Creating Counter-Cultural Space in Your Church Service
Here are a few ideas to create space in your church service for reflection and connection:
Welcome
If you do a welcome at the beginning of your service (you should if you don’t), welcome guests and let everyone know that you hope their time will be restful and refreshing. These words are essential to creating mental space. Life is not relaxing and restorative by default. We only experience that by intentional design. It’s important to tell people what we hope for them.
Worship
I suspect you sing in your church service. Music elicits unique emotions and needs to be part of a comprehensive church experience. Rather than sing a few performance songs, perhaps slow down the pace. Extend a bridge or two. Recite a specific line in the upcoming song and ask your congregation to consider what it means to them.
I believe worship through music should be more reflective than regurgitated.
Giving
If you take time in your service to prioritize generosity, find a way to focus on the stories created by giving. People who give love to know what their generosity is building through God’s grace. Ask people to reflect on how God might be using them (or could be using them) to change the lives of others. And let them consider.
Sermon
Here’s where we can accomplish a lot. For too long, preaching has been a monologue. People don’t want to attend a monologue. They can stay at home and listen to that while they cut the grass or commute to work. Turn your sermon into a reflective connection.
Ask questions of your audience and solicit answers. Have people talk to each other about a topic or concept as part of the message. Give your congregation space to ponder ideas. Make time for God’s truth to land in their head and heart. Provide them with questions that prompt reflection or conversation.
Concluding Thoughts
Several years ago, research suggested that Millennials desired a return to more traditions at church. They seemingly wanted to experience hymns and liturgies. This desire created confusion and questions for attractional churches designed to entertain. At the same time, churches didn’t want to become unattractive. What to do?
In hindsight, I wonder if the Millennial desire was more than a return to hymns and liturgies but a longing for a counter-cultural experience. Perhaps what these first-generation digital natives craved was space. In their distraction-filled lives, they needed less, not more. They longed for what they remembered from their childhood—something different and slower than their current life.
This is how we can engage our communities today. We can help them slow down. We can create space for reflection and introspection. And we can support their replenishment. The world around them isn’t going to slow down. Perhaps that’s our job.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
