Worship Ways
For the People Within Your Reach
Published October 2014
Creating worship to reach the people in your community.
Accelerating diversity of lifestyles has created a crisis for worship designers. One size does not fit all. No worship service can be “blended” to address the complete needs of a congregation. Moreover, church “shopping” is ending as people are choosing a worship service that directly meets their fundamental anxieties about life (regardless of style). Learn to use lifestyle information in worship planning to design a service that truly reaches the people in your community. This book explains why people worship and guides leaders to design relevant worship services that address people's sense of urgency. It is both practical and theological. The decline of worship attendance in all denominations, and across all “traditional” or “contemporary” styles, is reshaping the quest for relevance. Church leaders are turning away from methods to outcomes. People will only participate in worship if it really matters to the fundamental issues that they face.About the Authors
Thomas G. Bandy
Tom Bandy is an internationally recognized consultant and leadership coach, working across the spectrum of church traditions, theological perspectives, and cultural contexts. He is the author of numerous books on leadership and lifestyle expectations for ministry, including See, Know, and Serve, Worship Ways, and Spiritual Leadership. He mentors pastors and denominational leaders in North America, Europe, and Australia. He also teaches, blogs, and publishes academically in the Theology of Culture. Learn more at www.ThrivingChurch.com and www.SpiritualLeadership.com.
Lucinda S. Holmes
· Lucinda comes to coaching and vocational mentoring with over 30 years of local church experience from a micro sized congregation to multiple staff large church senior pastorate, to District Superintendent and former Executive Pastor of Worship and Ministerial Development at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection. Lucinda currently as a popular consultant/coach in the Missouri and Great Plains Area of the UMC, as well as a part-time Pastor for Churches in transition. Rev. Holmes coaches and mentors others to their unique call of God resulting in the growth and vitality of congregations and their clergy leaders.