I’ve been planning worship for over 16 years and through lots trial and error, I’ve learned several things to do and even more things not to do when planning worship.

Today we’ll look at Part 1 of “Creating Seamless Worship Services.”

Here’s Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.

When it comes to planning worship there is one word we should consider if we want seamless worship, that word?

FLOW.

Flow is the undistracted movement from one element in a service to another.

So the question is, “How do we create flow in worship?”

We’ve all been there – the service is going pretty good. Worship is engaging and the congregation is singing out but as soon as the music stops…silence. Cricket. Cricket. Awkward silence. No one knows what’s supposed to happen. People are looking around, waiting.

And before you know it – any momentum that was gained during the music portion of the service is now completely gone. And the worst part is that people have lost their focus on God and are now focused on their surroundings. Why does this happen?

NO FLOW – that’s why.

We spend a lot of time working on the songs and preparing the sermon, and rightly so. But we spend very little time thinking about how each element relates to each other.

How does the first song FLOW into the next. What about the Welcome, Scripture, Prayer, Video, Announcements, Offering?

Every element should be carefully and thoughtfully planned so that there are no “Cricket Moments.”

Am I saying there should never be silence in worship? Of course not. However, there is a big difference in planned reflective prayer and that awkward 30 seconds while the congregation waits for someone to realize it’s their time to come on stage and pray for the offering.

Worship Leaders, I encourage you to spend very intentional time, each week, thinking about and planning the FLOW of your services.

In the next few posts (Here) and (Here) we’ll look at some practical things you can start doing right away to help you Create Seamless Worship Services.

Have you ever had a “Cricket Moment” in worship? I’d love to hear about it!