9 Tips for How to Take Your Church Service From Good to Great!
Nowadays, people can go to a church and pick apart the music, the speaker, the greeters, if it’s too hot or too cold, and so many more nit-picky things, while not even considering the substance of the service. Instead of simply catering to these people, we’re going to explore how to elevate your church service from good to great, attracting people from all walks of life to join your congregation. So what are some tips for how to take your church service from good to great?
Here are 9 Tips for How to Take Your Church Service From Good to Great:
- Start with Scripture
- Don’t let the Music get in the way of the Message
- Challenge your Listeners
- Focus the Sermon
- Don’t Get Too Flashy with the Entertainment and Extras
- Find New Ways to Welcome Your Guests
- Provide a Children’s Ministry
- Don’t Be Afraid of Visual Aids
- Listen to Feedback from Your Guests and Members
With these 9 tips in mind, your church service will go from good to great! Society today is all about instant gratification, entertainment, and personal takeaways. Even in the church, pastors are finding it difficult to lead an effective and engaging service. So, with this in mind, I have many tips that will help you create a church service that goes from good to great, that reaches people, and that has an impact on your congregation. Keep reading to find out more.
Start with Scripture
The basis and foundation of every message and every sermon should be the Word of God. There is so much outside noise from the world, social media, the news, politics, ways of life, etc. that the Church sometimes gets too caught up in trying to address these topics – and not always in the right way. Instead of getting caught up in the noise, focus back in on scripture.
While you may be worried about not attracting new guests because you are focusing on a specific message that isn’t all about the hot-button topics, God will work behind the scenes. When you follow His Word and His Prompting, He will bring the people in. Oftentimes, when we listen to what God wants us to say and hear, our members and guests will be much more affected than if we were to talk about what we think they want to hear. Eliminate the noise and start with scripture.
Don’t Let the Music Get in the Way of the Message
Allow worship to remain worship. Don’t let complaints about song choice affect what you choose to play and don’t try to make it something it’s not. Yes, we always want to reach people and keep them engaged, and sometimes we do need to evolve and change; however, we cannot let the music get in the way of the message.
When we begin allowing our members or guests to dictate how the church service is run, we are getting away from what God is telling us to do. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to what they have to say, it just means you need to be sure that it matches the goals of the church.
Sometimes, the worship service is just too good, people are engaged and people are being moved. If this is the case, be careful not to interrupt. Plans go awry and sometimes God has something else in mind than what was planned. If you feel as though the worship is powerful and should not be interrupted, keep it going and end it with a powerful prayer – informing your members why the service turned into worship and let it be.
Challenge Your Listeners
The Church is in a fight today to stay neutral in order to draw more people in. As a means of addressing this, some churches are preaching grace and forgiveness, and love instead of righteous conviction. We are avoiding angering people or “over-reaching”. This is not how God intended the Church to be.
While Jesus did preach love and forgiveness, and it is something we should preach and follow – we cannot allow our conviction to escape us. We are afraid to be in conflict and we cannot continue to fear alienating listeners.
In order to take your church service to the next level, you have to challenge your listeners. Address the difficult topics, and stay true to the Word of God and to the mission of your church. God works in mysterious ways, and while you may think or even see people leaving the church if you continue doing what God has called you to do, you will see an influx of people who need to hear what you are preaching. So don’t be afraid to challenge.
Focus the Sermon
The days of week-long revivals and hours-long sermons are, sadly, a thing of the past. Our attention spans have shortened so much that it is often difficult to recall what we heard on a Sunday morning when asked about it on Tuesday afternoon. Because this has become reality, focusing on the sermon is essential.
God put a specific message and word on your heart as a pastor, so take that and stick to it. While we never want to limit God’s word, designing your sermon to fit within 20-25 minutes can still be powerful. You can say a lot in 20 minutes, better yet, it is focused and to the point.
If you have a tangent you feel you need to talk about it, make it limited and focus back on the message – you will see a change in your members and the message will be more impactful than you may think.
Don’t Get Too Flashy With the Entertainment and Extras
Do we want to attract new people? Do we want to keep them engaged? Of course! But, the church has become accustomed to “entertaining” rather than teaching. We have changed our worship to make it a concert so that more young people enjoy it, we offer extensive coffee bars and food – all these extras that shouldn’t matter so much.
Does this mean you have to get rid of the snacks and lights? No, not at all. It just means that they should not be the focus of your Sunday mornings. Of course, you want to be welcoming and you want to engage your congregation, but when they come to expect all these extras, they begin to miss the purpose of going to church.
Limit the “entertainment” value of your Sunday morning church service and make sure the message is the point.
Find New Ways to Welcome Your Guests
We just talked about how sometimes extras can become distractions, but this isn’t always the case. You can still use coffee and doughnuts to attract guests, as long as you do it in the right way. Be creative, and think of new ways to make your guests feel welcome, without distracting from the purpose of the message.
Meet a new guest on Sunday morning and find a way to reach out to them during the week. Find a way to make the coffee before service an opportunity for fellowship, and a chance to engage these new people before they sit down to listen to the sermon.
Provide a Children’s Ministry
Some people are hesitant to go to church because they are worried about their kids. Whether they’ll be a distraction to the church service or they will be bored or won’t understand the message. Because of this, it’s important to offer a children’s ministry. This way, kids can go to classes oriented to them so that they can learn about the message in a way that makes sense to them, and gives their parents a chance to focus on the Word as well.
Children should and always will be welcome in the main service. However, sometimes having the opportunity to go to their own class is a great way to engage your guests of all ages.
Don’t Be Afraid of Visual Aids
Standing up and preaching a message doesn’t have to be the pastor standing behind the pulpit for 30 minutes to an hour. You can use PowerPoint and videos and physical examples to engage your audience. As long as they aren’t a distraction and they go along with the message, visual aids can be a great boost to your message and help to engage your listeners. Especially when your example reaches people from different walks of life.
Listen to Feedback from Your Members and Guests
While feedback shouldn’t be the focus of how you run your church service, it can help you reach more of your members. Someone may have a great idea for how to engage guests on Sunday mornings, or how to adjust the worship to be engaging that you wouldn’t have thought of. This can help your members feel as though they are being heard. Also, it can give you new ways to reach people. Listening to feedback is important, as long as it doesn’t take away from the purpose and message of the church service. Stay true to who you are as a church while finding ways to evolve and change and meet people where they are.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these 9 tips for how to take your church service from good to great helped you! Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!
