| Praise Celebration | ||
| World Harvest Church > About Us > Worship |
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| Christ is the focus of worship. Churches at Corinth and Troas gathered specially on the first day of the week to remember Christ's resurrection (see Acts 20:7). But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJV). • God chose us to praise Him for who He is and celebrate Christ's resurrection. • Worship is for both the believers and the 'uninformed' (see 1 Corinthians 14:23). The goal of evangelism is to produce worshippers. Worship transforms crowd, the responsive people, into worshippers. • Worship that has strong presence of God and is done in ways that makes sense to the responsive people and the newly born again will draw them in. On the Pentecost, God's presence was so evident in the disciples' worship that it had attracted the attention of people in Jerusalem. Three thousand people were won to Christ in the felt presence of God. 1. Attractive and pleasant environment The right climate for a church to draw people is acceptance and love. • Praise Celebration is a believers' service but seeker friendly. Design the service to be so attractive, appealing, and relevant to the responsive people that your members are eager to bring those they have befriended. Look at your facilities and environment from the eyes of a visitor. • Pleasant color, cleanliness, and adequate lighting lift up people's mood. Poor lighting dampens the mood of a service. • A good sound system makes persuasive messages, wonderful singings, and beautiful music pleasing and memorable. • Comfortable seats and sensible crowd-and-space proportion affect the focus of people at the meeting. A congested hall is uncomfortable and dynamics is lost when a hall is too big for your church. • Cool down the hall before the crowd gets in. Monitor the room temperature throughout the Praise Celebration to stay comfortable. Clean restroom and safe nurseries make people feel at home. Make visitors feel comfortable and give them a good first impression of your church. • A warm greeting makes them feel relaxed, welcomed, and open. Have parking attendants who can direct the traffic and give people a smile. Station greeters to welcome visitors with a smile as they pass out bulletins. Position friendly hosts at the information tables to assist newcomers in filling the welcome card. Place helpful ushers to direct people to their seats. Ushers must match your targets. Use teenagers to reach teenagers, adults for adults. Have music played when people enter your building to relax them. Members to be friendly with visitors and introduce themselves. Begin and end each service with people greeting each other. • Worship leader offers a public welcome that relaxes people. Visitors to remain anonymous without being asked to stand and publicly identify themselves. Use of welcome card is sufficient. • Minimize announcements, use visual projection, and provide bulletins. Give both visitors and members a sense of expectancy or anticipation. • Begin a service by encouraging people to expect God to do a great thing in the Praise Celebration. Also produce a sense of expectancy by prayers and by faith throughout the week. • Keep an atmosphere of gladness and joy in worship. Worship is a delight, not a duty (see Psalm 100:2). Start and end the service positively. Be affirmative and encouraging to people (see Hebrews 10:24-25). • Create a family atmosphere by greeting people warmly, speaking lovingly, and interact admirably on the stage. • Be informal, relaxed, and friendly to disarm the fears and defenses of people (see 2 Corinthians 3:17). Praise Celebration recharges people spiritually and emotionally for the week ahead (see Matthew 11:28-29; Mark 2:27). 2. Lively and worshipful singing Music and songs can position your church to draw and keep the responsive people of the community. • Music and songs are an integral part of our lives; we eat with it, drive with it, shop with it, relax with it, and dance with it. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord (Psalm 40:3 NKJV). • Music and songs are the most influential; they can bypass intellectual barriers and take the message straight to the heart. They can draw a person to God. • We generally like bright, happy, cheerful music with a strong beat. Our ears are accustomed to music with a strong bass line and rhythm. For the first time in history, there exists a universal music style that can be heard in every country of the world. It is called contemporary pop music. Preview every song that you intend to sing in a seeker-friendly Praise Celebration. • Ascertain carefully that it is suitable for the responsive people, church members, and the preaching. Choose songs for the atmosphere you intend to create. Choose songs with these considerations: • Songs must be able to give both spiritual and emotional impact on people. • The lyrics should be doctrinally sound and understandable. A song with terms that the unbelievers cannot understand loses its testimonial