The Greeter Gauntlet
I have visited churches where I approach the front doors and am immediately met by my first greeter. The eager greeter hands me a bulletin…
Browsing: Worship
Articles
The Tardy Guest
In an ideal world, everyone would arrive 10 to 15 minutes early for worship. They would greet five people as they walk toward the building…
When Silence Isn’t Golden
I was once pastor of a church where the Sunday morning worship service was broadcast live on radio. I never dreamed what a difference that…
Are You Glad When Passing the Peace Ends?
I once had a friend who attended church regularly with his wife, but he would wait in the narthex until after the “passing of the…
All Are (Not) Welcome
Church people might see themselves as welcoming, because they run promotions claiming, “Our doors are open,” and “Our lights are on,” or maybe they hang…
Eight Reasons People Aren’t Listening to Announcements
This weekend, all across the country, leaders are going to get up in front of their churches and talk about upcoming events and opportunities to…
Worship Leadership Requires Planning and Evaluation
What is your current worship planning system? Your first response may be, “We don’t have one.” In reality, every congregation has a planning system, but…
Drive Thru Ashes
There are certain times of year when people — even those who rarely step foot inside a church — feel a spiritual longing for the…
10 Best Practice Tips for Hospitality Teams
Fiona Haworth and Jim Ozier, authors of Clip-In: Risking Hospitality in Your Church, offer ten tips for improving the work of your hospitality team and…
Christmas Eve Opportunities for Newcomers
I have discovered over the last several years a surprising source of energy in the preparations for our church’s Christmas Eve worship service. Relative newcomers…
A Choir Director Shares Recruiting Tips that Any Ministry Group Can Use
Some people like to recite a phrase “it’s not the size of the choir, but the heart of the people participating” that matters. This sounds…
The Color of Your Advent Candles Doesn’t Matter
I have no patience for debates over the color of Advent candles and whether or not to sing Christmas songs in Advent. God became incarnate,…
Music — the Bellwether of Church Health
After air quality, music is the single greatest environmental factor for your community, because it determines how people feel in your church. It has the power…
Why Community Engagement Matters
This five-minute video by Lewis Center Director Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of the importance of community engagement to the church. Download this…
Worship from the Eyes of a Child
To make worship more family friendly, you might look at it through the eyes of a child. Ask other ministers and church leaders what they…
A Love Letter to a Closed Church
You walk up the concrete steps between the tall white columns. You try the door. It doesn’t open. You try again. It is locked. It’s…
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Last summer I joined a large group of extended family and friends at the beach. There were, on and off, about twenty-five to thirty of…
The First Two Minutes of Worship
For many years, my wife and I were regular viewers of “The Tonight Show” — first with Johnny Carson, then with Jay Leno. We have…
Doing a Christmas Eve Offering Well
In our culture, Christmas is a season of giving when church-goers and non-church-goers alike are inclined toward generosity. I witnessed a Christmas Eve service in which…
Add Off-Site Christmas Eve Services This Year
Rev. Mack Strange suggests conducting off-site Christmas Eve services at restaurants, nursing homes, prisons, and even bars to connect with the community. Many churches know…
Connect Community Events to Worship
For years, Harvest Church hosted a community-wide dodgeball event for teenagers. We advertised it well, and hundreds of kids participated. The winners got cool prizes…
The Ten Minute Rule
The first impression guests leave with determines whether they will be back. So what is it that goes into a good first impression? We interviewed…
Considering the Context of Worship
When I was appointed to pastor a new church start, I began to dream of what “my” new church would look like. By the time…
The Missing Person in Worship Planning
Every congregation begins as an outwardly-focused group of believers, intent on reaching out to those with whom they want to share the Gospel message. Without…
Worship as Mission
When congregations and their leaders think about worship or about mission, it often appears that they think of the two as compartmentalized and entirely separate…
Forging More Collaborative Relationships between Clergy and Musicians
In all of the churches where I have worshiped and worked, the core ministry team is the same — the pastor and the musicians —…
Worshiping at Two Vital Congregations
Readers of Leading Ideas are familiar with the Lewis Center’s focus on the church’s challenge to “reach more people, younger people, and more diverse people.”…
The Sunday Everything Went Wrong
Building credibility took time in my current congregation. I followed a well-respected pastor, and I had fewer years of experience than my predecessors. It is…
A Win-Win Worship Debate
A disconnect developed in the historic African Methodist Episcopal Church I serve between older and younger people around worship styles. While the median age in…
What about People Who Attend but Don’t Join?
In recent years, I have heard from many pastors who say that they are seeing an increase in the number of worshipers who attend their…
