Resources

Using Your Worshiping Community's Website to Enrich and Educate Worshipers

Church websites are an increasingly important way to reach out to new worshipers as well as to communicate with members about church business and weekly activities. (A helpful set of questions churches can ask themselves about online outreach is available at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research's section on Designing Congregational Websites.)

But church websites are usually an underutilized resource for enriching and educating members about preparation, purposes and practices in worship. We urge worshiping communities to explore ways to use their websites to enrich their members' worship.

(Note: If your website is not updated regularly, we invite you to post some of the below links as permanent links at your website, perhaps on a page entitled "Preparing for Worship," attributed to the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.)

Some possibilities include:

. Post the upcoming sermon text and questions for reflection so that worshipers can read and ponder in preparation to hear the Word revealed in worship, and so that the theme of the service is not new to them when they sit down, but rather a continuation and enhancement of their reflections and prayer over the past few days

. Post points to ponder on the deep meaning and purpose of worship, so that congregational dialogue about worship renewal can be better oriented to address the purpose of worship and not just the mechanics and style of worship. Consider posting a weekly quotation about worship and then printing the same quotation in the bulletin the following Sunday, or linking to a feature story on worship.

. Post points to ponder on what it means to participate in worship from a pew or seat, to encourage all members to see their role in worship not as spectators but as integral and involved participants.

. Post points to ponder on themes and purposes of prayer in worship.

. Post model prayers in addition to individual prayer requests, so that worshipers may be guided in the form as well as the content of their prayers. An abundance of possibilities can be found in Prayers of the People: Patterns and Models for Congregational Prayer (Faith Alive Christian Resources, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, 2004).

. Post links to national and international news stories for prayer, so that the prayers of your worshiping community express your membership in the global body of Christ.

. Post points to ponder on themes and purposes of music in worship, in addition to which songs will be sung at upcoming worship.

. Post resources for preparing and reflecting on the purpose of the sacraments.

. Post resources for the teaching of worship, and urge members to use opportunities for teaching about worship in rehearsals, meetings, Sunday School sessions, Bible studies, and other settings of communal prayer and reflection.

. Post resources for learning about the history of the church, to encourage worshipers to see their worship as one with the church of the ages. (A sample syllabus of a course in the history of worship can spur ideas.)

. Post announcements of learning opportunities in the community that can feed worshipers' minds and souls. (For suggestions and examples, see CICW's Calendar of Events).

For other ways the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship can serve leaders and worshipers in your worshping community, see Serving You.