Lenten Worship and the art of invitation and curiosity

Holy Week has come and gone and I can finally get back to the blog!  It has been a whirlwind of a past few weeks and I have many things to share in the upcoming posts.  I hope you enjoy them.

This week I want to focus on the close of Lent.  First off, I am glad that Lent is five weeks long.  It seems like just the right amount of time to prepare for Holy Week and Easter.  You ramp up Lenten worship and the Lenten disciplines and then just by the time you start to feel like it's never going to end...it does.  

This year's main piece was our Lenten chalkboard and dramas.  Each week we worshipped with the Holden Evening Prayer Service, a drama based on the Parables of Jesus and a chance to write on the chalkboard.  Here is the list of the parables and phrases on the board.  There is also a link to watch the worship services and dramas as well.

Week 1.  The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
                 Chalkboard:  Jesus I Pray...




Week 2.  The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
                 Chalkboard:  I am forgiven for...  &  I need to forgive someone for...




Week 3.  The Parable of the Sower
                 Chalkboard:  My roots grow deep when...


     

Week 4.  The Parable of the Prodigal Son.
                 Chalkboard:  God's Love is...



Week 5.  The Parable of the Good Samaritan
                 Chalkboard: I am a neighbor when...




For me, the most important part of Lent this year was letting people who only can come to worship on Sundays also be able to participate in our Lenten journey together.  So often we create a "mini congregation" on Wednesday nights during Lent and the smaller number of people that attend are the only ones that know what is going on.  The positive side is that they go on this journey together and they share a rather unique experience.  The down side is they generally keep the experience to themselves.  

I tried to be more inclusive by moving the chalkboard out into our gathering area during the rest of the week.  Not only were people able to view the responses from the Wednesday night services they were encouraged to add their own.  A sign was placed on the board that invited them to attend the services as well.  

My hope was to see an exponential jump in numbers for our Wednesday night services because people saw the chalkboard on Sunday.  Numbers did grow, but not like I had hoped.  

What I did hear was how much the people who did attend enjoyed the chalkboard experience.  There were many comments about how they loved seeing their confirmation classes excited each week to come to worship and PARTICIPATE.  This, for me, is a huge win!  Middle school youth and adults excited to see what next week has in store; one would hope this could be a new trend in our church today.

What I learned

1.  Inspiring people to worship is not my job.  This is the job of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God the Father!  We are only vessels in which God can use to help inspire those to a life of worship and growing in their faith. Our job is to listen and follow where Christ is leading us.

2.  Attendance isn't everything.  Numbers and statistics are a great way to keep track of activity in your congregation, but there is no way to put a number to how people are effected emotionally or their life is changed because of a song, drama or writing on a chalkboard.  Our hope as the Worship and Visual Arts Team at Word of Peace is to provide the opportunities for people to encounter Christ in new ways.  The numbers and feedback from worship attendees will give us a good idea as to what worked and what didn't, but in the end faith is a personal matter and it comes in many forms.  Attending worship is only one of many.

3.  Invitation is a culture that needs cultivation.  Honestly, Word of Peace is not a church that tends to invite people to worship.  Church (Sunday) School, Confirmation, Youth Group and the community Corn Feed; these are the types of ministries that have a strong culture of invitation.  Inviting people to worship is a different and slightly more difficult and personal matter.  Finding people who have a gift of invitation and hospitality should be essential for every congregation.  We as worship and visual and media artists need to provide aspects of worship that will give those people specifics when describing something "new and exciting" at our church they "have to come and experience".  It's teamwork and lot of work.  But if a culture of invitation and curiosity is continually cultivated then seeds will be planted about worship.  They may not grow right away, but who doesn't appreciate being invited to something.  The key is to invite them to something specific.  "We are doing this awesome series in worship," or "We've had really great dramas and this cool chalkboard during worship on Wednesday night, you should come and check it out."  

4.  Follow up is also key.  If you invite someone to worship, why not worship with them?  Be that familiar face so they will know someone and feel comfortable coming into your church.

In the coming weeks I will be focusing on the amazing things that happened at Word of Peace during Holy Week.  We focused on some of our traditional Palm Sunday events as well as introducing something brand new on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  Not to mention all the great visuals on Easter.  Check back every week for more posts.

God Bless,

Dain