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http://www.churchcentral.com/research/Worship
3 Excuses for Boring Worship Services
Yeah, like you've never used one of these...

Over the past four decades I've probably attended 6,000 or so worship services and was an active participant in at least 70% of them. Were they ever boring? Yep, and, sometimes, it was because of my failure to help them to be otherwise. Even well-intentioned worship leaders (WLs) who plan and implement our services can proffer dull and lifeless execution from time to time. What's the problem? Here's what worship folks at churches where I visit say when they sense that I was shaken, but not stirred!

Excuse 1
"Well, if we had the kinds of resources you work with, all our services would be incredible, too!"

Frankly, I don't appreciate it when folks discount WLs because they work in big, amply-budgeted churches. It makes it sound like we "wealthy" folks can buy sincerity, intentionality, servanthood, and passion.


Is it really about more resources, or is it more about using what you already have, creatively? Having little money is rarely a defense for not having imagination. 

Recently I coached a church desperate to energize their WL and his worship planning. In a really exciting service to clean up perceptions about the nature of God, we used "MacGyver-ish" props, which existed on their little campus, to tell the story of God's sovereignty. Yes, we used duct tape!  :-)

Excuse 2
"We're a liturgical, traditional, and lectionary-based church. We've got to stick to the plan."

This one always seems like a cop-out to me. Liturgy is all about worshippers being active and doing the work of worship. Tradition requires that we keep telling the big story in new ways, based on our sense of what was important in the past. The lectionary helps us make sure we tell the whole story without skipping over anything.

Obviously, within this highly prescribed, but thorough, structure, there is a great opportunity to stimulate people's fervency and enthusiastic joy in new ways. 

In one very traditional church, the pastor put a ladder up against the wall to illustrate the fact that every goal (in this case an iPhone on top of an organ shelf) requires taking small, measured steps. His homily was about how liturgy works, and he demoed this on the ladder—it took him 20 minutes to climb to the top.

When he reached the last 4 rungs of the ladder, he grabbed the iPhone and called his Marine son, stationed in Afghanistan. He held the phone up to his wireless mic so that the whole congregation could hear his reunion. Through our tears we rejoiced with them and I still use his metaphor of taking measured steps toward a goal to illustrate why liturgy can be so rewarding and useful in the modern church.

Excuse 3
"We like things just the way they are—the way they've always been—and we have no desire to change them."

On the face of it, it is rather absurd to assume that people will just go on through their lives doing, feeling, and enjoying exactly the same things over and over. If that were true, we would never buy a new car (with nav!!!), change homes, or try a new recipe. Change doesn't have to be about destroying the old. It can be about savoring the flavor of something which has been added to the memory of what was.

In one church where we were mapping the future of their worship, the parishioners were very upset that we were even having the discussion. Over time, though, we were able to inch our way into some innovative practices. Four days ago I received this note:

You surely don't remember me, but it's possible I made an impression on you when I yelled at you in a meeting where we discussed worship. I said, "I don't like what you represent. You're so darned sure you're right that I can't get into you to convince you otherwise." 

My pastor intervened in my life two months later about my attitude. He said, "You were chastising yourself, Florence—it was you to whom your own tirade was directed." He was right. So, I say those grumpy words to myself everyday as a reminder of moving on, and thank God that we went through this process. I'm embracing freshness in the church! Thank you!

Is there an excuse for lifeless, boring, unimaginative worship? Well, I don't think there are any good ones!

Blessings,

Doug

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—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. Doug now teams with the slingshotgroup.net to place extraordinary worship leaders in extraordinary churches.