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A Service
Accessible to All? |
This is a modified extract from an assignment I had to do in 1998 as part of a
training course for people intending to be lay Readers in the Stepney Area of the
Anglican Diocese of London. It describes the stage we'd reached in developing a
service hopefully comprehensible to all comers in the church we were members of at
that time, and the kind of people we were aiming at.
One of the initiatives of our church to reach out to the community was the ongoing development of the monthly All-age Sunday
service. Began some years ago as an attempt to include all ages, young and old, in the
worship process, at least once a month, it had been developed as a "way in" to church
and an opportunity to reach out to those on the threshold of Christianity by aiming to
remove some of the cultural barriers which face many people who are no longer
brought up as churchgoers.
The people we were thinking of are probably drawn from the working-class "Eastenders" group, white or mixed race, who have perhaps been drawn to the Parish
church so it can do them some sort of service, and who have some sort of vague belief
in God, however tenuous. Here are some of the reasons they may decide to be in
church on a Sunday morning:
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They may have children of pre-school or primary school age, who they are keen to
get into the local church of England primary school. To fulfil the admission
requirements, parents may have to show that they are regular churchgoers.
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They may for family or personal reasons wish to have their baby or toddler
baptised.
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They may be a young couple who have arranged to be married in our church, in
which case, they will probably attend on the Sundays that they expect their banns to be
read.
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They may be people who have wandered into church because they feel in need of
some comfort or even because they are angry over some personal tragedy and feel that
"God" is to blame.
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They may be the children of any of the above, and have no choice about the matter.
We believe that whatever their reasons for being in church, our duty is to help all
comers to reach a point where they are able to make a personal response to the Good
News of Jesus Christ, and that in order for this to be possible, each one should:
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Be able to understand
what is happening. We printed out the order of service on the
inside of the notice sheet, making it clear what was happening, and tried to
avoid all jargon, whether in the prayers or in the talks. The message was reinforced by
various means: a short sketch or children's talk (which the adults also seem to
appreciate) which put across the main point very simply and visually, a longer (10-15
minutes) talk aimed at the adults, which set the Bible reading into context and applied
it to life using personal examples and stories, and the presentation of a banner which
the youngest children have been working on during the adult talk, generally an
illustrated verse from the reading or perhaps a prayer in pictorial form, which was then
displayed. In addition, a seemingly trivial wordsearch in the service sheet encouraged
those with a short attention span to focus on key words from the reading, rather than
on the preacher's dress sense or the peeling walls.
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Be able to participate
in worship, thus providing an opportunity to respond to God.
We felt that liturgy, if used sensitively, was an important way of allowing participation
on the part of the congregation. In some "informal" services, liturgy is avoided because
of its connotations of boring and incomprehensible chanting, but then the only means
of participation becomes the hymn-singing while for the most part the congregation are
reduced to spectators. The liturgy we chose, from "Patterns for Worship", an Anglican
liturgical resource book, was simple, with short prayers and responses
clearly indicated in bold. It included an opening prayer, a responsive confession, the
"question and answer " form of the creed as found in the baptism service, the
traditional form of the Lord's Prayer which is better-known than the modern versions
and a final acclamation or blessing which we were all to say together. Short silences were
also used where appropriate. We also feel that the banner-making formed part of the children's worship, as
well as the actions in the songs, which many of the adults also enjoyed.
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Feel that they belong.
To a great extent, the feeling of belonging depends on not
experiencing too great a cultural shift on entering the church, and feeling that you don't
have to be middle-class and highly educated to be acceptable to God. We hope that
the initiatives mentioned above, to do with enabling understanding and participation,
would contribute to a feeling of belonging, as well as getting a variety of local people,
both young and old, involved in drama, reading, leading prayers or planning and
leading the service itself, depending on their gifts and willingness.
We feel that by aiming to address the three principles of understanding, participation
and belonging, and by prayer and faithfulness on the part of the whole of the Body of
Christ within the individual church, those on the margins of our church will be enabled
to make a personal response to the claims of Jesus Christ and become a part of the
community of faith which God is building here.
Example of a Family Service Sheet
Useful Books
Patterns for Worship
Church House Publishing
Instant Art for Bible Worksheets (a series of books) Published by Kevin Mayhew. (Useful for children's activities)
One hundred and one ideas for creative prayers by Judith Merrell Published by
Scripture Union 1995
Links
Church of England Common Worship
Church House Publishing
Campaign
Games
for youth groups East
London Churches Christian
Life Children
in the Church
Kids Page
Community
of the Word of God User-Friendly
Worship Links
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