Introduction
Service leading is an art form. A well lead service might seem very simple, but is the fruit of carefully planning. Your job is for people to feel welcome, relaxed, and confident that you are in control. And then the service leader should get out of the way. Your aim is for people to connect with God and be allowed to worship rather than to notice you.
A good service has a rhythm, starting honestly from where people are, giving them space to connect with God, pointing them upwards and outwards, preparing them to hear Gods word, moving them to pray for others, and then sending them out into the world.
An Order of Service
This is offered as a guide, rather than a rule, to create a structure which reflects a proper flow of worship, from the stillness of reflection or confession, to the exuberance of sung worship, preparation to hear from the Word, and move to engage in the world through intercession and Communion, before being sent out to live for Christ.
Welcome.
While making people feel welcome is important, this is a reminder that we meet together in the name of Christ, to celebrate the goodness of God, to hear his word and to pray for the needs of our world.
Opening Prayer. This is all too easy to neglect, but is essential to set out in the right direction.
One of these Opening Prayers may be appropriate.
Preparation
A time of Silence, a meditation, a Confession or a reflection.
May include images, music. This is a chance to get creative – here is an example of one we have used in the past .
Theme.
We encourage leaders not to pre-empt what the preacher is going to say by linking the theme to the subject of the sermon. You tend to either end up repeating each other, or worse contradicting each other. If you are struggling for inspiration for a theme choose a Psalm or an old prayer.
Spoken Worship
A proclamation, Psalm or Creed
Sung Worship
Make contact with the Worship leader in the week leading up to the service.
Bible Reading
Ask a member of the congregation to do the reading.
Sermon.
If it is a guest speaker it may be appropriate to introduce them and pray for them
Sermon Response
Simple silence is often enough, or there may be a psalm or something specific from the sermon to respond to.
Intercessions
Someone will be tasked with the role of leading us as we pray for our city, or nation and our world, for the church both local and global, for our leaders, and for our community. You can find more on the intercessions page.
The service will then include further sung worship
Communion
We celebrate communion on the first and third and fifth sunday of each month.
Conclusion
As the minister to offer a Blessing or you may use one of these Conclusions
Notices and an invitation to stay for refreshments.
Finally – it is the service leaders job to keep an eye on time. People trust us that services will be safe, and not overly long – if you see the time edging towards 8.15pm you need to start cutting things and move towards wrapping up.
