A weekly blog of Creative Ideas for Leading Worship
Constructing a Service - Part 1
The Elements of a Service
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This post and the next 6 posts will be a series about Constructing a Service. I will share how I structure a typical service and create the content for it.
This post covers The Elements of a Service.
The following posts will cover:
- Choosing Hymns, Songs & Waiata
- Finding or Writing Prayers and Liturgy
- Writing Your Sermon
- Introducing the Theme / Story Time / Children’s Talk
- Designing / Typesetting the Order of Service
- Two sample services led by Philip
Introduction
Planning a church service can be a time-consuming and complex task, but having a clear structure makes the process smoother and more efficient.
This blog post breaks down the essential elements of the services I lead, and offers practical guidance on placement of hymns, prayers, liturgy, and the sermon.
Whether you're an experienced minister or a lay worship leader looking for a structured approach, this post provides a thoughtful and adaptable framework to help you create meaningful, engaging worship experiences.
• • •
Section headings
Here are the sections of services I lead:
Welcome & Introduction
Call to Worship
Lighting the Candle
Opening Prayer
Opening Hymn
Prayer of Approach & Words of Assurance
Introducing the theme
Hymn, Song or Waiata
Readings
Sermon
Hymn, Song or Waiata
Community Time
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- Sharing the Peace
- Notices
- Sharing Joys, Things we are Grateful for, Sorrows & Concerns
- Prayers of Intercession
- Lord’s Prayer
- Offering & Blessing of the Offering
- Sharing the Peace
Closing Hymn
Blessing
The Grace
• • •
Brief description of the content of each section of the service
Welcome & Introduction
- Welcome people to the service – those here in person and those viewing online if you are live streaming the service.
- Mention which Sunday of the church year this is, e.g. Lent 3.
- Briefly mention the key bible readings and the theme you will be exploring in the service.
Call to Worship
- A responsive prayer of 6 to 8 short stanzas
- You can use also hymn words, a poem or a paraphrase of the Psalm for the day.
Lighting the Candle/s
- A short litany said together by the congregation, while or just after the candle/s is lit.
- Note that I don't extinguish the candle/s during the closing section of the service, as I don't like the image of snuffing a flame out.
Opening Prayer
- A short prayer by the leader picking up on the theme/s of the service.
Opening Hymn
- A well-known hymn of praise. Make sure the tune is singable.
Prayer of Approach & Words of Assurance
- A responsive prayer of 6 to 8 stanzas which, e.g. acknowledges things we should have done but didn’t and things we have done but shouldn’t have, and/or says we are here in the presence of God just as we are.
- The leader then offers a short paragraph of words assuring us of God’s love.
Introducing the theme
- An activity for children and adults that explores the theme of the service, e.g. act out the Bible reading and talk briefly about it.
- Don’t line the children up at the front and ask them questions.
Hymn, Song or Waiata
- A chance to teach the congregation a new song. Make it broadly relevant to the theme of the service.
Readings
- Print the text of the Bible reading/s in full. Omit verse numbers.
- Break long passages into shorter paragraphs.
Sermon
- Deliver your sermon. Project images or play music where this is relevant.
- The sermon immediately follows the readings, so they are still fresh in the mind of the congregation.
Hymn, Song or Waiata
- Ideally make it relevant to the theme of the sermon.
- Can be a congregational hymn or our Singing Group may perform an item.
Community Time
- Sharing the Peace
Invite the congregation to stand and greet each other saying something like, “God’s peace be with you.” This is a light hearted activity. It can take a while to get the congregation back to their seats - all good!
- Notices
A congregation member stands and gives notices of meetings, events and other things relevant to the congregation. I have the notices at this point in the service, rather than the start of the service, so that people who arrive late get to hear them.
- Sharing Joys, Things we are Grateful for, Sorrows & Concerns
Ask people if they have things they want to celebrate or concerns to pray about. If so, work these into the Intercessions that follow. If no-one says anything, that’s OK.
- Prayers of Intercession
These are responsive prayers for ourselves and others beyond our congregation.
I include this text (or equivalent) in the Order of Service document: ‘To the bidding “Loving God, in your mercy…” would you please respond “hear our prayer”.’
I then rehearse the congregation by saying, e.g. “Loving God, in your mercy…” to which they respond, e.g. “hear our prayer”. You now have the people primed to fully engage with the prayer.
I read the prayer from a book or my leader’s version of the order of service.
- Lord’s Prayer
Show the text in full.
I generally now use the Lord’s Prayer in Te Reo. To honour the text, speak this together at a pace everyone is comfortable with. This may be slower than fluent Te Reo speakers would prefer.
- Offering & Blessing of the Offering
I say, “Your free will offering will now be received.” The offering is then collected and, along with the basket of food donations to the local foodbank, is brought forward to the altar.
We then stand and say together a short blessing of the offering, printed in the Order of Service, that may pick up on the themes of the service.
Closing Hymn
- A well-known hymn or song with a rousing tune. Ideally the words will relate to the theme of the service.
- Don’t introduce a new hymn or song at this point.
Blessing
- A short paragraph, printed in the Order of Service, that picks up on the themes of the service. Said by the leader, standing at the front with open arms.
The Grace
- Show the text in full. Said together.
- I also generally now use the Te Reo translation.
Comments
Including a sermon of about 10 minutes, services with this content generally take 60 minutes (+ or – 5 minutes).
I’m not good at preaching or praying off the cuff / ad lib, so I write down everything I say in a service, including the sermon and liturgy in full. I create a shorter Order of Service for the congregation which contains the hymns and liturgy, and a separate longer leader’s version which I read from when leading the service.
Services I lead have four distinct Sections:
- Opening: Welcome & Introduction to Prayer of Approach & Words of Assurance
- Exploring the Theme: Introducing the theme to the Hymn, Song or Waiata after the Sermon
- Community Time: Sharing the Peace to Offering & Blessing of the Offering
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Closing: Closing Hymn to The Grace.
Questions
1. How do you typically structure your worship services?
2. What challenges do you face when planning a service, and how do you overcome them?
3. If you could change one thing about how services are structured in your church, what would it be and why?
Let me and other readers know in the comments section below.
Nga mihi
Philip