Wednesday 4th June 2014 at Bar Hill Church
- Occasional Worship A persistent paradox, or a last chance? Vicarious religion describes ‘a certain way of being religious that derives from a particular historical heritage and which thrives in a particular kind of church the idea resonates more in the older generations than the young' Davie, Religion in Britain, p.88.
- Included are rites for special occasions such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Service notes provide background on the rites and special instructions for their use. Special services for Prayer at Close of Day (Compline) and Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter are also included.
From ‘Back to Church Sunday' to ‘A Season of Invitation'
A presentation by +Paul Bayes
The Book of Occasional Services is a collection of liturgical resources related to occasions which do not occur with sufficient frequency to warrant their inclusion in The Book of Common Prayer. These materials are authorized by the General Convention through the provisions of Title II, Canon 3, Section 6 of the Canons of the Episcopal Church. Their occasional unexpected voices simply add happy sounds to our praise of God. If children are making enough noise to interfere with other people's worship, we ask that you walk them out of the main sanctuary, wait for them to quiet down, and then return with them to the sanctuary. 'Let All Creation Praise' offers resources for congregations to celebrate God's love for creation, to worship God with creation so as to reconcile and restore our human relationship with the rest of nature, and to foster love and care for God's whole creation. We also provide resources to celebrate a 'season of creation' or 'creation time' in the church year.
Where is Back to Church Sunday situated in the overlap between pastoral and parochial liturgy and evangelism? It is not universally thought that evangelism and liturgy can walk in step; how may we work to ensure that they can?
People have been converted by the beauty of the liturgy: being able to ‘stand behind a pillar' so as not to engage, and yet still be transformed by the beauty of the liturgical drama; John Wesley noted that the Eucharist is a ‘converting ordinance'. Glory and warmth in worship can be transformative (it is the combination of both that makes worship engaging).
‘I would not invite my dog to some of the churches, because of the low quality of the worship' – how many of us would echo this concern? The church grows because there is human warmth extended, and that people invite their friends to something they love. If there is no confidence in the quality of worship, there will be no invitations made, and personal invitations are crucial in bringing people to God.
Getting ‘liturgy people' and ‘mission people' to connect with one another is crucial.
‘Perfect fear casts out love' – if the church is not growing it is because fear is greater than love. Christians are afraid of embarrassment – if their love of God begins to outweigh their fear of embarrassment then they will begin to be able to invite others. If people are not only embarrassed about their faith, but also about their church, then it will be that much harder for them to have confidence to invite others.
‘De-churched' people are those who don't mind church, but don't attend either. There are millions of such people, potentially just waiting for an invitation. Back to Church Sunday was initiated primarily to encourage church attenders to invite their de-churched friends to come back.
Occasional Services Lutheran Book Of Worship
BTCS undertook research to find out how many people actually did come back to church through BTCS, and a proportion of those have stayed. A far greater number of church members did not feel confident to invite a friend. Why?
‘Inviting someone you know to something you love' is hard because we are sharing something that is important to us with someone that we will see again – it is very different from hit-and-run evangelism. Liturgical excellence can give people confidence in what they are inviting people to attend.
What is different on BTCS? Ideally, the very fact of engaging with BTCS should raise the expectations of the regular members of the congregation in terms of quality of worship, and ensure that every Sunday is worthy of those who may come. All the evidence is that people don't mind being invited, and don't mind saying no, and don't mind being invited again – BTCS doesn't necessarily imply a one-day make or break effort that can ‘fail' and then never be re-tried.
Research in the USA indicates that if a person attends a group 5 times and is made welcome each time, they are likely to stick: ‘Five sticks to stick'.
Our whole system of government in this country assumes that people can change their mind and have moments of decision of ‘conversion' from one political ideal of approach to another. We are used to making choices, and receiving information about what those choices are. Inviting people to a selection of ‘special' occasions is a good approach – if people cannot come to BTCS they may come to a subsequent ‘special' occasion, eg Harvest, Remembrance, All Souls, Advent (aka ‘Christmas starts')….
A menu card making these occasional services looking inviting is how BTCS became A Season of Invitation. Doing these occasions well, and inviting people to them, is probably the simplest form of evangelism.
What is exciting about this? Thoughts from the floor….
'The menu idea is great – good to have more than one occasion, especially as people are often away at weekends.'
'Glory and warmth is a crucial combination – sets a high standard for both'
'Five sticks to stick – this is good to know, but needs to be put into practice.'
'Regular liturgy can be attractive if it's done well – combination of pattern and variety.'
'Great message that people don't mind being invited.'
