WS518: Worship Ministry and the Lords Day

Fuller Online

Instructor: Email: Skype:

Joseph A. Novak, Adjunct Faculty for Worship joeynovak@fuller.edu joey.novak5

DESCRIPTION This course explores both the practical and theological dimensions of worship leadership and examines issues relating to the planning and implementing of worship on the Lords Day (Sunday or Sabbath) in various Christian traditions. A significant part of the course will be devoted to the careful theological planning of worship on the Lords Day. Students will be introduced to the histories and theologies of Christian worship through time and around the globe. Students will also be exposed to the worship life of an actual congregation, and plan worship for that church. Further, the course gives opportunity to develop skills in crafting various elements for worship, in the application of pastoral care to worship, and in musical selection and leadership. SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY The phrase going to church almost always refers to attending a worship service of a Christian communitywhether it meets in a church building or not. This reflects the reality that worship is the most public face a congregation has for its members and the world. Effective and reflective worship leadership is the keystone of ministry, both discipleship and evangelism. This course will teach the integration of worship and pastoral ministry and the qualities that determine its effectiveness and excellence. LEARNING OUTCOMES Four goals for learning will drive this course: First, the student will understand the importance and centrality of corporate worship to the mission and ministry of a congregation. Second, the student will understand the tasks required for liturgical leadership in a variety of liturgical styles. Third, the student will develop a greater understanding of his or her own gifts and skills for pastoral ministry and liturgical ministry specifically. Fourth, the student will be able to articulate and apply a praxis-theory-praxis methodology for liturgical ministry. COURSE FORMAT Conducted via the Internet, the ten weekly lessons align with Fullers academic calendar. Each week students and the instructor will interact with the course material through journaling, threaded discussions, web-based research, case studies, and applying the concepts to liturgical praxis.

WS518: Worship Ministry and the Lords Day

Fuller Online

REQUIRED TEXTS Course Reader (via eCollege) Bradshaw, Paul. Two Ways of Praying. OSL Publications, 2008. Caccamo, Johnson, and Ruth. Living Worship. Brazos Press, 2010 Cherry, Constance. The Worship Architect. Baker Academic, 2010. Johnson, Todd. The Conviction of Things Not Seen. Brazos, 2002. Ramshaw, Gail. Christian Worship: 100,000 Sundays of Symbols and Rituals. Fortress Press, 2009. White, James. Introduction to Christian Worship. 3rd ed. Abingdon, 2000. A book of worship AND hymnal/songbook used in the students tradition (students choice). RECOMMENDED TEXTS Black, Kathy. Worship Across Cultures. Abingdon, 1998. Costen, Melva Wilson. African American Worship. 2nd ed. Abingdon, 2007 Gonzalez, Justo L., ed. Alabadle! Hispanic Christian Worship. Abingdon, 1996. Hawn, Michael. Gather into One. Eerdmans, 2003 PROJECTS Grading in this course will be based on the evaluation of the following assignments: (1) Completion of assigned readings and weekly threaded group discussions (20%); (2) five journal reflections during weeks 1, 2, 5, 8, and 10 (10%); (3) A 4-6-page report of a participant observation in a Christian worship service outside your tradition (20%); (4) Three case study assignments utilizing the Living Worship DVD-ROM; (5) Final Project: Plan a service of worship for a church and provide a thorough annotation for the reasons behind each choice (20%) Late papers will not be accepted. A zero grade will be assigned. A late paper is defined as a paper turned in late without the prior permission of the instructor with the exception of a tragedy. Connecting: Group Discussions You have been placed into a somewhat random grouping of your colleagues in this course. The goal of these groups is to enable rich and thoughtful reflection on common topics. Each week you will have a topic, question, or task posed to your group and you will be responsible for providing a concise 250-500 word response. You will find each weeks discussion topic under each weeks header on the eCollege site under Connecting Group X (where X is your group letter). *Note* You will only be able to see your groups responses, and not the entire class. Your response to the topic is due no later than THURSDAY at 11:59pm. You critical interaction with two (2) other group members is due by the following MONDAY at 8:00am. Life Application: Journal Reflections Five times during the quarter, I will ask you to write a brief journal of 250-500 words on a topic that is geared to help you process the material of the course more personally. These will come up on weeks 1, 2, 5, 8, and 10. Please be honest, thoughtful, and open in these journals; they are not seen by anyone but the instructor. Participant Observation (DUE MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 8AM) During the third week of the class, you will be asked to visit a church service in a tradition outside of your own. This is an opportunity to visit any kind of church, from non-denominational megachurches, to Roman Catholic parishes and Orthodox

