[Worship] Northdixie@aol.com

["Roy Smalley" <roycarl@charter.net>]

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>>Does anyone have suggestions for questions which move beyond personal preference? Any starting points for discussion so that we can identify the purpose for worship at our church? 

Dixie:

My best suggestion in defining purpose is to have a series 
of group "brainstorming" meetings with everyone involved 
in the worship process, at which you completely disallow 
discussions of style and preference and work together on 
developing "Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals".  

Work on putting together a mission or purpose statement - 
this should be one or two sentences that lays out in the 
simplest language possible your group's mission or 
purpose.   An example mission statement (from a church 
where I used to be a staff member) is, "Turning 
Nonbelievers into Fully Devoted Followers of Christ." 
 That's a little broad for a worship ministry, but it may 
give you some ideas.

Just as important as this is mission statement are your 
core values.  These is a list of things that drive you as 
a group to minister in your area.  Here's a draft-copy 
list of core values that we're working on as we reorganize 
the worship ministry of my new church (keep in mind this 
is a working document and not yet complete):

===================

Theology

·	We believe in and worship the one true God of the Bible 
and who has shown himself in the persons of Father, Son, 
an Holy Spirit.
·	We believe praise and worship should be theologically 
sound and infused with scripture.
·	We are dedicated to understanding what God desires of 
true worship, and aim to make corporate praise and worship 
a meaningful experience for the assembly.

Discipleship

·	We believe ?worshipping in spirit and in truth? includes 
understanding, accepting, experiencing, and sharing the 
Gospel message, and continually pursuing spiritual growth 
through a personal relationship with our risen Lord Jesus 
Christ.
·	We believe our behavior in and out of the church service 
should exemplify the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, and 
distinguish us as Christians who desire to grow more like 
Christ.

Artistry

·	We believe excellence honors God and inspires people.
·	We seek to convey the unchanging message of the Gospel 
in creative and relevant ways that will impact the hearts 
of people in our culture.
·	We are dedicated to discovering, growing and developing 
our spiritual gifts, skills and talents.
·	We are dedicated to developing an appreciation for a 
variety of musical and artistic styles.
	
Leadership

·	We believe faithfulness and commitment to our God, our 
church, and our neighbors are paramount in the exercise of 
our spiritual gifts.
·	We are dedicated to preparing for our ministry 
diligently, prayerfully, and with Christ-like concern for 
everyone in the assembly.

====================

These core values will be the yardstick used to measure 
everything we do in our ministry - before any decisions 
are made in programming, planning, organization, etc. 
we'll first look at it and say, "how does this jive with 
our core values?"

Group meetings are important in making sure that everyone 
involved feels a sense of ownership, but you must have a 
strong leader at the meeting who can make sure things stay 
on track and don't degenerate into a gripe session.

I'd be happy to share our entire draft list of guidelines 
with you, but I won't post it here because it's several 
pages as a word document.  Let me know if you're 
interested in reviewing it, and I'll email it to you.

  - Roy