Was it Worship?
A diagnostic tool for evaluating your service.

Topics:	Atmosphere, Changes in worship, Experience, Experiencing God, Presence of God, Worship, Worship planning, Worship service, Worship style
Filters:	Church staff, Pastor, Prayer, Preaching, Worship, Worship leader
Purpose:	Worship
References:	Psalm 150
Date Added:	July 11, 2007

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Though church leaders spend extraordinary energy preparing for worship, many do not evaluate whether the energy was well spent.

Part of this reluctance comes from the (correct) belief that worship is a spiritual activity and that God's role in it ultimately is a mystery. Who can say, after all, whether people "really worshiped," whether God was really encountered, or whether God was truly glorified?

Yet if we've been given the ability to plan worship, we can evaluate at some level what we've done. The following tool, prepared by Leadership's editors and advisers, can help. It does not cover all the bases (for example, sermon evaluation is left out), and not all questions fit every congregation. Feel free to customize it for your congregation.

The Essentials

These elements have historically been part of worship. These are objective questions: Did our service include this element? If so, in what way? If not, why?

Preparation and prayer

Did we help people prepare for worship?
Were people prayed for before and during the service?
Did prayer in the service include:
Adoration?
Thanksgiving?
Confession (with assurance of pardon)?
Supplication for personal and church needs?
Intercession for others outside the church?

Was God invoked as a Trinity?

Were people in the congregation given an opportunity to pray aloud? Silently?
Together in small groups?

Praise and song

Were people given opportunity to sing?
Were there other opportunities for the congregation to participate: kneeling, reading, reciting, clapping, etc.?

Word and theology

Of the major parts of Scripture (as traditionally categorized), which were read aloud: Old Testament? Psalms? Epistles? Gospels?
Did the service in some way retell the saving deeds of biblical history?
Did the service tie in with the theme of the Christian year?

Sacraments/ordinances

Was Baptism or Communion observed?

Congregational responses

Was the offering set as part of worship?

Was there opportunity for people to dedicate themselves more fully to Christ?
Were people invited to become Christians?
Were people able to minister to one another in the service (pray for one another, testify to God's goodness, exercise spiritual gifts)?

The Approach

This includes more subjective judgments, so it is good to get input from a variety of people, leaders, and participants

Flow

Tone: Was the mood reverent? Joyful? Appropriate for the theme of the service?
Focus: Was the service directed toward the people or directed toward God?
Intent: Was the purpose of each part of the service clear? Did people understand its relation to the rest of the service? Were transitions clear? Too quick? Awkward
Style: Was the service conducted too formally or too casually for this congregation?
Tempo: Did the service drag? Move too quickly? Where did we bog or rush?

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