Guidelines For Worship Leading,
Song Leading, Preaching and Performing the Prelude and Offertory

Worship is ...

• the offering of our lives in joyful response to God's love,
• praising God,
• giving thanks and praying,
• telling the story of God's acts,
• understanding ourselves,
• celebrating joyfully,
• liberating - creating us anew,
• affirming our faith in Jesus the Christ.

The worship leader is responsible for:

• planning the order of worship,
• providing the order of service to church office by Thursday morning, 9:00 a.m., along with a summary of the service for publishing on the church's Web site, and any suggestions you may have for the bulletin's cover art,
• communicating clearly with all persons involved so they understand their respective roles; .e.g., preacher, song leader, prelude person, children's storyteller, etc.

Planning the Service

The worship leader is responsible to contact the other participants in planning the service, preferably no later than Monday evening before the Sunday service.

• From the speaker's input of topic and selection of scriptures, plan a theme for the service.
• Worship leader and song leader should choose hymns together. If accompaniment is necessary, song leader will arrange for such.
• Worship leaders are encouraged to explore a variety of resources in planning worship. Check at the office or see worship committee members for suggestions. You make check on the Internet for resources listed under "Lectionary." "Laughing Bird" resources from Australia are a good example of contemporary language and applications.
• Worship leaders are encouraged to be inclusive in their planning and language. Copies of inclusive language scriptures are in the office.
• Worship leaders are encouraged to orient worship to all ages. Involve people. Think about the use of silence, litanies, drama, and interpretive movement. Think of using all five senses in worship.
• To best accommodate our children in worship, please schedule the children's time early in the service.
• We normally have flowers or greens at worship. Again, it is your responsibility to "set the table"
• Worship items are all stored in the lower cupboard and drawer in northwest corner of the kitchen. Candles are also in the drawer as well as a variety of candleholders.
• START ON TIME!

Leading the Worship

• Pay attention to your words of welcome. Words of scripture are often the best "first words" spoken, even before the "Welcome to GMC." The welcome and call to worship set the tone for worship. (Examples: "Welcome to Germantown Mennonite Church"; or "We have gathered to worship God", as opposed to, "Well, I guess we're ready to start.")
• Your posture as our worship leader sends important messages back to us. Be yourself, but please do not trivialize the importance of your role in our lives.
• Use of a gathering prayer is encouraged.
• SPEAK UP! It is difficult for some of us to hear.
• Practice reading Scripture several times before the service.
• It saves time and makes a smoother transition if the worship leader invites children to the front rather than waits for the storyteller to come forward and do that, and prepare the microphone.
• Invite persons to stand and share their names in the "Sharing Time" and in giving an announcement so that all can hear. Translate "in-house jargon" so that visitors feel included.
• Visitors are generally more comfortable being introduced toward the end of the service than at the beginning, giving "them" some time to settle in and become oriented to the service.
• For flexibility, however, it is appropriate to introduce visitors at the beginning when in context of a general "time of greeting." Encourage GMCers to welcome visitors seated near them and be prepared to introduce them after the greeting.
• If the worship leader is uncomfortable with sharing time/prayer, ask a Vision Team person or pastor to do that part.
• Our recent tradition is to place offering basket/s on the table for people to come forward during the offertory. The largest colorful woven basket is used for "Special Offerings," and there are cards behind the pulpit with names for designated ministry. Use a card to help givers identify easily which basket to use. Select ushers before the service if you use them to collect offering. It helps keep things flowing rather than calling on volunteers. Remember that the older children often enjoy this task.

Communion

We expect to celebrate the Lord' Supper once a month, usually on the first Sunday of that month. It is the responsibility of the worship leader to prepare the communion vessels, the bread, the grape juice, etc.

Choose who will bless and serve the bread and juice from among the Vision Team or others you select. Give instructions to servers before the service. For a number of years now, communion has been served by intinction, dipping the bread into the cup. While many like this, you are not limited to this method of remembering the Lord's Supper. If you wish to provide individual cups for people who prefer "drinking from the cup," there are individual cups stored in the kitchen.

The Communion vessels are all stored on the left side of the stage. You will find two bread plates and two bowls used for intinction. Individual cups are in the drawer above.

The Communion Vessels and Storage

A new communion set was commissioned by the congregation through the Worship Committee, and first placed into service on Worldwide Communion Sunday, October 1, 2000. Commissioned in Honor of Don Winters (1951-1998) through the Donald M. Winters Memorial Fund, the two vessels for juice and two bread plates were created by Sandra Rodriquez of the Pendle Hill Retreat Center. This set is now kept in the kitchen in the cupboard in the far end, northwest corner, lowest shelf. Also, twenty individual communion cups are there for our use as well. Worship leaders are responsible to prepare these for service (washing them and obtaining bread and grape juice) on a communion Sunday, and return them in wrappings to the same box. Please feel free to ask for the pastor's assistance if needed.

