Bellbrook, Ohio
2021
To cultivate a common worship language and shared understanding of worship that facilitates a sense of community across generation and technology, and to use that language to connect worship with all of life.
Provide a brief summary of the purpose and goal of your grant.
The purpose of our grant was to provide connection for our worshipping community, both online and in person, as we nurtured our understanding of worship, the parts of worship, and why we worship. We sought to include all ages, and to build relationships and common language and understanding within the community, as well as to support members in strengthening their relationship with God and understanding of faith in their own lives. Our goals included: articulating a common language of worship; developing a shared understanding of worship that included connections to daily life and worshipping in daily life; and intentionally including those who worshipped in the sanctuary and those who worshipped online.
What questions have you asked about worship in the past year?
We have asked many questions this year. What is the purpose of worship, and by extension, what is our purpose? And how do we worship with our lives? These questions shaped our project significantly, as we sought to come to understand the structure and meaning of worship, and how and why we as human beings are called into worship and do worship. We also sought to expand our understanding of faith and worship outside the sanctuary and the hour of worship service on Sunday mornings and to seek faith and worship in our daily lives.
In what ways has your project engaged your congregation so that it impacts the worship life and habits of the congregation?
Throughout the project we sought to engage the congregation through their senses, experiences, and through fellowship. These new practices are ones that we can sustain beyond the grant period. We learned new things, like how to use visuals in the sanctuary and online; how to create resource that connect those in the sanctuary with those at home; how to integrate liturgy and worship participation that facilitates the integration of who we are as God’s people into our worshipping experiences; and sensory experiences. We also can use many of the resources that we created to continue to build on the key components of the project, such as the parts of worship through the vertical habits. This will help to reinforce learning.
What criteria have you used to evaluate your plan to foster vital worship?
Feedback was our primary evaluation tool: comments, written evaluations, shared learnings, and engagement. We asked questions to assess whether or not worshippers gained new understanding, were meaningfully engaged, formed deeper connections within the community, and were deepening their faith in and relationship with God. We also looked at engagement in terms of attendance at events and participation in the life of the congregation. Prior to this grant there were a number of folks who were able to participate in the life of the congregation but did not. That number has become much smaller during the grant period which we interpret as greater sense of welcome and meaning in participating in the worshipping life of the congregation.
What issues have been your greatest challenges (or challenging opportunities)?
Our most significant challenge was sustaining our energy level and momentum. By Lent of this year, the energy level of leadership decreased somewhat. We created a really engaging Lenten home worship kit which was very well received and helped to bolster this portion of the project that was not as energy filled as we had hoped they would be. The kit helped keep people connected and engaged. The second issue is that because not everyone is present all the time, most worshippers pick up bits and pieces, rather than an entire segment of learning. We will likely repeat much of the project content in a modified manner to continue to foster learning in the congregation so that the knowledge is internalized and integrated.
What would you like to share with other Project Directors?
Other project directors might benefit from a recognition that this is deep, hard work, and it takes prayerful consistency. This grant opportunity was a tremendous blessing in resources and ideas and new practices. We could see the level of effort and planning that was put in impacted the outcomes significantly. Second, we would share the power of listening. We listened intentionally throughout the project to many voices. Two preschoolers were present many Sundays and we listened to them shout “Amen!” and “Are you done yet?” in worship. We listened to seasoned Elders comment on an insight they had gained about worship. And we listened to our youth who often deconstruct our practices in ways that bring tremendous learning.