Such Great Heights Final Report

Worship

Overview

Team Leaders Leaders -
Susan Dowling (DowlingSusan@comcast.net) and Adrian Luxmoore (amcl@aol.com)

Two-fold Goal:

• Enrich worship experience for current members of the congregation
• Provide a meaningful worship experience that attracts new members

Challenges:

• We have collected a large number of specific suggestions regarding worship at St. Paul's. Suggestions and ideas were also collected during the search process. Ensuring that all these are considered and acted upon will require significant effort and discipline on the part of those implementing the plan.
• Honoring our liturgical and architectural heritage while offering worship that is fresh and enlivening and attracts new young members.
• Those who worship at St. Paul's are passionate about their worship and have a hugely diverse understanding of what makes worship work for them. We cannot fulfill all their desires. Finding a way to balance the diverse wishes and gaining acceptance that what we offer is right is a big challenge.

Proposals:

Themes

• Worship must be welcoming to the stranger and worshipper friendly
• Eucharist and provocative sermons are two of the most critical components desired.
• A very wide variety of music styles have been suggested. People have expressed strong desires for high quality music in both participatory and non-participatory formats
• Worship that is excellent - of very high quality.
• High level of participation by the laity.
• Sense of community and freshness
• Worship that is "whole" - that is not a mix and match of various styles and language.
  Such Great Heights Worship Summary

Summary

Two-fold Goal:

• Enrich worship experience for current members of the congregation
• Provide a meaningful worship experience that attracts new members

12:05 Weekdays

• Topic under discussion by 12:05 Redesign Task Group (Fletcher Lowe, et.al.) / theme = "St. Paul's as a Base Camp"
• Incorporate different styles of services (Taize, Celtic, Morning Prayer, Rite III, Celtic, etc.) 
• Consistently maintain a specific theme at each weekday service (e.g. Monday = Taize, Tuesday = Celtic, etc.)
• Maintain priest consistency (i.e. same person) at each weekday themed service
• Improve Marketing/Promotions/Advertising
• Hold services in the downstairs chapel

Additional Weekend Service

• NOT trying to attract existing members
• Develop a grass roots "base church" approach to attract newcomers 
• Get community members to serve as "servant leaders and mentors" that grow the congregation 
• Develop an advisory team that nurtures and supports this effort 
• Conduct service in an intimate space at St. Paul's at 6:00, 6:30 or 7pm on a Friday or Saturday to reach downtown residents and visitors.
• Alternate styles of services and music (Bluegrass, Old Time, Jazz, Gospel, etc.)
• Provide hospitality after the service
• Utilize St. Paul' members and/or established musicians in the community

Sunday Services

• The current three-service structure appeals greatly to three very diverse types of impassioned worshipper.
  • The 7:45am service provides a quiet and contemplative worship experience without music that is predictable and intimate.
  • The 9:00 service provides an interactive, participatory and casual experience complemented by a variety of music genres and instruments and culminating in a unique shared Eucharist..
  • The 11:15 service provides a formal, traditional, Anglican experience complemented by classic music and robed choir, and culminating in an individual Eucharist administered at the high alter. Currently Morning Prayer is conducted in lieu of Eucharist twice per month at the 11:15 service.
  • All three services include a sermon.

• Suggested improvements for the three existing Sunday services are:
  • Reexamine the way communion is distributed within the facility space to minimize confusion and enhance the worship experience.
  • Create and provide user manuals to the leaders of the service (clergy, ushers, readers, acolytes, etc.) that explain the implementation details and proper conduct of the service. 
  • Plan all services with intentionality and communicate to participants. Regular review of Sundays (including lay personnel) to ensure continuous improvement.. Train lay participants.
  • Incorporate as many of the specific suggestions collected through the SGH and search processes as possible to reinvigorate and refresh the experience. 
  • Reexamine how children are engaged during worship and ensure they are drawn into the participation of the service (i.e. Blessing of the Children, Godly Play, Children's Chapel, Children's Choir).
  • Put all of the service in a single bulletin and eliminate use of multiple books in order to facilitate a user-friendly worship experience.
  • Provide better direction to the congregants during the service through improved bulletins, increased verbal direction and/or usher cues.
  • Use inclusive and creative language, where possible.
  • Reduce use of Morning Prayer to one Sunday per month while education and combined service creation is conducted.

• A combined service allows congregants to worship as one church and provides a heightened sense of community. Combined services are currently conducted on special occasion Sundays and during the summer. The current design of single service Sundays fails to satisfy many congregants because it lacks its own unique character and its format is inconsistent from one time to the next.
• A design for a combined service should:
  • Start with no preconceived notions as to style. It should have its own unique and consistent character. If St. Paul's were a mission church using an old building what worship would we present?
  • Include beautiful, moving, uplifting music. Both participatory and non-participatory music should be included, with an emphasis on participatory music.
  • Include a "Hit me!" sermon and message that is grounded in scripture and offers thought provoking education relevant to daily life.
  • Include Eucharist
  • Provide an overall auditory experience (inclusive of music and prayers), include opportunities for participation, and generate feelings of enthusiasm and celebration
  • Be put in place in the summer of 2010.
  • Listen and measure response to guide future use.
  • Conform to Diocesan guidelines and Anglican/Episcopal tradition as well as be open to include any other material (published or written by members) desired.

Related Opportunities

• Serve other groups in the community (VCU, MCV, downtown, Woodville, Latino/Hispanic, Scouts, Rockett's Landing, Shockoe Bottom, etc.)
• Hold services at other locations in the community
• Add worship as a component to other activities/events, i.e. youth and children's activities, secular festivals, First Fridays, Foyer dinners etc. Explore creating a "St. Paul's worship book" to contain poetry, prayers, shortened compline etc for use at these events.
• Educate the congregation in the history and meaning of worship and explain the liturgy and protocols in a manner that is accessible and meaningful to newcomers.
• Explore adding more worship and prayer/retreat events as time and resources permt.

Facilities

• Make entrances to both church and chapel more inviting and welcoming and clearly "open for worship". Make "handicapped accessible" signage clear.
• Modify furnishings and arrangements in the chancel area so that 
  • "traffic" flows more easily
  • there is more space to distribute communion
  • appearance is brighter and more colorful
• Improve all heating, cooling, lighting and sound systems
• Evaluate ways to open up the space in front of pews
  • to provide additional space for special services
  • to allow additional space for processions
  • to provide space for serving communion in 9:00 style services
  • look at having chairs to fill the space when suitable
• Reevaluate elimination of pew dividers
• Evaluate the use of the area currently occupied by the font for healing prayer and votive candles. Move font to Narthex.
• Look at increasing space in front of the organ for the choir and/or moving choir from balcony.
• In the chapel take the altar off riser to increase space and allow freedom of movement for celebrant. Move the columns to the sides to improve visibility of altar and celebrant.
• Hire the services of a church architect/liturgist to evaluate our ideas and help match our ideas with historical legacy

Details
During the Such Great Heights and Search process many specific suggestions about worship have been made. As far as is possible all of these will be kept in mind as we plan and implement worship changes.