'If people know what it is they're inviting people to, they're more likely to do it confidently and those they invite will be more likely to be confident about whether they want to come.'
What is worrying about this? Thoughts from the floor….
'Are there some people who just wouldn't be a great advert for coming to church even if they did invite someone?'
'Congregations and PCCs often want the church to grow but without any actual new people coming – can the liturgy itself be something that converts the regular congregation to a new, more open attitude?'
'Do people in church actually appear to enjoy themselves and love coming? Some people genuinely do come to church in order not to like it, and then complain about it.'
'Is there a culture of whinging about what is wrong rather than positively contributing to quality?'
'Many churches are run by the same people who have run them for the last forty years – ‘We've always done it this way'.'
'Change is normal and natural, but many churches resist it; there are possibilities, too, for inviting people to traditional / smaller services, not just the ‘main' services.'
All the resources to enable churches to engage with the Season of Invitation are available here.
You can follow the initiative on twitter: @season_of_inv
Liturgical language and occasional worshippers
A presentation by Revd Dr Jessica Martin
‘A regular invitation to something which is always special' – this paradox can be creative, and the pattern of worship and discipleship for new Christians (or those new to church) no longer assumes weekly commitment. There will be a cohort of people who come perhaps every two months but who will consider themselves committed, and will expect every time they come to feel ‘out of the ordinary' and special. The challenge, then, to the parish priest is how to make ordinary worship special, every time.
If you have people who are coming other than every week, then it will take them longer to get the hang of what the pattern is, and they will need something that is familiar for them. One of the key aspects of liturgy is that it involves repetition of some kind, and while familiarity can be learned, we cannot assume that what is familiar to people who have always attended church regularly will be familiar to those who do not. Variation within repetition is crucial – having moments of familiarity, particular moments that are the same every time. Rounds are a simple way of creating music that is beautiful and sounds complex, and yet is very simple.
There is a dilemma which manifests itself in attitude to baptism policy: much growth can take place through the occasional offices, particularly funerals and baptisms, and rather than a black-and-white distinction between those who are ‘churched' and those who are ‘unchurched' there is a much more complex picture of people's level and quality of commitment – the extremes of ‘those who come for baptism with no intention of coming again' and ‘those who are going to come every week for ever' are not the norm in most parishes in this part of the Church of England, and most families are somewhere in between. Baptism can provide an opportunity for celebrating and cementing families, often after changes of family shape or dynamic. Baptisms can often take the place of weddings in providing an opportunity for the family to define itself.
Often something impels a family to come and seek baptism – there may have been some past event, a bereavement, a sense of perceived danger, which prompts a family to seek baptism – there are huge pastoral opportunities here. The first approach made by a family and their first encounter with church is crucial.
There are many resources that emphasise baptism as entry into the family of the church. This is an important part of the process but it isn't necessarily where most people start: their starting point was more often a sense of a private, persona relationship with God (and in this, they are no different to many regular churchgoers). Creating a space in which people are able to talk about their own sense of private faith before trying to connect it to the public expression of faith in church, is therefore crucial. Believing (me and God) and behaving (living a good life) may be more common understandings of what Christianity entails than belonging (being part of a church community). Many clergy find that those who are not coming regularly to church are not all that much less theologically articulate than those who do come regularly – they simply don't see any need to come to church. Communicating with people that church is a source of nurture for then in their own journey of faith is a real task.
What can we offer to families who come for baptism?
Jessica and an artist from her church produced a resource that engages with the family's personal experience, including their spirituality, with scripture, and with the baptism liturgy, presented with beautiful artwork. The same images and ideas can be used in baptism preparation for older children and even in the liturgy itself.
Inviting families back for something that is still personal but corporate can be a helpful transition: eg an annual thanksgiving service for baptism at which all the children are prayed for, explicitly, and publicly.
All families are different. Working out a pattern of invitation that feels authentic, personal and warm for each family is crucial. The process of widening out people's personal sense of faith so that it can be shared with a community of faith is a gradual on. There is always the possibility (and necessity) of making connections between people's personal faith and concerns and what is happening liturgically – from there one can start to show people that church is also about God, not just about us. The harder biblical readings shake us out of the assumption that we are the centre of the universe, and into the realisation that God is, but that we are still part of it.
Comments and questions:
'How do we get people to come and be part of something when it's not just about them? Families will sometimes come to something which feels as if it about their children (eg Messy Church).'
'Emphasising the church's role in supporting the family, and the promise made by the people of God in the baptism liturgy is also important.'
'The specialness of the child and of the family can be extended to the specialness of every human being.'
