Ship of Fools: Eccles: Running AltWorship events

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

This is a spin off from Padre Joshua's post here where he mentions setting up Advent prayer stations for a couple of days over the weekend. I didn't think it fitted under the alt-worship resources thread and it's not for Advent, it's a more general question on running events.

I've just put together the proposed schedule for the Sunday evening services I've been trying to establish (see posts passim) for the next quarter.* One of the suggestions is a prayer walk for one of the Sundays in Lent and as I've been pondering it, I've wondered whether to put it up for the weekend, so around other things I'll be trying to do that weekend. Do people who have done this find it works better if you provide something like a prayer walk over a longer time?

*This is for January to Easter and is a mixture of

monthly traditional choral evensong in a regular slot,
a quarterly healing service,
a monthly teaching session in a regular slot. This is almost along the café church net model of a speaker providing some teaching - currently it's about meeting Jesus in the Gospels - then stopping to chat in groups with coffee, followed by a summing up. This is in a regular slot
a Taizé service
the labyrinth out
Stations of the Cross (Palm Sunday)
the prayer walk suggestion above
[*} what is becoming a quarterly meditation service

[Reformat thread title.]

[ 15. July 2010, 15:46: Message edited by: Belisarius ]

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

Both Clare and myself have run open church events with stations and people free to come in. Clare more successfully than me and if I recall correctly she just got the church open for the evenings of Holy week (or another week in Lent)so people could drop in. People were encouraged to use the church as a quiet space to do something in. It did not matter if it was homework.

I twice did more complicated things, with stations around the church both just for an evening, one for Easter and one for Christmas. Two visitors came to the first, but no members and nobody came to the second.

Main problem is you need someone to be on the premises, just so somebody is there in case of mishaps. It needn't be the same person all the time. They can be quietly reading a book in the corner, flower arranging or doing some other job around the sanctuary, they just need to be there. They don't have to welcome people.

Jengie

[ 18. December 2009, 12:31: Message edited by: Jengie Jon ]

Posted by Padre Joshua (# 13100) on :

I've done a Lenten prayer walk on Holy Saturday, and I've done an Advent prayer walk over Friday evening, Saturday daytime, and Tuesday daytime sometime during Advent. The reason I offered times during the day was because the church I was pastoring had many members who were no longer able to drive after dark. I've always taken appointments, as well as allowing people to come whenever they wished during the times I was open. I found that most of the participants came in close succession, whether by appointment or by walk-in. On the Advent walk, I found that all of my participants came on Friday evening.*

I am in a new place this year, and I am running the Advent walk this evening and tomorrow. The majority of my appointments are tonight. I will update tomorrow evening with the actual numbers.

And now for my analysis. I think that, given the participation trends I'm seeing, I will offer the Lenten prayer walk on Friday evening and Saturday daytime. I have already reserved a spot on the church calendar for the weekend before Palm Sunday. There is a reasonably large amount of work that goes into setting up a walk like this, with props, booklets, deciding which stations will be in which rooms, etc. Because of that, I want as many to experience it as possible, which in turn means offering as many times as possible. I think it boils down to knowing your people and their needs. At the last place, I had many retired people who couldn't drive after dark, so offering things in the morning or afternoon was better. Here, there are more people who work during the week, so offering things in the evening or on Saturday is better.

I'm considering putting a third walk together for ordinary time, perhaps July/August. It depends on how the Advent and Lent walks go over. I hadn't considered quarterly. Another idea that springs to mind is using Wesley's Covenant Renewal service as a source and springboard for one.

I also wanted to say that I like your outline of things going on at church, and I wish you luck.
_________
*This suited me fine, since most of the walk does well in candlelight, and thus is more aesthetically pleasing after dark. But I digress.

