The Last Protestant Dinosaur has offered twenty steps to a more welcoming liturgy. [Note: For some reason, the post is gone but the comments remain. Everything was there Sunday!—DJP] Some of it is rather good commonsense stuff; some I find questionable, if not intolerable. Here is what he has to say (in somewhat abbreviated form), along with my free-church Christian commentary.
1. Stop worshiping the Book of Common Prayer and start wondering what the other 99% of people in your community do to connect with God.
People are connected to God whether they “do” anything or not: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (Jn 1:3-4). How many of us actually intentionally do things to better realize this connection is another matter—and some of them are doing things that they shouldn’t, either because they’re spiritually dangerous or just plain ineffective. Still, connected they are whether they know it or not, and this connection should be recognized and celebrated within Christian worship.
2. Make hospitality the central spiritual priority and the sniff test of everything you do. Look at everything from the perspective of a newcomer. Invite friends to attend as ‘secret shoppers’ and then ask about their experience in detail. So many churches are too afraid of real feedback.
What happens if the feedback you receive reveals that, in order to feel welcome, many of your guests would ask you to jettison some of your most deeply held core values? Hospitality is very important, but if it is the highest priority (which is what “central” implies to me) there isn’t much that will keep the church distinct from the Rotary Club.
3. What in your pew or in your bulletin says welcome? What puts people at ease? Assure folks that they can participate as little or as much as they like. Make sure they know the collection plate is OPTIONAL. If you must do a fund raiser or stewardship announcement, ONLY ONE PER SERVICE ever. All newcomers are afraid that your church is a money and time leach.
Amen. No quibbles at all here.
4. Open communion! When our central spiritual act of communion with God and each other becomes a symbol of exclusion and conditionality we substitute the spirit of bureaucracy and institutional control for the spirit of Christ who welcomes all to the table.
In return, when I visit an Orthodox synagogue, I will expect to wear a tallit and tefillin and demand the right to be counted toward a minyan—no matter how wildly inappropriate any of that would be. And should they seek to explain (diplomatically, to be sure) that it is inappropriate for non-Jews to participate in these ways, I will chalk it up as “those hateful Jews” giving evidence of exclusion, conditionality, and institutionalism.
Now, I’ll be the first to advocate for welcoming all baptized Christians to the Lord’s Table, but that isn’t the same thing as Dinosaur is proposing. Sociologically, the Table is meant to be exclusive because discipleship demands a premeditated, intentional decision to follow Christ. The Table is one way Christians do what every other group in the world does: establish boundaries. We can do it poorly or we can do it in a spirit of humility and grace, but non-Christians should be no more offended when we do it than Christians should be when adherents of other religions point out that certain of their observances or rituals are inappropriate for us.
5. Put it all or as much as possible in the bulletin.
Again, no problems here. It’s just common sense to include as much as possible so that our guests can participate as much as possible.
6. Since I brought up music…. Style doesn’t matter as much as quality. … Avoid Anglican Chant unless the choir is singing it without congregational participation. … Stop using hymns for Gospel processions – use repeating Alleluia’s or simple songs. … 99.9% of people are not listening to organ music in their cars every day. What they are listening to is often intensely spiritual for them. We should pay attention.
I’m not quite sure how “Style doesn’t mater as much as quality” lines up with advice about avoiding a particular style, replacing one style with another, and paying attention to the musical styles people listen to in their cars.
Personally, I would welcome a wider repertoire of musical styles at my own church, but what we already do, we do quite well and, as Dinosaur rightly notes, the music is meant to serve the worship and not the other way around.
7. Worship must be held to one hour in length MAX. If you add something, cut something.
I largely agree, although cultural expectations have to figure in. The average African American Baptist service is far longer, as is the average Eastern Orthodox liturgy. Sixty minutes is probably about right for European American Protestants, but your mileage may vary. At any rate, I would reserve the right to have somewhat longer, fuller services when the day demands it: Easter, Christmas, etc. And, if I may be allowed to put on my freewheeling Baptist hat for a moment, there needs to be enough flexibility in the service for the Spirit to intervene from time to time and mess with what’s printed in the bulletin!
8. You cannot give a too warm welcome.
Indeed.
9. Cut the fat. Here are some suggestions – THE GLORIA – The COLLECT FOR PURITY – Doxology and Prayers at the presentation – the concluding collect at the end of the prayers of the people. Cut down the number of PSALM verses used.
I would like to see Dinosaur’s theological rationale for these decisions. As an outsider to liturgical worship, I’ll defer comment other than to say that I would be very hesitant to get rid of any worship tradition with a thousand-plus-year pedigree without compelling theological reasons.
10. Speaking of cutting – either shorten or get rid of readings. We expect way to much of our people in terms of scriptural consumption.
Nnnnooooooooo! This is a move precisely in the wrong direction. Is Dinosaur not aware of the plummeting biblical literacy even among church folk these days? If someone wants to shorten the entrance or dismissal rites for the sake of brevity, that’s one thing; but from the beginning, Christian worship has been about the Word and the Table. Both of these core elements deserve greater emphasis, not less.