'Standalone baptisms can work better for those who are not used to church, and having members of the congregation there who have a particular gift for welcome and making connections can be very helpful.'
'The weddings project learned that the church is a guest at a wedding, and brings certain unique gifts – a building, but also the possibility of salvation.'
'How do we connect between people's desire to come and our desire for them to come – this isn't always easy, for some reason.'
Workshop 1: Music for occasional services – Jan Payne
Handout to come….
Workshop 2: Children & Families – Ally Barrett
The Book of Occasional Services is a collection of liturgical resources related to occasions which do not occur with sufficient frequency to warrant their inclusion in The Book of Common Prayer. These materials are authorized by the General Convention through the provisions of Title II, Canon 3, Section 6 of the Canons of the Episcopal Church. Their occasional unexpected voices simply add happy sounds to our praise of God. If children are making enough noise to interfere with other people's worship, we ask that you walk them out of the main sanctuary, wait for them to quiet down, and then return with them to the sanctuary. 'Let All Creation Praise' offers resources for congregations to celebrate God's love for creation, to worship God with creation so as to reconcile and restore our human relationship with the rest of nature, and to foster love and care for God's whole creation. We also provide resources to celebrate a 'season of creation' or 'creation time' in the church year.
Where is Back to Church Sunday situated in the overlap between pastoral and parochial liturgy and evangelism? It is not universally thought that evangelism and liturgy can walk in step; how may we work to ensure that they can?
People have been converted by the beauty of the liturgy: being able to ‘stand behind a pillar' so as not to engage, and yet still be transformed by the beauty of the liturgical drama; John Wesley noted that the Eucharist is a ‘converting ordinance'. Glory and warmth in worship can be transformative (it is the combination of both that makes worship engaging).
‘I would not invite my dog to some of the churches, because of the low quality of the worship' – how many of us would echo this concern? The church grows because there is human warmth extended, and that people invite their friends to something they love. If there is no confidence in the quality of worship, there will be no invitations made, and personal invitations are crucial in bringing people to God.
Getting ‘liturgy people' and ‘mission people' to connect with one another is crucial.
‘Perfect fear casts out love' – if the church is not growing it is because fear is greater than love. Christians are afraid of embarrassment – if their love of God begins to outweigh their fear of embarrassment then they will begin to be able to invite others. If people are not only embarrassed about their faith, but also about their church, then it will be that much harder for them to have confidence to invite others.
‘De-churched' people are those who don't mind church, but don't attend either. There are millions of such people, potentially just waiting for an invitation. Back to Church Sunday was initiated primarily to encourage church attenders to invite their de-churched friends to come back.
Occasional Services Lutheran Book Of Worship
BTCS undertook research to find out how many people actually did come back to church through BTCS, and a proportion of those have stayed. A far greater number of church members did not feel confident to invite a friend. Why?
‘Inviting someone you know to something you love' is hard because we are sharing something that is important to us with someone that we will see again – it is very different from hit-and-run evangelism. Liturgical excellence can give people confidence in what they are inviting people to attend.
What is different on BTCS? Ideally, the very fact of engaging with BTCS should raise the expectations of the regular members of the congregation in terms of quality of worship, and ensure that every Sunday is worthy of those who may come. All the evidence is that people don't mind being invited, and don't mind saying no, and don't mind being invited again – BTCS doesn't necessarily imply a one-day make or break effort that can ‘fail' and then never be re-tried.
Research in the USA indicates that if a person attends a group 5 times and is made welcome each time, they are likely to stick: ‘Five sticks to stick'.
Our whole system of government in this country assumes that people can change their mind and have moments of decision of ‘conversion' from one political ideal of approach to another. We are used to making choices, and receiving information about what those choices are. Inviting people to a selection of ‘special' occasions is a good approach – if people cannot come to BTCS they may come to a subsequent ‘special' occasion, eg Harvest, Remembrance, All Souls, Advent (aka ‘Christmas starts')….
A menu card making these occasional services looking inviting is how BTCS became A Season of Invitation. Doing these occasions well, and inviting people to them, is probably the simplest form of evangelism.
What is exciting about this? Thoughts from the floor….
'The menu idea is great – good to have more than one occasion, especially as people are often away at weekends.'
'Glory and warmth is a crucial combination – sets a high standard for both'
'Five sticks to stick – this is good to know, but needs to be put into practice.'
'Regular liturgy can be attractive if it's done well – combination of pattern and variety.'
'Great message that people don't mind being invited.'
'If people know what it is they're inviting people to, they're more likely to do it confidently and those they invite will be more likely to be confident about whether they want to come.'
