On Sunday, June 3rd, we will experience new ways to worship at Life Church!
About a year ago, Pastor Mark Pfeifer, Director of The Soma Family of Ministries which provides spiritual covering and encouragement for Life Church, challenged me to consider a new concept in corporate worship. When Pastor Mark introduced this idea to his church family, it was extremely well received—more importantly, their leadership sensed personal growth and increased effectiveness in their Sunday services.
Listen first, then respond
What is this new idea that sparked such growth and excitement? It’s as simple as rearranging the order of the typical Sunday morning church service.
Starting Sunday, June 3, we are going to begin each service with the message and conclude with worship. The teaching and preaching portion of the service will begin promptly at 10:00 AM. After the message, we’ll hear the announcements then enjoy our Fellowship Break in the Atrium. We will all then return to the Sanctuary for a time of worship and ministry. We’ll continue our newly established tradition of sharing Life Stories through personal interviews, and enjoy the familiar music of our Praise Team.
A new and meaningful addition will be the availability of communion each week, with bread and juice offered on each side of the Sanctuary for individuals and families to share as they choose during the worship. I believe this will become an important time of personal reflection for those who participate. We will still share communion together as a congregation on the first Sunday of every month, just as we do now.
Why are we making this change now?
There’s nothing “broken” at Life Church, and we’re not trying to fix any problem. What we are trying to do is expand worship beyond singing. We will engage in various elements of worship following the preaching such as sharing communion, praising God through personal testimony, confessing our needs, praying together and singing praiseful songs. This will provide more opportunities for people to experience worship in a way that is comfortable and natural to them.
Although singing is an excellent form of worship, it is not the only medium to effective worship. While many people enjoy singing as a primary means of worship, many do not. (It’s worth noting that as many as 30-40% of our congregation do not arrive until the music is practically completed. Pastor Mark discovered that once his congregation learned the message would begin at 10:00, they began arriving early.) Though some may leave following the message, we believe a greater portion will participate in worship than are currently doing so.
Our Leadership Team has prayed about this change and we are excited to see what the summer has in store. We sense that the Lord cares more about our hearts toward Him than the order of our service. We hope you’ll share in our excitement as we serve, learn, fellowship and worship together.