Minister's
Message
3
Worship
We began the process of adding more lay participation to our
planning of worship. A team of 8-10 now meet and look at an entire season at a time. We work to unify our service through music and theme. We try to bring a coherent focus that provides members an emotional experience—an encounter with the divine.
Our worship team has been using The Worship Design Studio materials to teach us how to craft a worship service that speaks to all our senses and engages our different learning styles.
A good example of a new worship idea was our recent Music Sunday (or as I like to call it “Choir Shine” Sunday). Our music director, choir, instrumentalists and soloists planned the “all music” worship where every part was music led. The service was a huge success. And we had the opportunity to see just how talented and dedicated our musicians are.
We intend to continue to refine our worship service. This summer we are planning ahead for the fall, Advent and even ideas for Lent. By getting ahead, our choir has time to find and learn new music that suits the service to a T, and our Sunday School teachers have more time to design classes for our children.
We want to have a creative arts person thinking ahead and designing visuals to transform the physical church—like the beautiful “fire” colored ribbon wands of Pentecost. We also want to have more drama, reader’s theater or skits to bring another dimension to the scripture.
Another piece of worship that we have added is testimony, a chance to hear our members share their experiences of God, church and being transformed by their faith. We hope to continue hearing testimony on a regular basis. Every single person in the pews has a story we need to hear.
Community Building
I have particularly enjoyed building relationships with members. Many of you invited Doug and me to “Meet and Greets” with fellow church members at your homes. It was a time to really learn about each other. We shared dreams for our church and our past histories. You had a chance to ask us any question and I got to ask you what you loved about FCC, what you hoped I would do, and what you hoped I would not change. Your answers told me much about you and about how we can dream for the future.