11. Stop using the Prayers of the People from the Book of Common Prayer. YAWN! … Finally, when you invite prayers give lots of time – don’t be afraid of silence.
I’m of course not bound to the BCP or any other prayer form. If there are other forms out there that are deemed more suitable, use them.
12. A great thing about using full bulletins is we can mix and match from other resources. Other confessions and absolutions are particularly effective at waking people up! And BTW, where do we invite people to confess what they did well this past week?
About the only kind of liturgy I ever get to participate in is one where elements have been brought together from various resources. It can work if the worship planners know what they’re doing.
13. Invite congregational participation in as much of the liturgy as possible.
Yes, indeed. And be prepared for some of them to fight you as you raise the bar of participation. Some Christians have been hypnotized into thinking worship is a “show” they are supposed to sit back and “watch” rather than “the work of the people” (leitourgia).
14. Announcements: Three at most -always focused on mission, fun, motivational and short, pre-screened or entrusted to skilled people who introduce themselves.
Announcements are the bane of most free-church worship. Thankfully, my church has cut announcements all the way down to zero, with the occasional exception of a special event Sunday afternoon or evening, announced right at the close of the service before the benediction.
15. Acclamation – Processional Hymn – Collect of the Day is a nice tight way to get rolling!
Much better than the wordy, didactic “calls to worship” I’ve sadly become accustomed to.
16. Communion hymns generally fail. In the midst of this mystical moment the last thing I want to do is open a hymnal or have a loud anthem blaring at me. Taize or other repetitive simple stuff, or gentle instrumental music, or chant works great.
Even the right kind of Baptist church could handle Taizé chant without freaking out, if permitted to do so.
17. A good sermon is no longer than 12 minutes, has one theme and main point and is delivered with energy, humor, sincerity, real emotion and in simple common language.
Here is another area where cultural variables need to be kept in mind. A skilled African American preacher is barely getting started after 12 minutes, but he or she knows how to make the sermon itself an interactive event. You will not get bored! Also, a shorter sermon takes more work if it’s going to be worth hearing. If I’m going to ask my pastor to cut his sermon time in half, he is going to need twice the preparation time.
18. Dare to try non-unilateral sermons. How do you invite other voices and multiple voices.
I’ve done interactive sermons of various sorts (and sometimes gotten in trouble for it!). They can be very effective if they don’t become too gimmicky.
19. I have totally banished the use of “celebrant” or “presider” or “deacon” to describe worship leaders [in the order of worship]. We simply say “one” and “all.” “One” is the leader of the moment and “all” respond. Elegant! Descriptive, Accurate, Leveling.
This terminology is also sometimes found in Baptist orders of worship.
20. Use the Wonder Love and Praise (the GREEN hymnal) sung settings of the Creed (#768, #769)
My church won’t be reciting creeds of any kind in the near future. 
If we ever did, I would hope that we would either say or (preferably) sing the traditional wording of one of the classic creeds or (in the custom of the early church) devise one of our own in close conformity to classical forms and wordings.
technorati tags: book of common prayer, hospitality, liturgy, worship
A few random, disconnected responses:
Hospitality/welcoming needs to be one of the first things a newcomer feels, but “central” might mean that it is higher on the list than the Gospel. But this does need to be one of those do what I do, not what I say things.
Open communion: this is an issue for me because I’m excluded in a church I visit even though I completely agree with that church’s doctrine on communion. I guess I don’t understand how a church lets itself come across as an exclusive club, or perhaps, as the only “right” group. That might not be their doctrine, but it “seems” that way. But would I take communion with a group that sees it only as a “symbol?” I don’t know because I haven’t been offered it in a church like that.
Bulletin: I know that having a “worship folder” is the in thing in some churches, but I have problems with all the paper and secretary time needed to have that. However, I suppose that for a visitor, it would be easier than fumbling with books. However, we aren’t stupid either. The key would be if the pastor/leader gives hospitable prompts during the service. There is one theory that the liturgy is suppose to flow without these interruptions, but that makes an outsider feel all the more outside.
Musical styles: yes, a variety of styles would be more “inclusive,” but the music/words has to be accessible in any case. Thumbs down on some of the older hymns that have convoluted language because of translation.
Length of service: Shorter services are best for people with children on their laps and for people with some specific problems, as when I was post-surgical. At our church, an occasional service runs way over an hour. I haven’t heard complaints when the reason is because of spiritual content, ie our healing service went way way long on Sunday. But we had a pastor who dragged everything out and that had a markedly negative effect on attendance, especially families with young children.
Cut scripture readings? You’ve got to be kidding. This is the only time many people hear the Bible.
Confession of sins: Well, yes, of course. That is what is done in my tradition. We are reminded that we are made clean, and they we can worship joyfully.
Announcements: Our are at the beginning, before the invocation. Years ago, they used to come about 1/3 of the way into the service, totally inappropriate. I hate them at the end of the service, but maybe from a practical standpoint, that is better. But how about after the benediction.
Good comments all around, PS! Thanks for adding your thoughts.