Outline of 6 week study sessions

Class Outline:

Through out the whole 6 weeks we must remember to begin and end with God. Worship is first and foremost about, to, for, directed at and focused on God.

Major areas I want to cover: biblical foundation for worship, historical foundation of worship with focus on the reformed tradition, book of order, order of worship/elements of worship, church year, artistic expression in worship, worship planning tools

Minor areas that should be found throughout in the various major areas: multi-generational worship, worship that is friendly to families,

Elements to be included in each class session:

• Prayer
• Worship
• Evaluation of the previous Sunday’s worship service – not in order to make changes, or to criticize, but to get into the practice of directed observation and meaning creating (see Jane Rogers Vann)
• All subjects will have as a focal point the importance of participation, definition of participation and evaluation of participation

Overarching goal for this team (not the same as for the project):

Class 1, August 14^th:

• Welcome and opening worship time (15 min)
• Explanation of the purpose of the team and training time (15 min)
• Timeline and other practical information (5 min)
• Bryan’s exercise – 15 min to think about previous worship experiences followed by discussion (25 min total)
• Overview of topics to be covered (5 min)
• Distribution of reading and other materials (2 min)
• Assignment of breakfast duties (2 min)
• Closing prayer (2 min)

Class 2, August 21^st:

• Welcome and opening worship time (15 min)
• Discussion of homework (focused on post-modern movement and the church’s need to keep up with the changing world)
• Biblical and theological foundations for worship
• Evaluation and discussion of Sunday, August 19^th
• Explanation/distribution of home study for next week
• Closing Prayer

Class 3, August 28^th:

• Welcome and opening worship time (15 min)
• Historical Foundations, with focus on the Reformed Tradition
• Church Year and formational possibilities
• Evaluation and discussion of Sunday, August 26^th
• Explanation/distribution of home study for next week
• Closing Prayer

Class 4, September 4^th:

• Welcome and opening worship time (15 min)
• Book of Order and what it says about worship
• Elements of worship and worship structure (4 fold and other possibilities)
• Evaluation and discussion of Sunday, September 2^nd
• Explanation/distribution of home study for next week
• Closing Prayer

Class 5, September 11^th:

• Welcome and opening worship time (15 min)
• The arts in worship (visual, musical, dance, language etc.)
• Worship planning tools
• Evaluation and discussion of Sunday, September 9^th
• Explanation/distribution of home study for next week
• Closing Prayer

Class 6, September 18^th

• Welcome
• Worship panning tools and processes
• Review, questions, clean up
• Closing worship (30 min)