodist Worship Is Connected Vital United Methodist Worship Is Embodied Frequently Asked Questions . 22 The Church and Copyright Law Memorial Gifts for Worship Multicultural Worship Cultivate Art and Music Resources . 26 Discipleship Ministries Worship Resources Discipleship Ministries Worship Social Media Official United Methodist Worship Resources Worship Reference Resources Songbooks and Worship Planning Resources Designing Worship Space Preaching Websites Discipleship and Personal Worship Resources Organizations UMC Agencies & Helpful Links 9781501830051_INT_layout.indd 3 8/8/16 3:03 PM Blessed to Be a Blessing f you are reading this Guideline, you have said yes to servant leadership in your church. You are blessed to be a blessing. What does that mean? By virtue of our baptism by water and the Spirit, God calls all Christians to faithful Idiscipleship, to grow to maturity in faith (see Ephesians 4). The United Methodist Church expresses that call in our shared mission “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transfor- mation of the world” (The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, or the Discipline, ¶120). Each local congregation and community of faith lives out that call in response to its own context—the wonderful and unique combination of God-given human and material resources with the needs of the community, within and beyond the congregation. The work of servant leaders—your work—is to open a way for God to work through you and the resources available to you in a particular ministry area, for you are about God’s work. As stewards of the mysteries of God (see 1 Corinthians 4:1), servant leaders are entrusted with the precious and vital task of managing and using God’s gifts in the ongoing work of transformation. In The United Methodist Church, we envision transformation occurring through a cycle of discipleship (see the Discipline, ¶122). With God’s help and guidance, we • reach out and receive people into the body of Christ, • help people relate to Christ through their unique gifts and circumstances, • nurture and strengthen people in their relationships with God and with others, • send transformed people out into the world to lead transformed and transforming lives, • continue to reach out, relate, nurture, and send disciples . Every ministry area and group, from finance to missions, engages in all aspects of this cycle. This Guideline will help you see how that is true for the ministry area or group you now lead. When you begin to consider all of the work you do as ministry to fulfill God’s mis- sion through your congregation, each task, report, and conversation becomes a step toward transforming the world into the kingdom of God. Invite Christ into the process to guide your ministry. You are doing powerful and won- derful work. Allow missteps to become learning opportunities; rejoice in success. Fill your work with the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). God blesses you with gifts, skills, and experience. You are a blessing when you allow God to work through you to make disciples and transform the world. Thank you. (Find additional help in the “Resources” section at the end of this Guideline, in The Book of Discipline, and through http://www.umc.org.) 4 | Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 9781501830051_INT_layout.indd 4 8/8/16 3:03 PM Theological Reflection ne of the key ways we develop new leaders is through the core process for carrying out our mission as stated in ¶122 of The Book of Discipline: O We make disciples as we: • proclaim the gospel, seek, welcome and gather persons into the body of Christ; • lead persons to commit their lives to God through baptism by water and the spirit and profession of faith in Jesus Christ; • nurture persons in Christian living through worship, the sacraments, spiritual disciplines, and other means of grace, such as Wesley’s Christian conferencing; • send persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, being and becoming a compassionate, caring presence, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel; and • continue the mission of seeking, welcoming and gathering persons into the community of the body of Christ. To better remember and understand the core process as written in ¶122, think in terms of H.O.P.E.—Hospitality, Offer Christ,P urpose, and Engagement. We go into the world through outreach and mission, offering hope through proclamation of the gospel, seeking, welcoming and gathering as we offerhospitality to all people, including those we greet at the entrance to worship. We offer Christ by providing opportunities for peo- ple to commit their lives to God through baptism by water and the Spirit and profession of faith, most explicitly in our encounter with Scripture during worship. We nurture people who seek to follow Jesus as their purpose in life, learning what it means to live out our discipleship through acts of mercy and acts of piety, including regular public worship and participation in the sacrament of Holy Communion, among other means of grace. And we send forth these grace-filled followers of Jesus intoengagement, putting their faith into action, transforming the surrounding community and offeringhospitality in the name of Jesus Christ. Thus H.O.P.E. cycles back around, and the basic pattern of worship models the way. Worship | 5 9781501830051_INT_layout.indd 5 8/8/16 3:03 PM Ask yourselves and the leaders of your congregation how your church might become a place of H.O.P.E. As worship planners and leaders, particularly focus on how what you do in worship helps all who gather offer themselves and their gifts to God and creates an environment where all are valued, supported, and challenged to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in the reign of our Triune God who is transforming the world. 6 | Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 9781501830051_INT_layout.indd 6 8/8/16 3:03 PM Getting Started ow you will help your congregation love God fully through worship depends on the kind of group you have been asked to join or lead. A worship committee coor- dinates support ministries for worship planned by others. These ministries generally Hfocus on the “stuff,” staffing, and training for lay leaders of worship. The worship committee may include leaders of an altar guild, Communion stewards, lay readers, liturgists, acolytes, ushers, or other groups. It works with each of these groups to make sure each has what it needs to recruit and train its leaders. It coordinates with the pastor and other worship lead- ers to make sure the congregation has the things it needs for worship each Sunday.