Jan 25, 2021
The Worship Planning Process
If I’m being completely honest, I can be kind of a mess. Every week my planning process consists of prayer, scripture, consideration, conversation, planning, forgetting, reconsidering, questioning, more prayer, getting distracted, clarifying, wanting to quit, and then some level of confidence. It’s quite a process really, but it all works together well when understanding the strengths and weaknesses of who God has created me to be. There are days when I can focus and days that I cannot. I just have to keep the work in front of me so I can catch those moments when I’m in the best place mentally to work. I know that I’m not unique in this, but what I’ve learned is that the more I can order things externally, the better are my chances of success. I have to give myself structure, but it needs to be loose. I need to understand the expected outcomes, but I need space to think outside the box from time to time. Below is the basic timeline for my planning process.
13 days out: Sermon main idea and key scripture received.
10–13 days out: Read, understand, and pray.
10 days out: Service rough draft.
6 days out: Finalize songs, rough in other elements, and send out PCO invites.
5 days out: Walk-through service, finalize roughed in elements.
4 days out: Rehearse with Band, Vocals, and any other necessary pieces.
3 days out: Tweaks only.
0 days out: Final run through and services.
On a practical level, I begin planning for a service prayerfully with a couple of things in mind: What is the sermon text? What songs does our congregation know well or what songs are we teaching our congregation? And what scriptures or other elements would be appropriate to support the text or main idea? One of the biggest priorities that I have in planning is that we point the congregation towards Jesus. I want to make sure that the reality of the greatness of God, the Gospel of Jesus, and the power of the Spirit’s presence are big picture goals.
Each week, assuming that I know the scripture text and main idea, I start at the sermon and work backwards towards the beginning of the service. I first determine what song or scripture I’m going to use as a handoff to the teaching and what kind of response elements we will need after the sermon. I then look over the songs that we have been doing over the past few months in Planning Center and make some selections that the congregation is familiar with that may connect well to that song or scripture. I will usually just lay out a basic structure with more elements than we can use in a single service, and whittle it down as I work through it. My goal is to do this part on the Thursday the week prior to service, so I can revisit it on Monday with a fresh perspective.
On Monday, I will do some more research on the scriptures and songs to determine which elements will work best for that Sunday. Sometimes I will lay out all of the lyrics of the songs to plan the best connections. This helps me to determine where I need to place relevant scripture or prepared verbal transitions. My goal is to have a complete plan by the end of the day that makes sense to me.
On Tuesday or Wednesday, I will find some time alone to play through the set with all of the planned elements to make sure I have everything ready to practice with the team. Our Wednesday rehearsals are to work out details and to learn what we need to learn before Sunday. We practice transitions and new arrangements so that our run-through time on Sunday can be better focused.
After Wednesday night, I don’ t make major changes unless something just doesn’t work. I spend those days practicing and listening, and beginning the process for the next week.
Over the years, I have learned to be intentional with the details but not to sweat the small stuff. A perfectly executed plan does not equal God honoring or Christ exalting worship. Since I can be easily distracted, I rely heavily on Planning Center’s Music Stand app. When I speak in service for more than a simple transition sentence or scripture reading, I prepare key points to keep in front of me rather than manuscripts to memorize. And in the same manner, I always have single page chord charts & lyrics in front of me for reference.
In the end, I know that I cannot craft the perfect service on my own. I have to submit myself to God and pray that he will use me to lead His congregation well.
