How to Plan Simple, Reverent, Meaningful Worship in Any Sized Church

Caleb French and I have developed some web resources that could provide great help in planning simple, God-focused worship, services. I will provide a link to the resources later in this article.

We had a panel discussion at our national fellowship meeting and one of the subjects discussed was worship. There was significant discussion about the philosophy of worship, which is very important. However, there were limited responses to a question about how to improve worship in our churches and make them more meaningful and biblically obedient. The main idea expressed was that the pastor needs to be in tune with what is happening in worship and assume the role of the primary worship leader (which is not the same as the music leader).

I wholeheartedly agree with that recommendation. It is an all-important first step. I also believe that we can take some important additional steps.

I did my doctoral work on the subject of worship. The result of that project was transformative for our church. We wanted to develop a theology and practice of worship that was biblical, theological (as in theology proper), intentional, and engaging.

We want to develop a worship service that is focused.

If a preaching student got up to preach in class and rambled through 5 or 6 various unrelated subjects without any clear theme tying them together, he would rightfully get a low grade. Yet, we often do worship this way. There is no clear focus and no clear flow. The best some churches often do is start with a peppy song and then move to something more introspective toward preaching time. The emphasis is more on the mood of the music than the content.

While there is nothing wrong with emotion in worship, that emotion should flow as a natural response to the theological truth driving worship. Manufacturing emotion in worship can easily become a form of manipulation or even idolatry. Jesus told the disciples that God is looking for worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

In order to provide a focal point, we emphasize a specific attribute or characteristic of one of the Persons of the Trinity for each worship service. We start our service with our “one another” time. We give announcements and greet one another, but then we clearly shift to a God focus. We tell people this is what we are doing with a transition statement that goes something like this.

“We have had our one another time together. Now we are shifting our attention together to meditate on our God. The theme of our worship together today is “Our Omnipotent God” (or whatever theme is chosen for that day). Let’s lift our hearts together in prayer as we contemplate together the Omnipotence of our God”

Usually, we follow that with an introduction to the theological concept. Sometimes, in cases where we are dealing with a deeper theological subject like Transcendent God some teaching or explanation is in order. Other times we use a testimony, object lesson, or illustration to get people focused understanding of that historical truth.

After that, the singing, scripture reading, choral pieces, and every other aspect of the service unfolds that truth.

This simple practice has been transforming for our church. People who sang the same old songs for years without contemplating what they are singing are now meditating on the relationship of that song to the theme. The beauty of this practice is that it can work in any church, of any size, anywhere in the world. I taught this to pastors in Kenya and they are now doing with enthusiasm and joy every Sunday.

We have a worship planning team (not to be confused with a worship team), that gets together monthly and plans the themes and introductions. I participate in that as the senior pastor. The pastor’s participation is essential because he is the one that usually understands the theology and will provide important guidance regarding how to communicate it to the congregation. This meeting is one of the most spiritually enriching things I do for myself in the ministry. I cannot express what a joy it is to get together with 4 or 5 other church members and just talk about God for two hours.

Doing worship this way can work in a church of 50 or 5000. It does not require lots of talented people or expensive musical equipment.  What it does require is some effort in planning.

We now have around 170 various worship themes that we cycle through. This is so important to us that we would like to share some of what we have developed with other churches. That is why we have a page on our church website that explains all of this in more detail along with many of our themes and service outlines. Some of the themes are fully developed and others will be posted soon.  You may find that here. Hover over various themes for service planning information.

Themed Worship Planning Helps. 

We have done a lot of the work. Use what you can and make alterations as necessary.  You do not need to give us attribution in a worship service but please do so if you use the material elsewhere. Feel free to use the themes and introductions here, especially if you are having trouble getting started. We will be posting more on a regular basis, so you can check for new material on a regular basis.

On a final note. We are enjoying an unintended consequence of doing worship this way. While this makes worship intentional and biblical, it also develops the theological understanding of every church member every Sunday. By theology here, I am speaking of theology proper—that is the doctrine of the Trinity. Everything in Christian growth is based upon a believer’s view of God. Worship has become a very effective tool for discipleship in our church.

This is not the only way to plan a worship service, but it might be helpful for you.  It has been transformative for us.