WS518: Worship Ministry and the Lords Day

Fuller Online

liturgies, etc. You may not use an experience gained in previous course, or in a previous church. You may also not use your home church. You will be given a rubric that you will use to write an objective and non-critical report about the composition of the service. This report will be 4-6 pages. You will be expected to be attentive to detail in this report. POINTS WILL BE MARKED DOWN FOR EVALUATIVE STATEMENTS such as: I didnt like that; Catholics are wrong; This really emphasized how Calvinists are going to hell; etc. Your goal is to be objective, careful, thorough, and attentive. If you follow the rubric, you will succeed! *NOTE: Please plan ahead and make arrangements to visit a church during a Sunday service. If this is impossible due to your church commitments, other services may be attended, but PLEASE contact me first. You may attend services on 1/8; 1/15; 1/22 and still complete this assignment as required. Case Studies Using the Living Worship DVD-ROM, we will be exploring three different scenarios at Ravenswood Covenant Church. These scenarios are neither exceptionally good, nor exceptionally bad. They are, simply, the way most churches act and behave. The goal is not to be overly critical of RCC, but instead, to approach the planning of worship with a distinct group of people in mind. You will need your hymnal and worship book, along with your Living Worship DVD-ROM. Templates for each of these will be provided during the quarter. Final Project For the final project in this course, you will be submitting a full order of worship for the church at Ravenswood. A specific theme will be assigned to provide uniformity in the class, but other than that, you will need to rely on the terms, concepts, and critical reflections you have made in this course in order to succeed. For each element in the service, you will need to include an explicit theological and liturgical reason for its inclusion and location (the Why? question). You will also need to state clearly where you are obtaining resources (songs, prayers, readings, reflections). A formal template will be provided during Week 8. SCHEDULE (see following pages)

WEEK

TOPIC

DATE

READING

LIFE APPLICATION Topic: What is worship? What is Christian Worship? What elements are required for it to be worship?

CONNECTING

ASSIGNMENT

Intro to Xian Worship

Jan 3-6

Ramshaw ch. 1 Cherry 1-2 Bradshaw, all chs. White, 1

Read the following article: http://bit.ly/rJi6wT Should churches cancel worship on Christmas when it falls on a Sunday? Why or why not? What factors are important in considering such a decision? How important is attendance in determining opportunities for worship? Many Christians balk at the suggestion that worship is comprised of rituals. These Christians seem to think that rituals are decaying, lifeless, soulless actions that threaten the integrity of biblical worship. Do you agree? Do you disagree? How do you understand rituals in the life of the church? What do you say to James Smith and his ritual assessment of the liturgy of the mall?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion Assignment 1 DUE Introduce yourself to the class. (via Course Home page. Tell us where youre from, what program youre in, your interests, church background, and some interests.

The Elements of Worship: Symbol + Ritual

Jan 9-13

Ramshaw chs. 2, 3, 10 Cherry chs. 3-4 J. White, ch. 3 J.K.A. Smith, pp. 19-25 (online) *Living Worship, intro

Topic: Identify and discuss one prominent symbol in your churchs worship space. Identify and discuss one prominent ritual in your churchs Lords Day worship.

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion

WEEK

TOPIC

DATE

READING

LIFE APPLICATION NONE

CONNECTING

ASSIGNMENT

The Elements of Worship: Pattern and Ordo

Jan 16-20

Ramshaw ch. 4 Cherry, 5-7 Johnson, 4 White, 4, 6 S. White, appendices 2, 3 (online)

Few churches actually practice ex tempore or spontaneous worship. Most churches have a pattern to their worship practices. What is the pattern of worship at your church? What elements are always present (ordinaries) and which change from week to week (propers)?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion ASSIGNMENT 2 DUE Attend a worship service in a tradition outside of your own. This service should be a main Lords Day service in that tradition (no mid-week services, unless ABSOLUTELY necessary). Using the provided template, you will write 4-6 pages of observations. See template in Doc Sharing

The Elements of Worship: Prayer

Jan 23-27

Ramshaw ch. 5 Cherry, 8 Johnson, 7 J. White, 5 *Denominational Worship Book, intro.

