Comments on: Interactive Worship, Part 1

By: John Voelz

John Voelz — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:41:17 +0000

Tyler, Joel . . . good question and input. I would venture to guess that if you got 3 people in a room and brainstormed how to make baptism more interactive you would be surprised at the plethora of ideas.

I am going to do a follow-up post specifically on the sacraments. This is a good road to go down.

By: Joel Klampert

Joel Klampert — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:43:40 +0000

Tyler…I get your thoughts there…but truly anything that involves participation from the congregation makes it interactive even baptism. They are interacting by being baptised.

on the article: Involvement doesnt always equate it being a special set apart thing. There are many elements of a service where involvment can take place. The sacraments (communion, baptism), readings, creeds, lighting of candles or other, prayers, prayer stations, songs, texting of questions (driscolls church does that), using twitter in church, dance, etc etc. really the sky is the limit. If you just get up there sing some songs and hen have a teaching you are really missing a great thing with having more interaction with the church

By: Tyler

Tyler — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:36:54 +0000

Love what you said here.

One question I do have is on baptism being interactive worship. I do agree but to a point. At larger churches there might be 20 baptisms or more in a service. If you make it an interactive part of the service is becomes the entire service. So I guess I wonder how to make it interactive and not boring.

By: Jan Owen

Jan Owen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:48:59 +0000

I have been thinking about this today and I think one thing we perhaps forget is that people do not want to know ABOUT God, whether they are seekers or believers. They want to KNOW God, to EXPERIENCE Him. In my experience this is where life change occurs – encountering Almighty God. So I suppose that is how I see my role – helping people to experience and encounter the Most High God. And its a challenge because we all learn differently and God is creative – He uses different things with different people. Two very simple things I think I will try to incorporate more:
1) slow down a bit so we can actually take in what we’re doing, experiencing learning – don’t rush people onto the next thing.
2) in the same vein, quietness. stillness. Let God speak a bit more and me speak a bit less…..

By: mandy

mandy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:06:16 +0000

wow.
so much to think about here. i’m not a worship leader at a church with fancy lights or band or graphics, but i do lead an amazing group of interactive Christians. my pastor and i strive to provide opportunities, outside of singing, where our congregants can express their faith during the service: creedal recitation, prayer, communion, etc.
thank you for this post and for more examples of interactivity.

By: Matt Huber

Matt Huber — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:13:50 +0000

Man, this was a very well-written article…kudos.

This has been a discussion among my friends and I. Something that has become quite apparent in the church and area that I’m in (and I would imagine this applies to other churches as well), is that worship, especially musical worship, has a duality to it….

What I mean is that worship means one thing for the believe and another thing to the non-believer. While not compromising the meat or the message, we have had to realize that the non-believer is oftentimes going to observe, critique and hopefully connect based on the artistic side of our worship experience. At the same time, this same music is (hopefully) profoundly moving a believer into the presence and worship of God…

So its a duality that we have to wrestle with continually – making the worship “interactive” (to put it in context) for both the believer and the non-believer.

By: Garry

Garry — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:05:12 +0000

That was how is is working for you sorry
Garry

By: Garry

Garry — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:03:29 +0000

Great thoughts Ben I’ve been involved with leading worship for 13 years and see a trend more towards the seeker layout. The over all feeling I get is people come in, get a little entertainment a felt needs message and then we wonder why the core never grows. I would like to know how many are doing a seeker service and who is is working for you.
Blessings
Garry

By: Ben Harrell

Ben Harrell — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:43:40 +0000

Wow, John. This is a great article. I’m not usually a title guy, but I totally get what you’re talking about here. Maybe what we call our worship interactives (or what we don’t call them) limits them. That’s something I’m going to have to ponder.

Thanks,
Ben

By: Fred McKinnon

Fred McKinnon — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:25:55 +0000

John, thanks for this article. It stirs me to really want to take our worship to a deeper level by incorporating more interaction with our congregation, and them with their God.