Another thing that has captured my attention from Bob Hyatt’s sermon//discussion podcasts was how he introduced their response time: I’m not sure of their liturgy’s flow, but based on what I heard after the discussion there are a few more songs to sing, an opportunity for prayer, and a table holding a community journal that people are invited to write their thoughts upon.
Two things captured my attention, actually – first, the reversal the worship music portion from the more traditional (at least in my tribe’s worship form) many-songs-at-first, maybe a song or quiet music at the end. I know that Vineyard Community Church in Shoreline where Rich and Rose Swetman pastor, does their liturgy this way as well – a song that acts as a call to worship, then the announcements and such, then the sermon, then the majority of the musical worship at the end. This flow gives people more time to interact in the various prayer stations that VCC sets up around the room. There are some great possibilities in this liturgical flow.
One of our current challenges is how we allow people to prayerfully respond to what God is doing among us during a worship gathering. We don’t have a prayer ministry team (partly due to our gathering size; partly due to our expectation that we all can minister to each other); we don’t do an altar call for prayer. Basically at the end of each discussion time, I simply try to lead people to response, based upon whatever I or others sense God doing then. We do a lot of “Come, Holy Spirit” moments of waiting. But usually this time is short, only 4 or 5 minutes unless God is clearly doing deeper work. We close with a blessing of some kind, and an invitation to refill coffee cups.
The main thing that’s capturing my attention, though, was the community journal. It would be wonderful to have a way for us to express our hopes and frustrations, our laments and our praise. And it would be awesome to be able to look back at those prayers in a year, in five years, in 40 years, to be able to say that we saw God answer our prayers here, and here, and this one too.
This weekend, we look at the Holy Spirit’s role in prayer. I think we’ll introduce this method of expression now as well.
On a similar topic,
pat loughery 
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