Better Gatherings

Getting Contemporary Services Right!

A contemporary style of service gives a tremendous freedom to what we do in church, but with that freedom comes a greater responsibility to ensure that what we do in church glorifies God and edifies his church.  While the service leader has a crucial role in shaping our gatherings, songs and music, prayer and the Bible reader are all critical.

Advice for specific roles

Service Leader	Music	Prayer	Bible Reader

Please read Practical Guidelines for the principles involved in the process of planning good services and consult Resources, specifically Services of the Word, for a range of prayers, praises and confessions of faith you can add to your service outline. Note also that there are Contemporary Service Templates in ServiceBuilder that allow you to collect and arrange resources on a variety of structures.

Here we simply offer some sample outlines that you could copy or use as a guide for constructing your own order. Local practices such as children's talks, notices and times of informal fellowship would need to be added where appropriate.