One thing I love about our congregation is that we’re a body of believers that is highly engaged in God’s Word.  Yesterday was a testimony of this and I wanted to share what we did as I’m certain it could be a great way for any congregation to both fill your corporate worship gathering with intentional Scripture proclamation and challenge your church body to continue to let God’s Word “dwell in [them] richly.” (Colossians 3:16)

What We Did

Instead of doing a congregational confession of faith that is spoken in unison by the congregation we decided to let the people confess their faith by sharing a Scripture passage that has been meaningful to them in their daily walk with Christ.  Here’s how we did it:

• Set up a microphone on either side of the sanctuary right next to the seats.  I think it’s really helpful if you don’t call people up to the platform area as that can be fairly intimidating.
• We had the microphones facing the people (both to avoid feedback by not pointing them at the speakers) and to help lessen the “fear” aspect of having to look out at the whole congregation while they shared.
• We made sure the sound tech is trained to adjust the gain on the microphone.  We had short people, tall people, people who spoke loudly and softly, kids and adults that came and shared.
• We used wireless mics.  Super easy to setup out in the midst of the congregation as there aren’t any cables to deal with.  Just make sure your mics are on and that the sound tech controls everything.  No use distracting from the Scripture shared by getting everybody wondering out loud “Is the mic on?”
• We had planned this time into the gathering specifically but didn’t give a heads up to the congregation that we were going to do it.  We knew this would work for two reasons: a) we had just finished coming off of a concert of prayer service that proved that the congregation was willing to share Scripture and confess God in the midst of the congregation and b) we know the many in our congregation are highly engaged with God through Scripture reading during the rest of the week.

Bringing the call to worship to life

Psalm 34:3 mentions to its audience to “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”  This is a popular verse used for a call to worship and by many worship leaders to encourage the congregation to do just what it says.  However, often, while we do sing “together” as the first says, it might not always be a conscious decision to “magnify the Lord” and “exalt his name” but just the thing to do because you sing at church.

This choice to remember what God is doing through His word AND proclaim it in the midst of the congregation gives everyone in the congregation that opportunity to magnify the Lord and exalt His name together.

And it was a sweet time.  We had seasoned believers (that’s a nicer way of saying “older”), college students, mothers, fathers, and even a four-year-old sharing the verse “Be Still and Know that I am God” that they are learning to do in their family.

What have you done that has purposefully engaged your congregation to share Scripture and God’s faithfulness “in the great congregation?” (Psalm 40:9)

photo by Sparky

Sometimes it takes a little bit of disruption in our routine that shakes us up, wakes us up, and calls us to act on what we believe and yesterday was no exception.

We spent the whole morning service praying at Living Word yesterday.  The songs were mixed in with times of prayer guided by our pastor.  We had no sermon, just a short explanation of the day and why we were doing what we were doing.

I had a little voice in my head telling me, “But you’ve never done that before and it’s going to make people uncomfortable!”  I’m glad I decided to say “Yes, it’s good that we’ve never done it before and yes it’s good that we’ll make people uncomfortable” instead of listening and giving in to the fear of what people would think.

It was worth it.  We spent about forty-five minutes in focused prayer including:

• Praise
• Confession
• Intercession
• Prayer for those who are unbelievers
• Thankfulness
• Our songs matched each section and at the end we responded with two songs of praise and sending.

I loved that we didn’t just teach on prayer but we actually acted on it and practiced it. Sometimes our corporate worship gatherings tend to look more like seminars and concerts than times of corporate worship.  We gather to listen to a teacher, maybe watch a video, hear a testimony, and sing some songs.  We listen to the pastor pray and watch the worship team, special music, or choir “perform.”  What we need to do is consistently come up with ways to keep the congregation engaged in active worship and send that attitude with them into their homes and families.

Our time of corporate worship through prayer was a beautiful, fruitful time, and we’ve already heard a lot of positive feedback.  I’m already looking forward to when we’ll do it again.

What have you done recently that has knocked folks a little out of their comfort zone and called them to put their faith into action? What has knocked you out of your comfort zone?