NONE

What kinds of prayer forms are used in your church? (i.e. praise, confession, petition, Lords prayer, prayers of the people, illumination, epicletic (petition for God to send the Holy Spirit), eucharistic, etc.). What forms are absent?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion ASSIGNMENT 3 DUE Your group has been assigned five of the top 20 CCLI songs. These songs represent the most used songs in churches who reproduce lyrics. Your goal is to analyze these songs using provided criteria. The goal is to produce one document that contains the analysis of all five songs. This will be compiled with other groups and made available to you as a resource. See template in Doc Sharing

WEEK

TOPIC

DATE

READING

LIFE APPLICATION Topic: What theological understanding does your church have about the sacraments? (esp. baptism and communion). None

CONNECTING

ASSIGNMENT

The Elements of Worship: Sacraments and Ordinances

Jan 30-Feb 3

Ramshaw ch. 6 Cherry, 9 Johnson, 8 J. White, chs. 7-9

Watch the video in the link below. Give your thoughts about the churchs celebration of communion. Respond to your groups thoughts. What struck you as interesting? helpful? refreshing? distracting? problematic?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion

The Elements of Worship: Music

Feb 6-Feb 10

Ramshaw ch. 7 Cherry, chs. 10-11 J. White, ch. 4 Johnson, ch. 4 *Living Worship (Case Study)

Go to images.google.com and search for Worship. Skim through the first few pages of images. What common themes come up? Do you think this is a fair representation of what worship is in a Christian context?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion ASSIGNMENT 4 DUE Case Study 1: Lord, Teach Us to Pray See template in Doc Sharing

Thinking about Worship: Belief and Practice

Feb 13-Feb 17

Ramshaw ch. 8 Cherry, 12 Johnson, 9 *Dulles Article *Living Worship (Case Study)

None

Using the themes from Cardinal Avery Dulles article, what is privileged in your church: worship (practice) or doctrine (belief)? Should doctrine come before practice?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion ASSIGNMENT 5 DUE Case Study 2: Crossing the Threshold See template in Doc Sharing

WEEK

TOPIC

DATE

READING

LIFE APPLICATION Topic: What critical response would you give to the article by Lester Ruth? Do you agree? Disagree? Do you find it helpful?

CONNECTING

ASSIGNMENT

Thinking about Worship: Music-WordTable

Feb 20-Feb 24

Ramshaw ch. 9 Cherry, ch.13 Johnson, ch. 2

What are your thoughts about Ravenswood Covenant Church, now that youve gotten to know them a bit through your case studies? What have you learned about yourself through your work with their worship services? Do you have any biases, or preconceived notions when it comes to worship? Is the Church Year still relevant to our culture/society? Why or why not? what aspects of it are helpful? what aspects are problematic?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion

Thinking about Worship: The Christian Year + Lectionary

Feb 27-Mar 2

Ramshaw ch. 11 Cherry, ch. 14 J. White, ch. 2

None

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion ASSIGNMENT 6 DUE Case Study 3: Of Bridegrooms and Advents See template in Doc Sharing

10

Thinking about Worship: Pastoral Care

Mar 5-Mar 9

Ramshaw, ch. 12 Cherry, ch. 15 Johnson, ch. 6 White, ch. 10 Willimon, ch. 9 (online)

Return to your first answer to the first journal topic: What is worship? Given what weve studied, what changes would you make to your original definition?

Looking back at the sweep of this class, what modifications have you made to your own operational definition of worship? Has it broadened? Contracted?

Reading + Journal + Group Discussion

WEEK

TOPIC

DATE

READING

LIFE APPLICATION NONE NONE

CONNECTING

ASSIGNMENT

EXAM

Final Project

Mar 13-Mar 16

NONE

ASSIGNMENT 7 Final Project Due. See template in Doc Sharing