Posted by frin (# 9) on :

Is the question about the prayer walk whether to open it for hours on end or a short period of time? The answer is probably in who your participants are (or who you hope they will be), and how you connect to them. If you are hoping for non-churched drop ins, then presumeably you know some and can talk to them about it. If you are hoping for people who already come to church and sometimes come to your events, then probably the same length of time you would open the labyrinth for would be about right. But you probably know your audience (and volunteers) better than we do. Would the volunteers be frustrated if they were there collectively for 48 hours and some of the volunteers saw no visitors during their stint. Would your participants be more comfortable if they were the only person on the prayer walk at a time, or more comfortable with the place buzzing with other people.

I've had more success with station based events for the general public when it is for a shorter, defined time; at a point when they are already passing through the place with the stations; and when they can see other people using the stations at the point when they join in.

I've also had a good response from unchurched people to tours of 'hideaways' - quiet spaces and unusual places in a small area, which is what I thought you might mean by a prayer walk until I read the link above.

'frin

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

The thinking around the prayer stations is:

the date I've set is in Fairtrade Fortnight and as a Fairtrade Church I've got to run an event (that one is my baby).
I've already asked the Brownies and Guides if they'd help run a café on the Saturday afternoon to highlight the Big Swap (links with uniformed groups is also on my list);
if I put up prayer stations for the Saturday and use them on the Sunday evening as a separate event, would that work?

I really don't know. I'm trying to do a few things here: to introduce different ways of worshipping that are maybe more open to people outside the mainstream churches; to consistently run something at 6pm as we currently run a couple of things a month and when they aren't on there's nothing on and to provide something at a time of day that might, possibly, attract young couples and young singles into church without alienating the current congregation.

Our current main service is at 9:30am - most people who've been out on Saturday night aren't going to want to get up for that. We already run a monthly service at 6pm, so slotting in extras around them so there's always something on seems a good idea - it's easier just turning up and finding something rather than trying to remember which Sunday something is on. We don't have clergy capacity to run anything else, so if I want this to happen I need to accept I've just volunteered. If and when it takes off more people might be interested.

Posted by Padre Joshua (# 13100) on :

Couple thoughts...

It seems to me, coming from a clergy perspective, that things started by the laity tend to stay stronger, longer, than if things are started because the pastor wants to do it. Laity begin to take ownership in the project, and as long as it doesn't become someone's personal "kingdom", it is a wonderful way to teach people that we are all the hands and feet of Christ, not just the paid clergy.

Second, I like your idea that having something consistently at a given time every week is much better than trying to explain to people which weeks you have things and which ones you don't. I'm introverted and kind of shy IRL and I don't like psyching myself up to meet new people only to find out I came on the wrong night or at the wrong time.

I think you're on the right track.

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

Some thoughts not very coherent so I am listing them:

Produce a flyer and get the Guide/Brownie company to distribute it. Let it feature mainly their cafe but have a note saying there will be chance to pray in the church during this time.
Publicity, Publicity, Publicity, people take in what they hear thrice. You will also get a one in ten response rate. Church members need to come once before they will invite a friend.
Have fair trade coffee and bakes available at the service as well.
Produce both an "order of service" sheet i.e. a sheet that lists the stations in a sensible order and gives people a short description (this enables people to select their order of going around) and have clear instructions at each station.
Background music, if friendly with the organist see if he might like to play a selection of music of his choice, or a CD/MP3 player playing instrumental music. It means two things. Firstly people are not put off by silence, secondly a quiet hubbub of conversation is melded in with the music. If the organist is playing some may also like to come and just listen to him.
I tended to make the basic flow the same as for a normal service of the Word. So there would be welcome, adoration, confession, Word, response, prayers of the people and thanksgiving, blessing. It basically for me was a way to make sure I did have some sort of balance within the worship
If you have a side chapel it may be possible to put a video clip on loop in there, for people to watch. Some people might come just to watch a video about the work of the Fairtrade Foundation and have a coffee.
Get others to contribute to creating the prayer stations.
Find some way by which people participating can enrich the experience for others, a prayer display is the most obvious, but I have got people to write response to bible passages and put it in a box, which others could draw out of.
It may be good to have "tours" at specific times which briefly explain the stations. This means a group of people can come at a set time, see what there is, and then decide what to do. This is likely to appeal to more extrovert individuals.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

I was hoping someone else would come back with answers, because the situation I'm dealing with is very different from what you seem to be envisaging, Jengie Jon.