Guidelines for Song Leaders

• Be in communication with the worship leader by Wednesday or earlier. Decide who picks songs (combination?). If you need an accompanist, contact Grace Marie Gerber by Wednesday.
• Create "sound atmosphere". Hymn sound and its text communicate a particular mood at that moment in the service (starting with the prelude!) Songs involve your whole body and spirit! Allow the music to draw you in, to communicate the feeling and mood of the hymn.
• New Hymns: Utilize a soloist, choir, instrument, etc. to play through the first verse. Use accompaniment to teach. Try to create a balance of new hymns to old hymns. As a guideline, try to keep it to a maximum of two new hymns out of five.

Guidelines for Prelude and Offertory

• Prelude: Set the tone for the service. Encourage congregational participation to draw everyone in. Worship starts with you!
• Offertory: As a general guideline, the offertory should be about two the three minutes in length. We do encourage persons to prepare a special number that may exceed that length from time to time. In those situations, it would be helpful to inform the worship leader of the composer and title so that it may be placed into the bulletin. This way the congregation may be encouraged to use this time in prayerful listening.

Guidelines for Preachers

What the preacher can do best of all is to enable the community to celebrate by offering them a word in which they can recognize their own concerns and God's concerns for them.

Christian preaching ought to be relatively easy. What we are looking for is substantial nourishment, to be fed by the Word of God. Your role as our preacher should not be that difficult because your role is fundamentally that of a listener. As our preacher, we need you to listen to the sacred texts. We also need you to listen to us.

Here are a few guidelines for you to consider:

• In preaching, it is your moral responsibility to communicate with us. Please invite all of us into your sermon. We are a diverse group, a trait we highly value.
• Shorter sermons (say, 15-20 minutes) are more effective than much longer ones.
• We hope that your sermon "point" or "points" are clear to you as you prepare your sermon. If not, you will probably confuse us too.
• Thought and language should address the whole person, the intellect, the will, the heart. Use of images and stories in your sermon are effective in reaching the whole person.
• Establish trust with us right away. How you walk to the pulpit, how you hold yourself in the pulpit, how you look at us, etc. - all of this is part of your preaching too.
• We challenge you to offer us insight into the mystery of God's love for us and others, not information about this mystery. As Anabaptists, we value the connection between this mystery and how we live our daily lives.
• Don't be afraid to preach from your own experience. Preach from what you know existentially to be the truth. Also, we hope to know more about you after you are finished.

No one of us thinks, speaks, or prepares sermons alike. However, what Alice Walker wrote in 1982 might give you some insight as you put your sermon together. In her essay, "Writing the Color Purple", Walker describes the sacrifices and adjustments she had to make in her life to write that now celebrated novel. She quit all other commitments, packed up a few belongings, and moved to rural California to listen to her characters as they emerged within her. What she heard was the story of their lives - their sufferings, hopes, disappointments, and struggles against insurmountable problems. Walker's essay reveals what adjustments to life and priorities her art demands: silence, time, nurturing, self-doubt, and intense work. While few of us who preach at Germantown Church can follow Walker's example and put aside all other commitments as we prepare our sermons, preaching does make at least some of those same demands on us.

Guidelines for Children's Time

PLACE IN THE ORDER OF WORSHIP

This is the responsibility of the worship leader. The smaller children (toddlers) are best served if we usually schedule the Children's Time early in the service. Keep in mind the whole flow of the service and needs of the congregation in any particular worship experience; for instance, it is helpful to place congregational singing immediately after the children's time as this provides an opportunity for the children to leave the sanctuary without distracting from the next step in the service.

FOCUS

The focus of the Children's Time lesson or story should be on the very youngest children. Parents bring infants and toddlers to Children's Time; this helps teach them that they are valued to us in worship. Toddlers are not able to sit as easily through Children's Times that are aimed at older children or adults. However, even older children, teenagers and adults learn from and enjoy listening to a Children's Time that is geared to those who are under five years of age.

VISUAL AID

Think of objects, symbols and pictures that will bring something tangible on which the youngest children can focus. While toddlers may not understand all the words or concepts presented, well-selected visual aids appropriate to young children will carry their own message. Sometimes a little snack or a simple, colorful handout may provide that tangible connection.

THEME

The worship leader should contact you by midweek regarding the theme, scriptures, etc. If you do not hear, feel free to call the worship leader or speaker for guidance.

LENGTH

Work with the worship leader regarding length. Usually the time should be limited to five minutes, although the worship leader can provide specific guidance about appropriate length for a given service.