Staying On Message: Worship Planning Questions

I was reading Richard Webb's blog post from last week. One thing he wrote stuck with me: "When the pieces of a worship service don’t hold well together the power of the overall worship experience is weakened."

Let me put this another way, have you ever tried to have a conversation with a friend at a concert or in a big crowd at a football game. It's pretty hard to concentrate on what your friend is saying with all the extra noise.

The same thing goes for worship. Every Sunday we are trying to have a conversation with people through the message. Creative elements (music, drama, media, etc.) can either drive home that message or they can just be another member of the crowd, distracting people from your message.

So how do we make sure the pieces of our worship hold well together and support (not distract from) our overall message?

One place to start is by making sure you know what your pastor's message is going to be about. And I'm not just talking a title and scripture verse...we all know scripture can be interpreted in many different ways.

The following questions are from Heritage Church in Rock Island, Illinois. Each time they meet to plan worship, they have the teaching pastor answer these questions so the rest of the creative team can have a better understanding of the message and can plan music, media and other elements that will support and not distract from it.

1. Theme What is the subject of the sermon?
2. Who is your target audience? To what aspect of our lives are you speaking?
3. Insight Both biblical and extra-biblical proof of your argument.
4. Key Persuasion The one idea you want us to walk away with.
(download the whole Brainstorming Worksheet here: Service Brainstorming Worksheet.pdf)

For Discussion:
What other questions would you add to this list? Do you think you could get your pastor to answer these questions (before the weekend)?
For More:
Check out my previous post on Planning.