Evaluating Inspiring Worship Service Overview Feelings of being inspired Worship service planning Visitor friendly Care for children God-centered and celebrative music Life transforming preaching Feelings of being inspired 1. As you consider your worship service, what aspects of the service seem to be most inspiring for the people and which aspects need adjustments? Why do you think this is so? 2. What are the indicators to you that people who come to your worship service(s) have the sense of being touched by God during that time? 3. Tell of a time when you specifically felt the presence of the Lord touching you or others in the service. To what extent do you feel this experience of feeling the presence of the Lord is a regular occurrence in your church? Page 1
Worship service planning 1. How have you tailored the worship style of your church to match your target group? 2. Who are the intercessors you have mobilized to pray for the worship services? Do you have a significant pre-service prayer time? 3. What communication happens between the various up front leaders before the service both during the week and the day of the service? 4. How many people are involved in significant ways (besides general participation) in preparing and leading the worship service? 5. Evaluate the flow of the worship service. Is the opening of the service inpiring, does it engage people? Do the transitions between segments happen well? Is there dead space between them? 6. How do you evaluate your worship services for improvement? Page 2
Visitor friendly 1. How have you helped your congregation become aware of newcomers and visitors? 2. How easy or difficult is it for the newcomers to locate the the sanctuary, nursery, children s ministry rooms, and the restrooms? Do they have to ask, are there signs, are there greeters volunteering information? 3. How do you encourage or invite new people to do more than come for the worship service (where it is difficult to develop authentic relationships or use their gifts)? 4. To what extent are the up front leaders of the service tuned in to the newcomers in the way they communicate? (Do they use insider lingo, do they explain what is going on, do they make assumptions about what people know?) Page 3
Care for children 1. How do you include the children in the worship service? 2. What aspects of the service are assessable to children and what aspects go over their heads? 3. Who staffs the nursery and what instruction/training have they been given? 4. What other programs or opportunities do children have to be involved in the life of the church? How well are those attended? 5. To what extent do parent believe the ministry to their children provides genuine care with social and spiritual development? Why would you give this rating? Page 4
God-centered and celebrative music 1. How does your style of music relate to the kind of people you are reaching and those you want to reach? Is there a difference? 2. Would you characterize the people who lead the singing portion of your worship service as song leaders or worship leaders based on what they do, not on their title? i.e. Do they primarily lead the congregation in singing songs or do they facilitate worship in what they say, do and the way they conduct themselves? 3. What is the role of the worship team leader in preparing for worship? 4. What is expected of the worship leader and worship team during the worship service besides leading the singing? 5. In what ways have you integrated other art forms into your worship service (drama, visual arts, etc)? Page 5
Life transforming preaching 1. What priority does preparation for sermons have in the pastor s week? In light of other responsibilities does this feel about right? 2. How would describe the style of preaching? Does it vary? 3. To what extent do you open the pulpit to others either from within the church or guest speakers? 4. What opportunities are provided for response to the sermon? For example: open sharing time, prayer, counseling, small group followup questions based on the sermon, devotional guidelines for the week based on the sermon, etc. 5. As you reflect on the style and content of the sermons, what aspects would draw in seekers and what aspects would be difficult for them to understand or identify with (use last week s sermon as an example)? Page 6