On Sunday mornings, it’s a whole new ballgame. It is still easy to find those churches in which the preacher presents the sermon while the people sit passively, silently, and motionless. It is still possible to find churches in which the minister “presents the message” and tells the congregation when to pray, when to stand, when to sit, when to sing, when to be quiet, when to contribute money, and when to leave.
It also is still possible to find grandfathers and the occasional photographer who takes black-and-white still photographs of that new baby.
Increasingly common, however, are 8mm movie cameras and camcorders. Parents and children appear to prefer pictures that move to still photographs.
And in worship, one of the most significant changes that will affect churches in the decades to come is this: Motion and emotion are replacing passivity and the motionless presentation of the gospel.
BASEBALL OR SOCCER?
A useful analogy for describing this change is to look at the recreational preferences of 11-year-olds. Back in the 1930s, baseball and softball were favorite summer sports of young boys–and of a smaller number of girls, but the girls were expected to watch, not play.
Most baseball players spend a large portion of the game sitting on the bench or standing on the sidelines or standing in the field watching the pitcher and catcher throw the ball back and forth. Three or four or five fielders may go through an entire inning without touching the ball. For most of the players, baseball is a relatively passive, slow, and low-energy sport. It resembles the corporate worship of God in thousands of churches. A few people have an extremely active role, but most are passive participants.
Baseball and softball trained the 11-year-olds of 1935 for membership in churches where most of the men and all of the women watched a couple of men lead worship.
By the 1980s, the favorite sport of millions of children was soccer. Soccer is a high-energy and fast-paced participatory game in which most of the players, both male and female, frequently touch the ball. Soccer resembles the corporate worship of God in many of today’s churches that have designed and implemented a participatory approach to worship.
What will the soccer-playing 11-year-olds of 1993 or 1999 look for as they seek a church in the year 2022 where they can come to worship God?
The answer to that question can be communicated more effectively by experience than by words, but here are a dozen components of this affirmation of motion and emotion.
1. Liturgical dance is now a part of worship in more and more churches.
2. “Passing the Peace” has evolved from an awkward fad to a meaningful interchange among the worshipers.
3. Parishioners hugging one another and pastors hugging parishioners no longer are viewed as strange.
4. Instead of one person reading four or five announcements, each person with a message to be shared stands and delivers that announcement.
5. A two-to five-minute mini-drama that illustrates the central theme of the sermon is increasingly common.
6. Instead of asking worshipers to sing with their chins buried in their chests as they rely on a hymnal, more and more congregations project the words on a screen so people can sing with greater enthusiasm with their faces uplifted.
7. Instead of hiding behind the pulpit, more and more preachers are coming out of the chancel to deliver the sermon while walking among the people.
8. Instead of one person reading the Scripture in a boring monotone, that reading is shared by two or three persons who have memorized their lines.
9. Worshipers are motivated and encouraged to both laugh and applaud rather than to sit silently.
10. The person leading the congregation in public prayer often walks among the people to solicit their joys and concerns that will be included in the prayer of intercession.
11. The personal, and often emotional, testimony to the faith by a volunteer or two from among the members may be the most memorable part of that worship experience.
12. The choir comes down out of the choir loft to fill the aisles as the people hold hands during the benediction.
What once was correctly labeled a worship service has been transformed into a deeply moving, memorable, and meaningful worship experience.
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Lyle E. Schaller is an editorial adviser for LEADERSHIP.
Reprinted by permission from “21 Bridges to the 21st Century” by Lyle Schaller (Abingdon, 1993).
Copyright (c) 1995 Christianity Today, Inc./LEADERSHIP Journal
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Copyright © 1995 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