What is worrying about this? Thoughts from the floor….
'Are there some people who just wouldn't be a great advert for coming to church even if they did invite someone?'
'Congregations and PCCs often want the church to grow but without any actual new people coming – can the liturgy itself be something that converts the regular congregation to a new, more open attitude?'
'Do people in church actually appear to enjoy themselves and love coming? Some people genuinely do come to church in order not to like it, and then complain about it.'
'Is there a culture of whinging about what is wrong rather than positively contributing to quality?'
'Many churches are run by the same people who have run them for the last forty years – ‘We've always done it this way'.'
'Change is normal and natural, but many churches resist it; there are possibilities, too, for inviting people to traditional / smaller services, not just the ‘main' services.'
All the resources to enable churches to engage with the Season of Invitation are available here.
You can follow the initiative on twitter: @season_of_inv
Liturgical language and occasional worshippers
A presentation by Revd Dr Jessica Martin
‘A regular invitation to something which is always special' – this paradox can be creative, and the pattern of worship and discipleship for new Christians (or those new to church) no longer assumes weekly commitment. There will be a cohort of people who come perhaps every two months but who will consider themselves committed, and will expect every time they come to feel ‘out of the ordinary' and special. The challenge, then, to the parish priest is how to make ordinary worship special, every time.
If you have people who are coming other than every week, then it will take them longer to get the hang of what the pattern is, and they will need something that is familiar for them. One of the key aspects of liturgy is that it involves repetition of some kind, and while familiarity can be learned, we cannot assume that what is familiar to people who have always attended church regularly will be familiar to those who do not. Variation within repetition is crucial – having moments of familiarity, particular moments that are the same every time. Rounds are a simple way of creating music that is beautiful and sounds complex, and yet is very simple.
There is a dilemma which manifests itself in attitude to baptism policy: much growth can take place through the occasional offices, particularly funerals and baptisms, and rather than a black-and-white distinction between those who are ‘churched' and those who are ‘unchurched' there is a much more complex picture of people's level and quality of commitment – the extremes of ‘those who come for baptism with no intention of coming again' and ‘those who are going to come every week for ever' are not the norm in most parishes in this part of the Church of England, and most families are somewhere in between. Baptism can provide an opportunity for celebrating and cementing families, often after changes of family shape or dynamic. Baptisms can often take the place of weddings in providing an opportunity for the family to define itself.
Often something impels a family to come and seek baptism – there may have been some past event, a bereavement, a sense of perceived danger, which prompts a family to seek baptism – there are huge pastoral opportunities here. The first approach made by a family and their first encounter with church is crucial.
There are many resources that emphasise baptism as entry into the family of the church. This is an important part of the process but it isn't necessarily where most people start: their starting point was more often a sense of a private, persona relationship with God (and in this, they are no different to many regular churchgoers). Creating a space in which people are able to talk about their own sense of private faith before trying to connect it to the public expression of faith in church, is therefore crucial. Believing (me and God) and behaving (living a good life) may be more common understandings of what Christianity entails than belonging (being part of a church community). Many clergy find that those who are not coming regularly to church are not all that much less theologically articulate than those who do come regularly – they simply don't see any need to come to church. Communicating with people that church is a source of nurture for then in their own journey of faith is a real task.
What can we offer to families who come for baptism?
Jessica and an artist from her church produced a resource that engages with the family's personal experience, including their spirituality, with scripture, and with the baptism liturgy, presented with beautiful artwork. The same images and ideas can be used in baptism preparation for older children and even in the liturgy itself.
Inviting families back for something that is still personal but corporate can be a helpful transition: eg an annual thanksgiving service for baptism at which all the children are prayed for, explicitly, and publicly.
All families are different. Working out a pattern of invitation that feels authentic, personal and warm for each family is crucial. The process of widening out people's personal sense of faith so that it can be shared with a community of faith is a gradual on. There is always the possibility (and necessity) of making connections between people's personal faith and concerns and what is happening liturgically – from there one can start to show people that church is also about God, not just about us. The harder biblical readings shake us out of the assumption that we are the centre of the universe, and into the realisation that God is, but that we are still part of it.
Comments and questions:
'How do we get people to come and be part of something when it's not just about them? Families will sometimes come to something which feels as if it about their children (eg Messy Church).'
'Emphasising the church's role in supporting the family, and the promise made by the people of God in the baptism liturgy is also important.'
'The specialness of the child and of the family can be extended to the specialness of every human being.'
'Standalone baptisms can work better for those who are not used to church, and having members of the congregation there who have a particular gift for welcome and making connections can be very helpful.'
