Creative Ideas For Improving Your Worship
Worship is a time of great opportunity to connect with God, but sometimes knowing what to do can be difficult. Worship is not supposed to be something we dread or wish would go faster. Instead, it’s an intense celebration of who God is and what he has done for us.
This article will give you five creative ideas that are guaranteed to bring the presence of God into your worship experience. With the following ideas, your worship time will be deeper and more focused.
When planning, always remember the different ways we learn best: visual (with pictures/video), auditory (listening), and kinesthetic (doing it yourself). By including all three in every service, you will give people what they need to grow spiritually!
1. Movement
One way to bring a creative twist to the typical sermon is by including movement. Sometimes people hold still during worship, either because they’re not sure what to do or else because they’ve been taught that “people shouldn’t be seen moving around in church”.
Regardless of where this idea comes from, it can be a tough concept to shake off for some worshipers. When we talk about trying something new like trying out these five ideas, sometimes we conceive of it as threatening our comfort zone. Those fears are understandable but if we want to grow as Christians those boundaries need to be broken down!
The moment information hits someone’s ears, it has already been heard once before by them which lessens its impact. If that same information includes physical activity, then this will increase its memorability because it is said that actions speak louder than words.
Including movement in a worship service creates a heightened awareness of the words being sung and spoken. By moving during a sermon, your whole congregation will be on their feet rather than just half of them.
Ask members of your congregation to get up from their seats and try walking with Jesus down a path He walked on. Instead of doing this in complete silence, play songs that are related to the message you are trying to convey.
For example, if you are talking about how Jesus walked with us through temptation during his time on earth, you could play “Spirit Break Out” by Bethel Music or something of the like.
2. Music
Worship teams can become complacent when it comes to their musical performance. If the only goal is to play good music, it will soon become stale.
A great way to make your worship team stand out is to include other artists in your music! This could be done by including guest speakers who are musicians or inviting other bands/ministries to perform during your service.
You can also try adding different music genres into your worship services such as traditional hymns or modern worship songs. This isn’t about pleasing everyone because we know we would rather people just love God than just love what we like but this is more about allowing each generation to express themselves towards God through music.
Account for Learning Styles
When planning a worship service, remember that everyone has different learning styles. Put yourself in the shoes of the unique persons who will be attending your service and think about worshipping God by embracing the diversity of music.
Another idea for this is having a segment where you allow people from the congregation to come up and pray through whatever they are currently struggling with or just need prayer for at that time.
Have them do this silently while instrumental music is playing and then after a few minutes, stop the music and have people throughout the room shout out their prayer requests.
Another way to spice up your music is by having an instrument that you had never used before during your service that week, such as a didgeridoo, and more! The possibilities are endless!
You could create an all-acoustic worship team, or even allow your vocalists to try something different with an all-vocal band (including drums). Any combination can serve its purpose well if done correctly, so just have fun with it!
3. Sermons
One of how I have found most helpful when it comes to preaching is by including the concept of having a conversation with God instead of just a monologue. By communicating that we are conversing with God, it allows people to feel as though they have a voice and that their emotions can be heard.
You could use your sermon as the theme for the entire service. For example, if your sermon is about having a heart of gratitude then throughout the entire service you can talk about different types of gratefulness.
We can never say “thank you” enough and it would be great to focus on that one topic. I believe this will help us re-think what we’re thankful for and allow our congregations to reflect on their own lives.
Change Your Sermon Format
You might also consider trying a new format for your sermon. This might include talking about a topic but doing through a story or having a Q&A session with the congregation.
This format shouldn’t replace your usual sermon style completely, but it would be a great way to change things up and keep people engaged. It is important to have a good mix of both styles because otherwise, people might get bored either with your service or at church in general.
Including videos or photos in your sermons can help to extend your reach among your congregation. People are much better at remembering images than words. When they see images that remind them of what was just said, it helps them retain information better than when reading text themselves.
To include the members of the church in the worship service, you can have them read Scripture passages you will be talking about during your sermon. Scripture memory can be a great tool for worship services too!
Encourage people to memorize the scripture to help them remember its truth. Finally, inviting speakers from other churches or ministries to come and share what God has been doing in their life would help to unify the body of Christ by hearing the truth of the Gospel from leaders.
5. Testimonies
Bringing in their testimonies is a great way to connect with others and it gives others the sense that they are not alone and that if someone can overcome something, then so can they!
One of my favorite creative ideas along this line is to encourage members of your congregation to come upfront with their Bibles during worship services to read a passage that maybe has been speaking to them recently.
This way, the person feels closer to God by being able to share what He’s doing in their lives while also giving others in the room an opportunity to follow along with them in their Bibles if they are unsure about where exactly you are at in your sermon.
Always Make Time for Prayer
Another thing that you could do is include different types of prayer during your time together. For example, place words on posters throughout the room once you are finished praying through them for those who want to pray out loud.
This could be words like “courage”, “forgiveness”, or “healing” for example. Then, everyone can take turns reading the prayer and praying over them through audible prayers.
To make it more private, you could include a prayer room where people can go and pray about whatever they feel led to pray for. Use an area that has food, drink, and even comfortable chairs. People will feel much more at ease if you provide them with their basic needs so take advantage of this opportunity!
Finally, you can use a video clip as the meditation or silent prayer at the end of the service. There are many Christian videos online that you can incorporate into your worship service that will help people meditate on different topics or as a silent prayer as they leave your service.
This is one of those times where using a video clip would be very helpful because otherwise, sometimes we end up praying about things from our own life instead of something more universal to all Christians.
Conclusion
Applying these ideas doesn’t have to be hard – they all consist of just a few simple steps that apply universally across every style of worshiping. You could even start by trying just one or two on for size at your next service, seeing how it feels!
New things can be scary but ultimately they’re worth a try because God deserves our very best efforts in all things as we love Him and serve Him with everything we have inside us.
Just remember: if your idea doesn’t feel right for you or it doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the service, don’t force it! These are just a few suggestions that can help take your services to a new level but the options are endless.
