Sunday Service Recap: "Gametime"

I'm pleased to be participating with some good friends over at FredMcKinnon.com in "Sunday Setlist" and sharing a recap of our services this morning at The Brook with worship leaders all over the U.S. Go over there and see what these other creative worship leaders did at church this Sunday!

As you read what we did this morning, I would like to give total credit to our Life Group Minister, Alison Fields and our Student Minister, Josh Britt, as well as our Interim Pastor, Richard Buckley as they did the majority of the work on this service. My admin lead, Sheila Pierce assisted them while I was away on sabbatical. I just picked a few songs when I got back from sabbatical and made sure people came to play and sing. :) The vision for this very special day was all theirs. And it was fantastic!

Today we began an emphasis on participation in our Life Groups. We know that many people come on Sunday mornings but never engage in the blessing of a Life Group. Maybe they don't know anyone or are just a bit weirded out about the idea of going to someone's home. Alison and Richard decided that the best way to help them move past this fear was just to bring Life Groups to them - to let them experience it the best we could on a Sunday morning. We wanted to urge people to get out of the stands and onto the field! So this morning we set up the worship center differently - we used round tables and had a facilitator at each table to help lead each group through some discussion questions while we enjoyed soft drinks, water and doughnuts. We had everyone wait in the foyer until our countdown was over and then we opened the doors and it was "GAMETIME!". Folks filed in to Pillar's song "For the Love of the Game". (and no, we did not do it live. :) ) The energy was palpable and people really got into it, even first time guests.

Here's the low down:

Walk In: Pillar Video - For the Love of the Game

Walk Up - ESPN Theme Song

Alison introduced the day

Worship (much shorter due to the nature of the service)

1. My Redeemer Lives - Hillsong

2. Love the Lord - Lincoln Brewster

3. Your Grace is Enough - Matt Maher (we use Tomlin's version)

Video - Large Group vs. Small Group (Mac vs. PC takeoff)

Teaching on life together modeled on Acts 2

Discussion around tables -we did very introductory questions - very "surface" to get people warmed up.

Teaching again on doing life together

Discussion around tables - talked about memories with family, groups of friends, explained a "typical" life group session

Special Music - "This is Home" - Switchfoot (but we did it with one acoustic guitar and two vocalists!)

Closing

Offering and Announcements

I will admit we had questions about how people would respond to this departure from our regular services. We knew this was a stretch. We were thrilled that people seemed to really embrace it. I facilitated the discussion at our table and we ALWAYS ran out of time. We never finished our questions! I met new people and people really lingered afterwards and talked to each other. It went so well we're hoping to learn something from it! I'm already thinking of other ways to use this format in the future.

What are things your church has done to facilitate discussion and community during Sunday services?

Comments

[Fred McKinnon]

Jan,
Wow - sounds like we're on the same page. Our series is called "Get In The Game", and we had a short service today as well. We weren't pitching "small groups" so much this Sunday, as the "reach out" segment ... getting involved and serving.

I'd love to hear more about how you faciliated the discussion w/ tables. How many people are in your church - where were the tables setup? We wouldn't any room for this - even in our 1,000 seat auditorium, it was packed in the 11:00.

Honestly, we do VERY LITTLE to encourage "community" DURING our Sunday service, but we take a part of it to encourage "community" (what we call "Reach In") ... including featuring a specific small group or ministry, and then always encouraging everyone not to just take off, but to take some time in our atrium for coffee and fellowship.

For the Kingdom,
Fred McKinnon
www.fredmckinnon.com
www.theworshipcommunity.com

[beth]

Jan - sounds like a very cool service - and very creative! Was the video something you produced or something you purchased?

We are doing a spiritual growth emphasis through small groups beginning in September and planning elements now. I'm grabbing on to the Switchfoot tune - great lead on that!

[Jan Owen]

beth, we are also continuing this next week - same song, 2nd verse and we're using Sanctus Real's song "We Need Each Other" which is such a direct hit. The video was just grabbed off of youtube I think - it was one of those things done while I was away. We did not produce it though, I know that.

[Melodie]

I so can't wait to get home. I am ashamed to admit that Ihav not been to a church service since I came here. Just the thought of getting the girls up early, dressing them, putting them in their stroller, walking the 10 or so blocks to church and then sitting through a very long service (because it is in eng. and spanich) wears me out...
But possibly in 2 weeks I'll be there!

[Alison]

Beth, we found the video's on youtube - they were done by realife ministries. They had a series of 4 and we chose two of them. Let me know if you can't find them.

Jan - still amazed at how God blessed us on Sunday. My prayer was that people would not leave without meeting someone else and I was blessed to see so many stay after the service and talk to each other!