I agree with you… preaching IS the main thing. Excellent suggestions!

Not too long ago, it was my very SAD experience to sit in what may be considered a ‘flagship’ church in our conservative, independent Baptist movement and observe the traditional service order played out:

Congregational song and opening prayer
Choir
More congregational singing
Announcements and offertory
Special music, 1 or 2 numbers
Sermon
Invitation

After a 30-40 minute buildup, when this gifted and capable pastor came to the pulpit, there was audibly a collective ‘SIGH’ from the congregation–what??? Preaching the word of God is the MAIN thing. Of course, it’s not the only thing…indeed, I consider the offering part of our worship. In fact, when the congregational singing and special music are completed, the worship doesn’t end–it CONTINUES.

What can we do to help create anticipation rather than apathy toward the preaching of God’s word in our services? I propose the following:

Congregational song
Opening prayer by member or guest
Choir
Congregational songs in succession
Special music
Sermon
Invitation
Announcements
Offertory

Try it for a month and see if it doesn’t allow a smoother transition into the sermon, thereby being anticipatory.

Jokingly, new people often remark on the ‘freshness’ of the service, including impact by the sermon, and I say “that’s the way we normally do it; and, this way if you don’t like the sermon you don’t have to ‘pay for it’!” ha.

Announcements: Our “worship flow” can quite often be broken up, whether it’s because of a missionary presentation, or a Reformer’s Unanimous recognition, or a School of Bible certification, or teen mission trip or camp testimonies, or… well, you get the point. So, inserting a few announcements (especially emphasizing a few important ones) usually isn’t abrupt or out of the norm. (Of course, never “read” the bulletin… but that’s for another post.)

Easter Sunday morning we didn’t really start with announcements. It was more of a welcome to our church, here’s what we’re doing, we want to welcome you, please fill out a guest card, etc. It was more geared to the unchurched and poorly churched. (Full color bulletins were printed to get the important announcements out.)

Project words: We have done this quite a bit for choral and ensemble songs, and always get numerous positive responses. We’ve done some lyrics during instrumental, but several challenges stand in the way of making it a regular feature: 1) it’s nice to have someone musical operating the slides (though, I’ve nodded my head from the platform to cue the guys before), and 2) there’s a lot of prep work involved (though it’s worth it). We certainly do this during Lord’s Table Services or other themed services. I think it’s a great thing to do!

Transitions between songs: I suppose this depends on a lot of factors (a pastor’s input, your experience and/or willingness to develop the ability, etc.). In particular, my pastor likes the verbal transitions, and so we do that. We rarely just let songs speak for themselves (except those right before the sermon), though I have been in ministries where this was the norm.

I like your layout of the the service order page and I appreciate the care in how you place things.
I was wondering if you find the announcements in the middle (PM) breaks up the flow, or is this advantageous for you? I noticed that in the AM you started with announcements.

Something we do during an offertory is project the words of the songs that are played by our pianists so that they are a bit more focused and the message of the song is not lost because people forgot the words to the 2nd stanza.

Do you let the message of the songs speak for themselves, or do you take time to verbally piece the flow together for people as you transition between songs, that is when you have theme service?

John