Worship Planning Advice

Good article by Russ Hutto over at TheWorshipCommunity.Com. Here’s an excerpt.

I heard a great quote the other day that was aimed at pastors who plan sermons last minute week to week. It went something like, “When pastors wait until the last minute to plan a message, is it them or the Holy Spirit who does the procrastinating?”

What it is, though, is a challenge. A challenge to those in leadership to take weekend gatherings to the next level. People aren’t interested in coming to church because, in general, our presentation of the Gospel, our approach to discipling, and our efforts at helping people become community are lacking.

This includes our times of musical worship. Twenty years ago we could all just come together and sing a few choruses to be considered cutting edge and innovative. In this day and time it takes intentional, strategic planning.

Lest you misinterpret my challenge, my aim is not to convince you to cut out spontaneity or free-roaming interludes of musical worship. My goal is not to convince you to sing this song or that, in this style or that. I’m not trying to convince you to use this technology or that. My challenge isn’t about method, as much as it is about intent.

We have to be intentional in our planning.

If we throw things together at the last moment, if we don’t have a plan, if we just wing it; then we’re communicating that the message we do share isn’t worth our best. We also communicate that the people who come through our doors aren’t worth our best as well.

I once heard a pastor in training say he just didn’t believe you could plan sermons weeks in advance; that God didn’t work that way. I say God is God, and he can work any way He wants to. He certainly did a thorough job planning out all of time.

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