Clover Sites



Worship Planning SystemWORSHIP PLANNING SYSTEM OVERVIEWDEFINITION: The Northwood Worship Planning System is an ongoing system for planning, implementing and evaluating our worship services at Northwood.PURPOSE: The purpose of the Worship Planning System is to help us to produce life transforming worship services every Sunday. FOUR KEY COMPONENTS: The four key components of the Worship Planning System are:Philosophy of a worship servicePreaching calendarPreparing and conducting worship servicesEvaluating and improving worship servicesI. PHILOSOPHY OF A NORTHWOOD WORSHIP SERVICEWork as a team to plan and conduct worship services. No one should plan a worship service alone.Outline the message. The preaching calendar drives everything. Planning can be more creative if everyone knows where we are going.Repentance is one of the main goals of worship. We desire to see people changed in some way every service.Sunday matters! THIS Sunday matters. It’s never “just another Sunday”. Leaders must love Sundays.Honor God through excellence. We strive to do the best we can with everything God has given to us.Invite people to take next steps. When someone responds to the Holy Spirit, give them clear steps to take. Success is when people leave and then “do” what God is calling them to do.Planning honors God. Planning prepares you for God to move. We plan, and then God directs our steps.II. PREACHING CALENDARWhy plan a preaching Calendar?To balance between the different types of messages we want to communicate (evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, service)For greater creativity. It’s hard to be creative at the last minuteFor greater depth in preaching through meditation and preparationTo allow the Holy Spirit to work in us in advanceTo organize sermon series for maximum resultsPreaching calendar guidelines:Schedule one or two meetings a year with the preaching team just to work on the calendar. These meetings are separate from creative meetings for a particular series or messageHave the preaching team pray and fast prior to the meetingBring a calendar with key holidays and a school calendar to the meetingBring attendance trends from the previous two yearsBrainstorm key topics or issuesKeep a log of good ideas that aren’t usedOutline key start and end dates for each seriesSchedule times that the lead pastor will be awayRevisit the calendar at least once per quarterAllow the Holy Spirit to interrupt your calendar!III. PREPARING AND CONDUCTING WORSHIP SERVICESPlanning timeline before the start of a series4-10 months out – series idea/title – begin brainstorming and sharing creative ideas among the preaching team1-3 months out – individual message titles and series themes set 1 month out –begin collecting creative elements for series 3 weeks out – creative planning meeting – creative ideas for the series finalized and organized10 days out – series staging/props readySeries BeginsPlanning timeline before a specific Sunday3 weeks out – any message research or other assignments due from team2 weeks out – any specific media and creative elements planned2 weeks out – 1st draft of message notes finished and turned in to lead pastor if someone other than the lead pastor is teaching2 weeks out – 1st draft of worship order done5 days out – final draft of message notes done and turned into lead pastor if someone other than the lead pastor is teaching5 days out – final draft of worship order and creative elements3- 5 days out – worship planning meeting to review goals, creative elements and worship order; prayer time for specific service3 days out – final message manuscript completed; trial run of message3 days out – everything finalized for Sunday - Thursday Midnight Rule – if it isn’t finished by Thursday at midnight, it doesn’t happen on Sunday.Sunday Service conductedKeys for successful worship planningConstant communication between the pastor and worship leaderHigh accountability among staff and volunteer members of the worship planning teamA culture of punctualityA commitment to excellenceCreative elements in worship planningMusic (worship and secular)SermonLive or recorded testimoniesKnown media(be aware of copyrights)Original mediaDramaEverything else; be creative, use the gifting in the churchConducting a sermon trial runSchedule a time for the trial run (3 days before service)Complete the written messageGather creative elementsPlan for audio/video recordingGather an interested audienceAssign a time keeperDeliver the sermon as planned for SundayElicit feedback – positive and constructivePray together for SundayRe-edit the written message if neededIV. EVALUATING AND IMPROVING WORSHIP SERVICESCreate a culture of feedbackPlan times for feedbackBe grateful for feedbackCritique yourselfGive feedback that is specificGive feedback that is helpfulFocus on the issue not the personDetermine and take action needed for each point of feedbackWhen to evaluateIn pre-planning In the sermon trial runWorship rehearsalDuring setup or Sunday prep timeBetween servicesAfter each SundayAfter each seriesFour evaluation questions to ask What went right?What went wrong?What was missing?What was confusing?First answer question 1 and celebrate wins and thank God for each item. Next answer questions 2-4 together. Assign action steps to the appropriate person for each item in questions 2-4. Provide accountability for these items to be completed by Thursday night. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download