Follow-up Guide
Meeting people from around the world, participating in worship, and learning new ideas and insights for worship planning in a three-day conference can be energizing, but that energy can easily fizzle once the routine sets in when you return home. Consider these ways to extend the life of Symposium so that you may continue discussion about worship, implement new ideas, and educate your faith community about the deeper purpose and meaning of worship.
- Begin your reflections with the questions on our evaluation form, if you haven't yet.
- Consider holding a worship retreat for those who attended with you and others involved or interested in worship at your church. Set aside enough time for everyone to share and discuss, and include ample time for worship and fellowship. Come up with a list of concrete questions to discuss, skills to develop, and ideas to implement.
- Renew your worship committee or worship team meetings by deepening your reflection on the meaning and purpose of worship.
- In your collective or individual reflection, return to a specific theme or resource from this year's Symposium:
- this year's worship theme: 'And He Told Them a Parable'
- the featured art exhibit: 'The Father and His Two Sons'
- the featured publications and presenters' books
- any individual workshop or session on the schedule - Listen again (or for the first time) to a session in our audio archive, and share it with someone who wasn't able to attend.
a. Consider beginning each gathering with 10-15 minutes of worship, including scripture, song, and prayer. See Worship Insights, our monthly Bible studies for worship planners and leaders.
b. Occasionally read an article or book on worship that stretches your imagination and thinking about worship. Discuss what you have learned and the implications for worship.
c. Discuss and discern together any of these questions:1) How can we pastorally plan and lead worship so that people can pray, praise, lament, confess, and hear God's Word in deeper and more profound ways?
2) What healthy practices and habits do we want to develop in our worship community? How can we pastorally introduce them?
3) What new ways of thinking about worship will impact our planning of worship?
4) What practical things did we learn that will impact our worship planning? (If you gleaned a good idea for Easter or Advent or a future service, develop a system for retrieving that idea when you need it.)