Determining Ministry Styles (Styles Series 3 of 6)

Now that you are beginning to understand more deeply the culture of your Ministry Focus Group (See Focus and Philosophy articles), you are ready to start defining your Ministry Styles for each of the primary biblical purposes.

Before you begin this process, two words of encouragement:

1.     Go Where the Wind is Already Blowing

A significant resource for helping church planters develop culturally relevant Ministry Styles can be found in the Ministry Styles of other churches that are presently having effective gospel ministries to the same Ministry Focus Group as the church planter. Through exploring where the Spirit of God is already blowing in a Ministry Focus Group, church planters can learn how to put up their sails and go for the ride! 

So, if there is an existing, healthy church that is using Ministry Styles that God is truly blessing in a similar cultural context to you, don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  Instead, humble yourself, learn about those styles from others and try to emulate them—if, of course, they can reflect your own philosophy of ministry.

2.     First Define Ministry Styles for the Ministry Purposes

As we learned in Foundations #7 Purposes, the primary Ministry Purposes (listed below) should be seen as “vital signs” of a healthy church. When one or more of these purposes are neglected, the church will inevitably become unhealthy. But when all of these purposes are given appropriate emphasis in the ministry of the new church, that church will normally grow and make a Kingdom impact on the world. Therefore it is very important for you first to define your Ministry Styles for each of the primary Ministry Purposes:

• Worship

• Learning

• Fellowship

• Outreach in Word & Deed

Exercises:

The rest of this article will be spent helping you define (or re-define) your initial Ministry Styles for each of the primary Ministry Purposes. 

The examples of Ministry Styles listed for each of the ministry purposes above are not meant to be prescriptive or exhaustive. They are designed to help you think more deeply about the Ministry Styles you will be (or should be) using in your own ministry context.

Thinking through effective and faithful Ministry Styles means walking through each of the biblical purposes individually. Let’s begin with Worship Styles

Determining Your Worship Styles

You will need to select a biblically-based, culturally appropriate set of worship: 1) worship emphases, 2) worship elements and 3) worship models for your church.

1.  Worship Emphases

Certain style emphases (on a cultural continuum) are more effective in reaching some Ministry Focus Groups. And these emphases often change as the culture changes. For instance, worship emphases that at one time were considered contemporary can become traditional. Terminology used to describe such continuums include: 

• Formal/Informal

• Traditional/Contemporary

• Ancient/Future

• High liturgy/Low liturgy

• Immanence/Transcendence

• Blended Styles

• Other:

But you need to not only consider these emphases, you need to consider what I call

2.  Worship Elements

• Time of worship: are you theologically committed to Sunday morning worship? Or would another time or even another day be faithful and appropriate?

• Place of worship: Do you have access to a building? Or would it be more powerful to meet in homes?

• Length of worship: How long is it going to be?

• Length of the sermon: How long should the preaching section be? Should there be one primary sermon or a number of different, smaller sermons. Or something else?

• Leaders of worship

• Number of hymns, songs, prayers

• Words of sermons, hymns, songs, prayers

• Use or types of musical instruments

• Calls to worship

• Dialogue

• Confessions

• Preaching

• Baptisms

• Offerings

• Oaths, vows, covenants

• Salutations and benedictions, assurance of pardon

• Solos, ensembles, choirs, drama

• Audio, video media

• Body postures: Lifting hands, kneeling, clapping, dancing, etc.

• Aesthetics: lighting, air conditioning, fragrance (incense), seating, music, etc.
  

There are a number of different factors to consider. And the question isn’t whether you’ll answer these questions—everyone answers these questions whether they realize it or not. The question is whether you will thoughtfully consider these questions in a way that fulfills the biblical purposes and speaks powerfully to your Ministry Focus Group.
So, Worship Emphases and Worship Styles. But you should also consider what I call:

3. Worship Models 

What Worship Model best fits your Ministry Focus Group culture?  It could be one of the following models, or a blended model.

The Lectionary Model, which in some way follows a Church Calendar.
The model starts with the Lectionary for Sundays, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent and following through the Christian year.  This is the most structured and “fixed form” method of worship. The thrust of this approach is to retell the story of redemption both at the micro-level of the liturgy, as well as at the macro-level of the Christian Year.

The Dialogical Model
The concept that God speaks in the call to worship, the people respond, and they worship, and God calls us to confess our sin, we confess our sin. God responds with the assurance of pardon. And then that's where the sermon fits in the dialogue. then God speaks through his word, we respond by feeding on him by faith in the sacrament. Or we respond in prayer. and then God speaks and then the final is, God speaks and the benediction. And He sends us out to be worshipers in all things.

The Seeker Model
This worship model has a greater sensitivity to seekers and unbelievers in the worship service. Though not as fixed as the Lectionary or Dialogic model in terms of Scripture readings and prayer, this model does follow a definite order and structure.  The thrust behind this model is to capture the topical theme of the message through the creative use of the arts.

The Charismatic Model
This model thrives on spontaneity, flow, and a sense of being “led by the Spirit.”  The thrust of this model is to have an intimate encounter with God through music and in preaching, culminating in a time of ministry, often involving the laying on of hands and prayer.

And so these are these are the questions. “who are we, pastor? who are we? how seriously are we taking the lectionary, the Christian calendar? how seriously are we taking the concept of dialogue in worship? How does our our worship seek to be winsome to the outsider? 

What will the biblical purpose of worship look like in your people group?