What is Worship?

Worship is ascribing worth to God.

How is that done properly?

– The great can of worms.

Some say in the ways demanded by God – The Regulative

Principle

Some say in the way the early church passed down to us –

Traditional Worship

Some say in ways that appeal to a modern culture –

Contemporary Worship

At the very least Scripture says that "everything" in worship

"should be done in a fitting and orderly manner"  (I Cor 14:40)

We should let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, as we sing psalms, hymns

and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God. And whatever we do, whether in our

words or deeds, we do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father

through Him. (Col. 3:16-17)

These ideas or Biblical principles bring us to what is called the Emerging or the Emergent

Worship movement.

What are some of the characteristics of Emerging or Emergent Worship that make it different from “traditional” or

“contemporary” worship?

Each Emerging Worship Service is holistic and

participatory.

Each worship "gathering" is unique – there is no model. 

No cookie cutter/easy to copy style. 

No "right" answer to the question of what an emerging worship gathering should look

like. 

What are Emerging Worshippers looking

for?

Emerging worshippers want more than a weekly

worship service that looks/feels like entertainment–

as some of our present traditional and contemporary

services feel today.

Instead of entertainment these worshippers want a lifestyle of

worship.

People want community and a sense of belonging – it is a

desire for more than one hour on Sunday morning.

Emerging Worship is a move away from worship composed

of preaching and singing toward a multi-sensory

approach.

Who are Emerging Worshippers?

They are people with a post-modern understanding of the

world.

In American culture that means the Emerging Church appeals to people who have a global and

pluralistic world-view. – many: gods, forms of expression,

and faiths to choose from (Kimball, The Emerging Church. 59)

“Ethics and morals are based on personal choice, as families

encourage their children to make their own decisions about

religions and to be tolerant of all beliefs.”

(Ibid. 68)

Although relativism is more of a norm in a postmodern world,

most agree on some absolutes, such as the wrongness of

excessive violence, murder, or evil like the September 11th

tragedy.” (Ibid. 68)

In a postmodern culture “People increasingly long for the mystical

and the spiritual rather that the evidential and fact-based faith”

of modernity.(Ibid. 68)

There is also a shift from the individualistic to a more

communal nature of society.

The postmodern phenomenon is not contained to only one

generation – postmodernism spans several of our present

generations as demonstrated in Emerging Worship Gatherings.

How does one begin to design a space for an Emerging Worship

Service?

Attention given to environment to create a visual sense of

sacred.  Visual technology is used, but to display artistic,

etc, rather than power points. 

Candles are used to represent the light of Christ, as the church has used for 2000

years. 

The visuals and imagery are tremendously important, as

emerging generations are very visual. 

Emerging Gatherings use artwork, ancient crosses,

ancient symbols, displays that use scripture. 

Often curtains used to create private prayer spaces.  Room gives impression of why

gathering and of connection to an ancient faith.

In general there is a comfortable feeling, even in

very large gatherings, sometimes a stage-type

setting, often in round, semi-circle, or with seats at angles

so folks can see others in smaller worship settings.

What are the differences in planning and

executing an Emerging Gathering as opposed to

a traditional worship service?

In the traditional paradigm – the senior pastor determines what is

taught in worship services.

In the Emerging Church the lead pastor involves both the church

community and the staff in determining what is taught in worship

gatherings. (Emerging Worship:  Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations by Dan

Kimball. 104)

In the traditional paradigm –the sermon is the center of the worship service – music and anything else is

extra. In the Emerging Church the

combination of many creative elements experienced in the

community points to Jesus as the centerpiece.

(Ibid)

In the traditional paradigm the senior pastor gives the worship leader

direction for enhancing the sermon with music and other creative

elements

In the Emerging Church the worship team (including the pastor) direct the

design of the worship gatherings.(Ibid.)

In the traditional paradigm the weekend service team consist of the senior pastor

and worship leader alone.

In the Emerging Church the the weekend service team includes the teacher, music leader, artist, photographer, audio-visual

team, the sacred space team…(Ibid)

In the traditional paradigm creativity causes stress to the pastors who own it. They must always outdo what they did

last time in order to please people.

In the Emerging Church the creativity causes relief and lack of stress as

worship gathering become more fluid, more naturally creative, thanks to the

efforts of a team of people.(Ibid)

Some questions to ask when planning or evaluating an

Emergent Worship Gathering.

1. Did we lift the name of Jesus up as the centerpiece of why

we gather?

(Ibid. 10)

2. Did we have a time in the Scriptures learning the story of God and man? Did we invite

everyone to be part of His story today in Kingdom living?

(Ibid)

3. Did we pray together and have enough time to slow down and quiet our hearts to hear God’s voice and yield to His Spirit?

(Ibid)

4. Did we experience the joy, love, and encouragement of being together as a church?

(Ibid)

5. Did we take the Lord’s Supper together as a church regularly?

(Ibid.)

6. Did we somehow remind everyone of the mission of the

church and why we exist?(Ibid.)

7. Did we enable people to individually contribute something

as a part of the body of Christ?(Ibid)

Something that we should remember as we discuss (or

maybe cuss about) Emerging Worship --

Jesus shook up everything in His day with idea that worship not attached to

a specific location or space, but is done in spirit and truth (John 4:23-

24).  (Emerging Worship:  Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations by Dan

Kimball, pg 8) 

Along with that we need to remember:

"Immediately after Jesus' ascension a new form of worship was birthed in the world as

we know it when the Spirit indwelled believers (Acts 2).  The Spirit was no longer

understood in the physical space of the temple, but in believers.  Our bodies became

the temple where the Spirit dwells (I Cor 6:19).  Our entire lives are now spiritual acts of worship (Romans 12:1-2).  We don't go to a certain place--we worship God with all we

do!"  (IBID, pg 8)

Alternative Worship .org- a sort of primer for putting together different kind of

Worship Services but with a heavy emphasis on Emerging Worship

http://www.alternativeworship.org/practice_paul_begin.html

Leonard Sweet acronym for planning or evaluating an

Emerging Worship Gathering. EPIC

http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/postmodernism/worship.

General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church:

Emergent Church Resources –

http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=17252&loc_id=1062,1069