The Main Idea in Worship Design
If you want some extra-credit during your next worship design meeting, whip out the concept of the Main Idea. A clear idea of what you want to say is the number one rule of effective communication. Sadly, this rule is often ignored when designing worship. For an explanation of what the heck we’re talking about, read this excerpt from our new book on worship design, Taking Flight with Creativity. Make sure and watch the video at the end, which makes it all clear.
What is the single, central theme derived from the scriptural text that is the driving concept for every element in the service? The main idea is something that can be stated in a sentence or two. If it takes you more than that to explain your main idea, narrow your scope or clarify what you mean. It has to be clear and concise.
Dave Ferguson, pastor of Community Christian Church of Naperville, IL, wrote an entire book on this subject fittingly titled, The Big Idea. He states, rightly, that the presence of many small ideas in the life of a church get in the way of a single big idea. For example, Jesus said, “Follow me.” A big idea, certainly; simple to understand, yet difficult to implement.
Big ideas aren’t “deep teaching” – that is, they are not detailed expository, doctrinal, or propositional approaches to scripture, as one would expect with a more modern approach to proclamation. While expository teaching certainly has its place in the life of a congregation, it is also a reflection of an empirical approach that no longer has connection with many in society. For many, it becomes just so much more information to process in an already information-saturated world. Information alone doesn’t usually equate to transformation. It just becomes mental gymnastics. Big ideas, rather, are clear. As Ferguson states, “Big ideas are simple but not easy.”
George Will captured the same concept in describing the traits of effective leadership. In a panel discussion on Ronald Reagan, he stated, “The key is to understand the economy of leadership: you should have ideas, and they should be clear, but most of all they should be few – three at the most. [For Reagan they were] re-arm the country, cut the weight of government, and win the Cold War.” Will argued that every decision Reagan made drove toward one of these three core concepts, which is what made him effective. He understood the main idea.
A service can be absent a strong visual metaphor but still work if there a single main idea, and everything moves toward that one idea. This is a shocking statement to those who know us well. But the point is that a single theme is the basis for an effective metaphor (we’ll discuss metaphor later).
One church Len consulted with struggled with what he called “layers of influence.” Every week, it seemed, there were multiple elements to somehow combine into a cohesive whole: Commissioning the group going on a mission trip to Africa. Giving honor to the young man coming back from Iraq who had been told he’d be a part of the service. Giving a nod to the holiday. Raising money for the new memorial. On and on it went. The pastor developed a staff reputation (this was supposed to be a compliment) as “Segue Man” because of his ability to verbally transition from one element to the next. But this ability, while impressive, did nothing to address the lack of a central unifying focus for the service. The result was often a lack of any kind of powerful connection for the congregation. They would walk away unmoved, ready for lunch. Better than a good segue is one well-developed theme. The best way to remove these layers of influence is to centralize worship decisions through the team, or at least a team representative.
Consider again Jesus’ use of parables. Parables are concise. They have a single idea. The narrative and details flow to the point of comparison. Sometimes Jesus tells the meaning at the end, sometimes he asks questions, and sometimes he offers no interpretation at all. (This last option is frightening for many people.) And the best part of all? Parables were Jesus’ exclusive mass communication style. He understood the power of the main idea.
So what does a main idea look like when attached to a strong central visual image? Watch this video of a Midnight Oil-designed service implemented at Len’s church, Trietsch Memorial UMC in Flower Mound TX, last Advent season.
Osborn4 said,
Wrote on July 6, 2009 @ 5:10 pm
This is what I’ve had the hardest time getting across. When we introduced this concept to our team, they just didn’t get it. One menber actually said, “Well, it’s all ultimately about Jesus, anyway, isn’t it?” No one really looks at the service as a cohesive whole.
