7 Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier About Being a Pastor’s Wife
I’m happy to see more and more articles about being a pastor’s wife. I think it’s a tough job.
I tend to agree with this. And appreciate his putting the impetus for change at the feet of elders/pastors.
Insanely Awesome Christian Album Covers
Wow.
Why We Need Silences in Ministry, Not Just Sentences
Great word, as usual, from Zack Eswine
I don’t think Bernie the Bulldog is going for a walk
“The service should be centered around the sermon”.
I’ve heard that several times. And I agree. But I’d like to tweak it just a tad. I think rather than saying the service should be centered around the sermon we should say the service should be centered around the main text for that day. This helps us to see that every aspect of the service is governed by the Word—even the preacher.
Because I’m a nerd, I like to think of it as similar to building something with LEGO. You’ve got a bunch of different LEGO bricks which serve different functions. You employ different bricks depending on what you want to build. Some bricks are obviously going to be used every Sunday (the sermon, the offering, etc.) but even the way they are used will be different.
Right now we have a small group of folks working with me to plan our services. We try to plan about a month at a time. I begin by studying through the passages and giving the team the text, the theme, the tone, and the aim of the sermon. We then come together and bring our various ideas for what bricks would work to match the text, theme, tone, and aim for that week. We then work on putting the bricks together to assemble our new creation.
A couple weeks ago our text was Mark 6:45-56. As I studied this passage I felt the main theme was to highlight the provision of Jesus’ presence. Our aim, then, was to be comforted and exhorted by the incarnation. I felt that the tone of the service should be one which moves from reflective to celebratory.
In order to do this we knew that we had to shake the order of service out of its typical couple songs, offering/special, sermon, invitation order. We needed to build something a bit different. On this particular Sunday we started off our service with our special music—a beautiful rendition of It Matters to the Master. And we didn’t take up the offering until the very end of the service when we simply placed baskets at the front of the sanctuary. We did this because we wanted our service to close by signing I Stand Amazed in the Presence of Jesus the Nazarene. On this particular Sunday we actually had two songs of response instead of the traditional one invitation song.
Putting together our services this way has been helpful because we are a church transitioning from two services (one contemporary and one traditional) into one service (which is blended). We don’t analyze songs based on whether they are contemporary or traditional. We consider a song based upon content and how it matches the tone for that week. We’ve had some weeks where we have had two or three hymns and some which we’ve had one. I believe for the most part our congregation is responding well to this.
Comparing this process of putting together a worship service with building something with LEGO has been helpful to us, and I thought it might be helpful to you as well.
How do you do it?
I spoke awhile back of regretting not spending more time in the Proverbs. If I ever hope to change that this will be a great resource.
Parenting Persons, Not Projects
I’m not a mommy but I still identify with this struggle.
No, You Probably Aren’t Called to Be a Pastor
Aaron drops some serious wisdom on us here.
J.I. Packer on Why Annhilationism is Wrong
I imagine this doctrine will be an increasingly hot topic in the coming days. I appreciate Packer’s words here.
I like his version better:
10:15AM.
It’s go time.
The pastor ascends the steps, checks to make sure his pants are zipped, and then stands behind a pulpit, podium, or whatever is up there and he begins to welcome people to the church.
He’s got a minute and twenty seconds.
The congregation greets one another…but only for about a minute and the praise team starts playing music. They’ll play a couple songs and maybe share a bit of Scripture. They’ve got a full eight-forty this week for their set.
The final song closes out, they call up ushers to collect the offering while someone is waiting in the wings to begin their special music. The whole thing shouldn’t take but about three minutes and forty seconds.
After this the preacher will jog up the stairs, get behind pulpity thing, and preach for a cool 38 minutes. We all know he’s going to go over—that’s what preachers do, and so in our minds we are planning for 45 minutes.
Closing song. 4 minutes.
A few announcements and a quick dismissal should fit everything in that we had desired to accomplish AND get us out in time to beat the Methodists to Denny’s.
As one of those instrumental in planning this thing, I’m happy with all of the smooth transitions and how everything flowed together. The way I’ve explained it might make it seem a bit more unspiritual than it really is. Though, I’d say some churches put things together about the same as a rock concert—I’m not into that. But I do want to maximize the time that we have together. I do believe that it is a general principle that someone’s ear won’t last longer than their rear-end.
But I can’t shake Psalm 46:10.
Be still and know that I am God.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Quietude, some men cannot abide, because it reveals their inner poverty.” Is it possible that our dread of “dead” moments says more about our hearts than it does about wanting to make sure the service flows smoothly? Are we running away from these “awkward moments” because we cannot abide the quietude?
Surely there is a place in our service to foster this precious discipline of quietness and solitude. We think of planning our services like building something with LEGO. We base what we are building on the text of Scripture for that week. And so we think about through the different elements of worship and try to build something cohesive. In future services I’m going to make times of quietness and solitude one of those LEGO bricks.
What better place to learn how to be still and know that He is the Lord than on a Sunday morning when we are trying to accomplish so much in such a short time frame.
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Photo source: here