This is a church in a prominent position on the High Street that is often open for events at the weekend and during the week. For example, we host the annual art exhibition and an annual Tree Festival. We are open every weekday and most Saturdays from 9am to 3pm (except school holidays when we remove temptation from the teenagers by shutting at lunchtime), Sundays we are open for services. The patch of grass and seating outside the church is used all summer by teenagers hanging around outside and office workers to eat their lunch. We're discussing putting a kettle and bins into the soft seating area inside the church for lunchtime during the winter. The church also provides coffee for a donation to people coming into the market on market day. People come in and out to light candles and put prayers on the prayer board whenever the church is open, or to look at the architecture and building.

We are a fairtrade church, so all coffee and tea is already fairtrade, market day coffee, after services, the lot.

We do have side chapels, one of which would be on the route around the church, the other we have deliberately (recently) put in to give a quiet space to pray away from the hubbub of anything else we're putting on.

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Produce a flyer and get the Guide/Brownie company to distribute it. Let it feature mainly their cafe but have a note saying there will be chance to pray in the church during this time.

Letters home to parents are fine. None of the uniformed groups are allowed to do anything door to door any more, so they can't distribute.

quote:
Publicity, Publicity, Publicity, people take in what they hear thrice. You will also get a one in ten response rate. Church members need to come once before they will invite a friend.

Part of the reason for doing things like prayer walks and things that don't matter if a few people come is that our main services are running at around 120-150 and we don't get to do quieter services. This is something I want to grow gently and organically as we learn what we're doing.

quote:
Produce both an "order of service" sheet i.e. a sheet that lists the stations in a sensible order and gives people a short description (this enables people to select their order of going around) and have clear instructions at each station.

Any tips on this? I've got two thoughts gestating, one is a prayer walk using the church building, which I have been pondering for a bit and the other is this specific one. But if it works it would be nice to do something similar in Advent.

quote:
Background music ... or a CD/MP3 player playing instrumental music. <snip>

We do use the CD/MP3 player, and we have had organ recitals at lunchtime, but the organ is such that people sit and listen.

quote:
I tended to make the basic flow the same as for a normal service of the Word. So there would be welcome, adoration, confession, Word, response, prayers of the people and thanksgiving, blessing. It basically for me was a way to make sure I did have some sort of balance within the worship

I've been wondering about this or whether other journeys through would work. Does anyone else have ideas on this?

quote:
If you have a side chapel it may be possible to put a video clip on loop in there, for people to watch. Some people might come just to watch a video about the work of the Fairtrade Foundation and have a coffee.

How would this work in the main room? Does it have to be in a side room? Wouldn't it work better near the café area?

quote:
Find some way by which people participating can enrich the experience for others, a prayer display is the most obvious, but I have got people to write response to bible passages and put it in a box, which others could draw out of.

We have prayer trees for the Tree Festival and the most popular trees often allow people to add to them. I've also put up a prayer tree in Lent before now, so this is an idea I'd want to use. I've also seen a cross with prayers nailed to it.

quote:
It may be good to have "tours" at specific times which briefly explain the stations. This means a group of people can come at a set time, see what there is, and then decide what to do. This is likely to appeal to more extrovert individuals.

Would this work for the Sunday evening slot? or does that need to be a time to allow people to go around on their own?

Posted by Poppy (# 2000) on :

I've done various installations in church that could look like a prayer walk as there were 5 or 6 stations which if you took them in order had the elements of a service of the word as Jengie has outlined but they could be done in any order. It was more like an interactive art gallery than a service and people could spend as long or as little time at each station as they liked. Most of them would have an interactive bit - like writing stuff down that you were unhappy about and screwing it up and putting it in the dustbin (you could bounce the ball of the organ if you fancied it and the organist wasn't looking!) Interactivity and stations that raised lots of space for questions seemed to be at the heart of what we were doing.