The MO Guys said,
Wrote on July 6, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
True, it is ultimately all about Jesus. But, when it comes to Jesus, there’s a lot to talk about. Look at the illustration on Reagan. With Ronald Reagan, or any president, ultimately it’s all about government, but within that realm there are many ideas. Or you could use the NFL as an example, or even just the Packers, your hometown team. Every time it could be a different idea … Their OL play, Favre’s legacy, etc. If you try to cover many aspects of govt or the Packers at once you don’t get the opportunity to really cover any single idea well.
Osborn4 said,
Wrote on July 7, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
Even in the sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, which covered a lot of ground, had a cohesive theme to tie it together.
Shawn Coons said,
Wrote on July 7, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
We’d like to share this article and video with out worship team. Is there anyway to download a copy of the video?
Thanks!
The MO Guys said,
Wrote on July 7, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
Shawn,
We’d be happy to send you a copy. It’s rather large though. Contact us through the site and we can make arrangements.
Colin Blake said,
Wrote on July 8, 2009 @ 6:19 am
Excellent article and video, We have a coffee shop ministry and I would love to use this material with our team to prepare for a special event. Is there any chance that we could also download a copy of the film etc.
Thanks
Colin
Sharon Pippin said,
Wrote on July 8, 2009 @ 8:18 am
So what did the rest of the service look like in structure. I get the metaphor thing and am a fan of that, but as mentioned in the above article, so many other elements get thrown into a service, we have a hard time being able to focus just on the service without the peripheral elements honing in on it.
The MO Guys said,
Wrote on July 8, 2009 @ 9:03 am
Sharon, Here is the order of worship from that day:
9:25 Stage Dark CD playing
9:30 Congregation Sings
“Marvelous Light”
9:35 Advent Candle Video/Lighting with Video/Family
9:41 Welcome & Greeting
9:43 Coffee Video
9:46 Spoken word theme setup
9:47 Congregation Sings
1) “Sing to the King”
2) “Everlasting God”
3) “Create In Me A Clean Heart” (short version)
9:59 Scripture Video Luke 3:15-18
10:02 Prayers
10:05 Offertory Chris Rice Coffee Song
10:09 Message
Walk up: Movie Clip “I Am Sam”
John makes coffee during message
Intro
Pray: “Breathe On Me Breath of God”
Instructions for passing out/filling out filters
Write on coffee filters – how are you going to purify your life in preparation for Christmas
Music playing with vocals while people are writing, come forward and lay on altar and pray while music is going
Call and Response prayer to end, music behind instrumentally
10:29 Congregation Sings
“Create In Me A Clean Heart” Invite New Members forward
10:33 New Members/Benediction
10:35 Exit Music, Chris Rice song
Philis said,
Wrote on July 13, 2009 @ 12:22 pm
Excellent article and great video. Regarding the “layers of influence” what is the best way to approach them? Before or after worship, etc.? When to or not to integrate layers of influence in the message? Bottom line is: what are the do’s and don’t when it comes to handling layers of influcence.
The MO Guys said,
Wrote on July 13, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
Philis,
A couple of thoughts.
One is to ask the question first, what is our big idea for this day? And then let all decisions derive from that. Avoid “pre-booking” events for worship as much as possible. For example, when the music director has a person’s solo planned for a certain date in worship far advance of any knowledge about that day’s sermon. Effective planning allows for the main idea to be the driving force for all other worship decisions.
Second, we’ve heard it said that to get bigger means you get smaller. In other words, the more people attend worship, the more you need to adhere to the rule that what is communicated from upfront needs to apply to everyone in attendance, or at least the vast majority of people. Some churches, although large, act small, by inviting every ministry in the church to participate in worship – the bigger the numbers, the more you move from being a “small town” feel where everyone knows everyone else’s business, to a “city” feel, where relationships still occur, but as part of a larger network. The common link to every person in a large church are not individual relationships but ideas. The demand for effectively communicated ideas grows with bigger numbers. This is actually a whole separate blog post.
Worship in HD — Blog — Designing a Worship Service said,
Wrote on October 14, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
[...] read an interesting article from the Midnight Oil guys recently about the Main Idea. ¬? The challenge they give is a good one: “What is the single, central theme derived from [...]