Designing for the Long term

Thanks for the lively discussion at our last meeting. Here are a few thoughts;

Bottom line; we are still an advisory group, a think tank of sorts, providing Nat with suggestions and ideas as to how to make the worship ministry more effective.

What have we done so far? Most importantly we have grown together as a group. Also, through prayer and discussion we have identified some broad goals; make the worship experience more diverse, with broader participation, and more sensitive to God.

I do not think we are ready to change the focus of the group to be more action oriented quite yet, nor are we quite ready to "pick any fruit". This is the reason; The mechanisms that we put in place to help facilitate the diversity, broader participation and sensitive response need to be very well thought out (with prayer) and designed for the long term. We need to build a good foundation.

I pray these goals are very "other centered" rooted in love for the body and our desire to be sensitive to God.

I ask for continued prayer and patience, however I think we are making progress;

1. Yvonne Acker is providing administrative assistance, helping schedule the anticipated increase in participants.

2. "Liasons" for various interest groups are being considered to increase the likelihood of real response and actual participation. One person(ie. nat) cannot respond effectively. (Still need to figure out how to provide real response. )

3. The "worship community" is being developed and replacing worship "teams". This should assist in more diversity in worship, with different combinations and permutations of participants.

4. Gifted worship leaders, planners, prayer leaders, announcers, readers, "local" songwriters/artists and others specifically gifted are being identified and a committment to more regular scheduling is being encouraged. A very significant development is Nat's commitment to more training and support of lay leaders.

5. Coordination with the Teaching Advisory team is being initiated.

6. The WAG members are providing an invaluable feedback mechanism for Nat. This will help Nat in making good decisions about content, delivery and tone.

There are a lot of good ideas here. Maybe too many. I am going to suggest that we really stay focussed on these initiatives for awhile and continue to nurture them until they start bearing fruit or God reveals their foolishness. ("Sin on bravely" as Martin Luther King put it)

"God please continue to direct our efforts. We want to give back to you what is already yours, for your Glory."

Look forward to your comments and thanks again everybody for your committment and service to the body through this group.

Andrew