Using the Worship Guide as a Tool

Each week in the worship guide we provide an order of worship, along with a sermon outline for note-taking, as well as relevant announcements on the back page. In many ways the worship guide can be a great tool for us to use in our personal devotional time throughout the week.

First, we can use all of the different Scripture passages as ways to engage Scripture throughout the week, from the call to worship passage to the communion passage to the sermon passage to the benediction passage. Second, we can use the songs from the previous Sunday as our “playlist” for the week, reminding us of the major themes from the service. Third, we can use it as a way to pray, whether it’s praying over the names and families of the staff at the bottom of the page, or praying over an upcoming event that was announced (like a women’s retreat or the start of Sunday School), or praying for the elder who led us in communion. Finally, we could use the front of the worship guide, which contains our purpose statement of “worshipers in community engaged in ministry” as a way to be reminded of how we desire the Lord to be shaping us as we encounter various situations throughout our week.

All in all, the worship guide can be a simple but effective tool to help us carry the various elements of the corporate worship service into our week. In essence, it is a personalized devotional guide for our week, providing Scripture passages and songs and prayers that can be applied uniquely to each of our specific paths and circumstances. So, give it a try one week, see how it goes, and let me know what your experience is!