'The weddings project learned that the church is a guest at a wedding, and brings certain unique gifts – a building, but also the possibility of salvation.'
'How do we connect between people's desire to come and our desire for them to come – this isn't always easy, for some reason.'
Workshop 1: Music for occasional services – Jan Payne
Handout to come….
Workshop 2: Children & Families – Ally Barrett
Liturgical colouring booklets and other resources can be downloaded here:
Beyond A Season of Invitation – Questions and comments
Houses for sale las vegas. How do you get regular congregations to engage with baptism in the main service instead of opting out of it?
1 Corinthians has a lot to say about what it means to be a Christian community that is diverse and in which people do rub up uncomfortably against each other. The view of the Parish Communion movement regarding regular weekly worship is now being challenged, however, and streaming worship in order to reach diverse groups in an appropriate way. If the regular church community is feeling threatened, then there may be ways of addressing this that appear unrelated to the baptism issue. Sometimes desperation for survival can make a church be more welcoming. The idea of the regular congregation being guests at the baptism rather than the baptism family being guests at the regular church service is helpful.
Divine Worship Occasional Services
How do we deal with congregations who not only refuse to invite people to BTCS but also boycott that service themselves? What does it feel like to invite someone else to church and feel self-conscious about the experience of being in church?
Many churches think that they want to be open, but actually don't. We have forgotten the model of the early church in which catechumens were separated from those who were maturer in faith. Willow Creek Seeker Services were effectively performances, whereas those who were already disciples were invited for something more meaty during the week. It's like St Paul's image about meat and milk. Can we rediscover some of this in the life of the church? What is the shop window of the church and what is the stuff inside? Where do Sundays and main services fit in with this? And how are we effective in nurturing disciples beyond the milk stage? Meaty stuff is harder work for people, and demands concentration – is there a sense that an hour-long act of worship isn't any longer the place for this kind of work? The practice of Adult Sunday School in the Episcopal Church in the USA is well established – takes the intellectual nurture out of worship so that the worship can be just worship?
Newcomers parties (for people who have recently moved into the village or neighbourhood) can be a less threatening way of inviting people to church, because it isn't a service. Worship may not be the most appropriate first thing to invite people to – on the other hand, the spiritual nurture is something that is the church's unique gift. Some combination may be appropriate? The idea of there being people ‘like me' is reassuring, but without sacrificing the idea of diversity.
Occasional Worship
What is the role of Back to Church Sunday within the Season of Invitation? Does it still work in multi-parish benfices? BTCS was timed originally because nothing else was happening then – originally there were going to be seven occasions (including one after Christmas). Multi-parish benefices who attempt worship together on a fifth Sunday run the risk of effectively closing churches on particular days and preventing people from turning up to them. Patterns of worship that are hard to understand or unpredictable make it hard for people to turn up – sometimes the idea of ‘church is the people not the building' serves the committed but at the expense of the visitors. Many clergy are now revisiting the desire to worship across several parishes in favour of honouring the desire for worship in the local churches, particularly for occasions such as All Souls. In many multi-parish benefices regular worship is only sustainable through the ministry of lay worship leaders – and congregations often appreciate their own local person leading them (as long as it is done well) through they do also like to see The Vicar! The role of LLMs (Readers) is in need of greater clarity – what may Readers do, that other lay ministers may not?
What resources can we point new Christians to for distance learning?
Regular church attenders might also value this – there is nothing like this at present. The Pilgrim course is not available electronically – are we too wedded to printed media? Rejesus.com is ecumenical – it doesn't feed into particular church traditions or worship. What could be the role of social media and the internet in this process? What about more than just BBC Songs of Praise? Internet access is not the preserve of the young – there could be a role for steamed worship or podcasting for those who are housebound or away (including members of the congregation who are working away or service personnel posted overseas).
NB Streaming acts of worship may have copyright implications.
Are screens better than service sheets?
Both have potential to be helpful or to be distracting. Either way we can be very text-oriented, but many people are not literate and find constantly changing text hard to follow (and the words themselves never then get a chance to sink in and gain new meanings). Familiar words can have great power – the Lord's Prayer, bits of the BCP etc are powerful for those with dementia, with elderly people at the end of life. Printed liturgy allows people to linger on particular texts whereas screens make people all move at the same pace. Renaming headings descriptively in service sheets and including icons, pictures etc in service sheets can help people navigate and reflect on and engage with what is happening.
What next?
If you have any comments, questions, ideas, resources etc that you would like to share, please do use the comment function below – thank you!