power; they are not thinking about what they are singing. • Use songs of praise, worship, edification, dedication, and commitment. • Use songs that are glorifying Christ and songs sung directly to God. Keep the pace and flow of worship and other items in the Praise Celebration lively. • People do not like slow going program that drags on indefinitely. Television has shortened the attention span of people. Remove 'dead time' (meaningless pause and silence) and look for ways to save time. • Use a bright and upbeat number to loosen up tense and uptight visitors. When the body is relaxed, the attitude is less defensive. Then move to joyful songs about God. Move on to sing meditative and intimate songs to God. Use songs to give people an opportunity to affirm their commitment to God. Finally, a short and upbeat song to end the singing if it is appropriate. As led by the Holy Spirit, move into the dimension of 'singing in the spirit'. • Songs of meditative nature prepare people to express their hearts to God. • Move on to sing high praise with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. 3. Sowing finance to reap abundantly Giving is an expression of worship to God, the Creator, Sustainer and Provider. • In this spiritual experience with finance, God returns all giving with many folds and many kinds of blessings (see 2 Corinthians 9:6-11). On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper (1 Corinthians 16:2a NKJV). • Tithe and offering given on the 'first day of the week' is a miracle time of sowing finance for prosperity. • Honoring God with the first one-tenth of all incomes stops the curse of poverty and opens up the window of heaven for an overflowing of blessings (see Proverbs 3:9-10; Malachi 3:10). • Offering, in addition to tithing, determines that the volume of blessings coming back to you will be many times more than the measure of faith you use in your giving to God (see Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8). • Firstfruit-offering is a special thanksgiving for new ventures and new blessings. It puts you to live in overflowing blessings (see Proverbs 3:9-10). • Giving to people in need or people with special needs, especially those in the household of faith, puts you in abundance (see Luke 12:33-34; Galatians 6:10). 4. Commitment to preach the gospel Holy Communion is for us to affirm our commitment to preach the gospel. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26 NKJV). • As we observe the rite for commemorating the death and resurrection of Christ, we affirm our commitment of preaching the gospel to all nations. 5. Preach to meet needs and to build faith God meets us at where we are, at our point of need. The needs of believers and the unchurched often overlap; both have hurts and interests as human beings. • Both need to know who God is, • Both need to understand the purpose of life, • Both need to know why and how to forgive others, • Both need help in strengthening their marriage and family, • Both need to know how to deal with suffering, grief, and pain, • Both need healings and restoration from God, and • Both need to experience the abundant life that God gives. Appropriate scripture, proper titles, and message outline will facilitate learning. • Use Scripture from a newer translation to give clarity of meaning. • Titles must be understood at first glance and appealing to their interest. • Provide a message outline with scriptures printed out. Visitors who do not own Bibles can refer to it and review on their own. You can cover more material in less time with a published outline. Everyone can read the verses aloud together. It helps people remember the message. Members can teach on your outline. Preach for commitment and offer an opportunity to respond. • Plan out what you want to happen at the time of commitment. Ask God to guide you to do His work. • Explain how to respond to the message and trust God to move their hearts. • Be creative in inviting people to receive Christ. Together with altar call, give also a respond card for those who prefer an alternative to the altar call. Overextended invitation may not be always as productive. Never pressure people to decide. 6. Benefit people with ministering Ministering to needs with the anointing is the high point of a Praise Celebration. • Visitors become convinced as they watch how needs are met with God's power. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit may touch them directly. • The new believers have yet to build strong faith against challenges they face in life and to exercise spiritual authority against temptation and the devil. They still have hurts to be healed and bondages to be broken. The anointing of the Lord benefits the responsive unbelievers and the new believers in six ways (see Luke 4:18-19): • Salvation for the spiritually poor, • Restoration for the broken hearted, • Renewal for captives of the world, • Healing for the sick, • Deliverance for the oppressed, and • Providence for the needy. |
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