It needed someone around all the time in case things were stolen but at a push it could be left up all the time. We have certainly left single prayer stations in an open church and they haven't come to any harm.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Bumping this up as Yangtze and I were chatting about this last weekend.

Posted by The Kat in the Hat (# 2557) on :

I would also say that you need someone around, not always in case things get stolen, but for those people who need someone to talk to. When we have run something similar, there has almost always been at least one person who has been moved or touched by the process and who has needed to talk about their experience.

Posted by Think² (# 1984) on :

*bumpetty bump*

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

I had these prayer stations out this weekend, and tried leading it too. I'd like to see some other people's ideas in practice before I tried it again.

Some things I was very happy with, others not so sure about. The other thing I tried to do was make it multisensory and child friendly, although I didn't make it quite in time - combination of computer crashing with all the drafts inside it and taking a couple of weeks to access it and a virus doing the rounds really took my preparation up to the wire.

I ended up with a small group to take round and it ended up being far more of a conversation than meditation - has anyone else found that?

Posted by Horseman Bree (# 5290) on :

We've run the stations concept, but with a pamphlet that makes it self-guided and self-timed. Occasionally someone overtakes someone else, or dallies until passed, but that has never caused conversation. Most people become very "inward" as they proceed.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

I wanted it to be far more inward, and some points I managed to get some silence and contemplation, but I had someone who didn't do silence with me, which meant no-one did. Even when we had joss sticks with incense rising and time to pray quietly!

During the day yesterday it was far more of an opportunity to wander round and look, but then the complaint from a couple of people was that it was a long way round - 12 stations, round the admittedly large church, using the building features - so the rood screen with cross, and wooden cross on to which to nail prayers underneath and the images in the reredos.

I am not sure if there's any way to win in this situation.

Posted by Horseman Bree (# 5290) on :

Fair enough, our churches are relatively small. I can see that an individual might feel more visible/exposed in a larger space - but, if the thought-process is sufficiently involving, one doesn't notice one's surroundings.

You may have had a couple of people who weren't particularly engaged in the first place! This isn't for everyone, any more than a regular service is totally enthralling for everyone every time you do it.

And, of course, they may not be used to thinking about what they are doing. Some people just want to do their duty and go home.

Posted by Rosa Gallica officinalis (# 3886) on :

We have found that playing music (chant or Arvo Part or similar) quietly in the background helps to deter people from talking for similar events.

Posted by Think² (# 1984) on :

*bumping for holy week planning*

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

We're finding that a talk followed by meditation and prayer, or a talk followed by discussion and feedback are bringing people in on Sunday evening. Not huge numbers but something that's working, and gently growing. The Choral Evensong service in that slot is attracting 40 to 50 regularly, the talk with coffee and chat 25-40, depending on who is leading it. The prayer and meditation services are quieter, but well into double figures every time we've done them recently - I'm including putting the Labyrinth out in that. These are the third or fourth services on a Sunday in this church.

I'd like to see how a Taizé service goes but we haven't managed to run one yet. I can't pick it up when people are busy as I don't know enough - I do when it's the Labyrinth or Compline or a number of other things.

The other thought for a Sunday evening is a commentated communion service as a teaching tool for those who'd like to know more. Has anyone else tried this then? and did it work?

Where would be a good time to put on a noisier service? We have people who would like to see a praise and worship format. I'd be interested to hear if those work on a Sunday evening or other times work better.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Sorry, double posting to add, a couple of us had a conversation in the Café chatting about altworship and Fresh Expressions and wondered about meeting to see Applecart a group that tell stories in a pub as very much first steps to church.

We did try setting up a meet last November, including a MW report from Mark Wuntoo, but it clashed with the Benny Hinn visit. The next time they are on is Easter Sunday evening, 4th April, and I'm going to suggest a meet in All Saints if anyone is interested.

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