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Are you creating a worship experience or a worship service each week in the gathering you lead? It may seem the experience and the service are the same when it comes to worship planning but I do not think it is. I grew up in worship services. Services have an order, a regular flow, a weekly plan that lends itself to routine in how we express ourselves toward God in our gatherings. Worship services create a set way to express our hearts to God and sometimes lead people to think that is the only way.

A weekly worship experience starts and ends with asking God where we should go in the gathering. What needs to happen week to week to help people step toward God. This is always up for grabs and planning an experience does not trust what has worked in the past but seeks to find what is needed for the current service. When we plan a worship experience for our gathering we hope to take the crowd on a journey where they can choose if they will or will not encounter God through song, thought, or action.

I am so tired of seeing churches, camps, conferences, and ministries plan PLUG and PLAY worship services. The service, the order, the set routine begins the planning process instead of having the joy of asking God and each other what might work for that day. Worship happens in our daily life first and when we plan gatherings for teens or adults we are creating extended times of expressing our love to God together as a group of people. Why not capitalize on our time together and help people have an experience where they take a journey toward God rather than a weekly routine.

If I am off base, please let me know. Do you want an experience or a service when you plan your gathering or go to your church?