Mike Bossingham offers some ideas for a new approach to worship
There have been a number of changes in our culture over the last few decades. Our failure to respond to these changes has largely brought about the decline we have seen in our churches.
A shift from the formal to the informal. Life has become much more informal. We dress much more casually, we address one another by our Christian names and congregations want to see this brought into their worship. When I visit churches that are increasing in the numbers of children, young people and families I always find an informal atmosphere of gentle good humour rather than a very stiff and formal atmosphere we still find in many of our churches.
A movement from head to heart. We are a much more emotional people, but there was a time when footballers didn't cry. This was an age of stiff upper lip, don't show your emotions and get on with it. Those days are over. We are much more used to seeing people expressing their emotions, even if it's on Tricia or Jerry Springer, and many Christian folk now want to be able to express their feelings towards God in the context of worship.
It is in musical styles that we have seen the greatest changes. We have seen a shift from the interest being in the harmony to the interest being in the rhythm. Look at most hymns in Hymns and Psalms and you will find 4 part harmony, but barely any dotted notes or syncopation. Look in Songs of Fellowship and many of the songs have complex rhythms (dots in abundance) and syncopation, but are written in unison.
Most of the great hymns were designed to address God in the third (he/she) person. In other words they are for a congregation that wants to tell each other how great God is. However newer songs tend to talk to God in the second (you) person. Many of them address their words, generally in worship, directly to God. This is why they are called worship songs.
Newer worship songs tend, because they are addressing God directly, to express emotions rather than worked out theology. This is in tune with the shift from head to heart mentioned above.
There is a trend away from the organ back to the days when the music in a church was produced by a group of musicians.
Experience has shown that a preacher cannot just take a modern worship song and use it to replace a hymn from a 'hymn sandwich'. They are not designed to be used that way and quite frankly it just doesn't work.
There really is no gentle way of saying this, but all this means that the hymn sandwich has come to the end of its shelf life. If our Methodist Churches are going to have a future then we all have to explore with our congregations how we can introduce new patterns of worship and do this whilst holding onto enough of our traditions.
One pattern that seems to work well is what I will call the 3 block service. In this the service is broken into 3 blocks of roughly equal length. This pattern is now frequently used in some churches and generally receives an excellent response from the younger members of a congregation. The 3 blocks, which should be roughly of equal length, are:
Such a time may start with a time of silence and then a time with a prayer of approach followed by a song that expresses a call to worship such as "Be Still" or "Come, now is the time to worship". This may be followed by prayers of adoration and thanksgiving, then a song that reflects either of this, perhaps, "Father, we adore you" or "Give thanks". These would be followed by the prayers of confession, an absolution and then a song expressing confidence in the gospel, perhaps "All heaven declares" or "My Jesus, my Saviour". This time may close with the Lord's prayer or a collect. It is possible to use written and shared liturgy in this time.
If children are present it would be good to choose songs with them in mind and, most likely, one song specifically for them. If preachers feel unable to lead this part of a service then they should be willing to allow this to be done by a worship leader or the local congregation.
The readings and the sermon would come here. I believe that we should strive to make this part as visual and interactive as possible using video clips, drama or even puppets to get the readings across.
Preachers should consider avoiding preaching in one block and breaking the sermon into two or three parts. Visual keys really do help a congregation to remember the main points of a sermon. Asking real (i.e. non-rhetorical) questions and listening and responding to the answers can help hold the attention of a congregation. In this way almost any illustration can be changed into a question and brief discussion.
In this part of the service the more traditional and theologically based hymn would be used. If children are present for this part then the questions would normally be geared towards them. Consider using a lively action song halfway through the sermon so that they can stretch their legs and let off steam a little.
Choice of music in this block could come from a wide range of sources, but would reflect the idea of our response to God. Examples might be "Will you come and follow me", "I, the Lord of sea and sky" or "Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love".
This pattern allows a preacher to give a congregation more space to worship God, uses worship songs in the way that the writer intended, whilst holding onto our tradition of preaching and hymnody. I note in passing that the use of modern projection technology can make many of these ideas much easier to implement.