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Can teams plan worship?
Well, yes and no…

I have been planning (or trying to plan) worship for over 40 years, and in that time I've learned a few things about how planning works... and doesn't work!  First, let me disavow you of the notion that just anyone can plan a worship service, because that simply hasn't been my experience. Just because one has attended a worship service doesn't mean they can create one. Ill-equipped individuals (and yes, that can include clergy), and well-intentioned, but unskilled committees are rarely, if ever,  good at putting together an engaging hour of worship. 

Here's a quick disclaimer that may help me avoid answering angry emails all week—many churches plan worship with committee teams with great success. I am really only referring to the 95% of churches that have tried to be egalitarian by locking 10 people in a room and expecting them to come up with a cohesive worship experience. Ordinarily I would put a smiley face here, but there's nothing funny about a botched community effort. By the way, most of you would probably be willing to admit that you have been part of one of these ragtag, patchquilt services at some point in your life. I hope you're recovering well!

5 Outrageously shameful things I have said about Committee-Planned Worship:

1. Don't try this at home, and for sure, don't try it at church—many have and lived to regret it.
2. Look up all the meanings for chaos in your thesaurus—you'll find "disarray, disorganization, confusion, mayhem, bedlam, pandemonium, havoc, turmoil, tumult, commotion, disruption, upheaval, uproar, maelstrom; muddle, mess, shambles, free-for-all; anarchy, lawlessness, entropy; informal hullabaloo, hoopla, all hell broken loose." If this doesn't scare you off, you're not paying attention.
3. If you don't believe this is "mission impossible," try a simple experiment like having a committee of the church decide what color the new carpet should be.
4. Committees often resemble focus groups, and we all know how valuable those can be. (Oh my, be SO careful with so-called focus groups!)
5. Committees are made up of nice people too, they just don't always act that way.
   

Where did I acquire these attitudes?

 Many years ago, a well-intentioned (junior) pastor who shall remain nameless, thought it would be good to get some creative people in the room and just "think outside the box." (These are perhaps the scariest 4 words in the English language!) He attended several of the weekly worship planning meetings. Those in the room will likely never forget the first of them. He brought a boom box into the room and played a recording that he particularly liked. His assumption was that the slightly off-kilter treatment of this particular artist would help make everyone more inventive. Oops! He was very, very wrong. It made the committee wonder what box they were trying to get out of—or why God had invented boom boxes.



From there it was all downhill. Sure, they came up with scores of really creative ideas, but putting them effectively into one service was not even remotely possible. Often committees plan worship much as one would play Scrabble. The words have to qualify within the structure of the game, but they don't have to make any sense whatsoever when put together. The "creative team" lasted one year. They finally came up with a plan that actually works and have been using it ever since. This is it: 

What's the plan?

1. One person creates the overview for the service based on the theme or the lectionary or desires of the preaching pastor.
2. The draft is sent to other creatives for suggestions that might enhance the basic plan.
3. A second draft is created (incorporating the doables from the previously mentioned suggestions) for the pastor to look at and approve or revise.
4. A third draft is created with the required changes.
5. The creatives who help implement the worship services go to work designing the "moments" (graphics, videos, musical treatments, and testimonies from congregants) that will work within the context of the very intentional whole.
6. The result is then brought in for the "players" to get acquainted with, and examine the details and potential "bumps" in the plan.
7. The plan is debriefed the following week to ensure immediate feedback on the the whole process and implementation.

Having planned way more than 1000 worship services, I promise that this works. Take it from a man with many scars to prove "it takes a village" only when someone is actually willing to be in charge and keep the village moving forward!

Blessings

Doug

—Doug Lawrence, internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor, helps churches assess and improve their skillfulness in creating engaging worship experiences by utilizing his more than 35 years of "deep trench" worship leadership in prominent mainline churches. You may reach him at dlawrenceconsult@mac.com. Or, if you wish, call 1-650-207-8240 for assessment information and scheduling.