After missing the previous week (10/31) and conclusion of the Church Mysteries series while being away, I was back to serve with our worship team and lead the congregation.
For the next two weeks, we are having our fall/winter missions emphasis. Missions is a big part of who we are as part of the Christians & Missionary Alliance. We count it a privilege to be able to partner with hundreds of other churches to support over 800 international workers doing amazing things and to also send our own members out on short term trips.
The focus of this week was to hear/see, celebrate, and remind ourselves of what God is doing, what we are able to be a part of, and why it is important.
We began with A New Hallelujah (Smith/Baloche) to kick things off. The congregation sang it the previous week to become familiar with it again since we hadn’t done it in a while. After singing, we invited people to greet one another and then be seated.
The call to worship was a reader’s theatre pulling in many different scripture focused on God’s Passion for the Nations. It came from here of you would like a copy. It was done by three teen guys who did a great job. We then moved into Our God Saves (Baloche/Brown), All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (Perronet/Holden arr. Baloche), a time of prayer, and Praise the Father, Praise the Son (Cash/Tomlin).
Our message time was built differently this week to allow for the telling of many different stories of what God has done and is doing around the world through people. I started with a brief devotional focus on Isaiah 61:1-3 and how Jesus used that passage as He taught in the synagogue in his hometown when He was beginning His ministry. Then two people shared about short term missions trips they had been on – one to Mongolia and one to Bosnia.
Then, in the first service, we showed a video that has been previously prepared about a missions trip the teens took to Seattle in 2009. We didn’t show it in the second service because time got away from us in the first service, and we realized that most people had seen it before. If you want to see it again, it’s below.
We then heard from Denise who is involved with a ministry called Mercy Market. In many countries, CMA workers are working with people to produce and make things so they don’t have to resort to less than honorable means to provide for their families. She provides an avenue for people to buy these products. She told many stories of the difference this was making.
We then showed a video about some amazing work being done among Chinese people in Russia.
Finally, we talked about how it was important and possible for all of us to be involved in the amazing things God’s is doing to reach the various nations and people’s groups – whether praying, going, or giving.
We closed with singing Days of Elijah (Mark), collecting the offering, giving important informational items, and a benediction from Colossians 1:9b-14. In the first service, we ended up doing the song after the benediction because we were a bit past time and wanted to allow people to get to Sunday School. Some people stayed and sang the song with us anyway, which was cool.
It was a good morning of worshiping together and hearing/celebrating what God is continuing to do to reach the nations. What does your church do to involve people in this great opportunity?
To find out what others church congregation did together this past Sunday, check our Sunday Setlists at The Worship Community.
