Engaging with Evergreen SGV's Livestream Worship Service
by Pastor Dan Christian
Worshipping our God is not something we are to merely observe from a distance; rather it is something we are to participate in with our whole being. Though we can (and must) worship God in our own hearts individually, gathering together on the Lord’s Day with our brothers and sisters in Christ helps us to participate more fully in the worship of our God. Our hearts and souls need the nourishment that comes from our regular corporate worship together.
Thus when we suddenly cannot come together in corporate worship, it is a big deal. It may not feel as urgent of a need as something like finding toilet paper. It may not appear as significant of a need as replacing lost income. But it is actually a deeper and greater need, because relationship with God is at the very core of our being. So in the midst of all the other things we are scrambling to adjust to in this global health crisis, we must not minimize the significance of our heart’s need to join with our brothers and sisters to worship our great God.
So how can we participate more fully in this livestream mode of worship service, whether alone or as a family together at home? Here are some practical ideas…
1) Treat it like church. Get ready early—have your device hooked up and ready to go by 10am. On the livestream screen, there will be a public Chat (to the right of the video player) live at 10am where you can greet one another before the service begins. If you don’t regularly come to church in your pajamas, then put on your usual church clothes. If you have kids, download and print the children’s bulletin before the service starts, and ask one of the kids to be the “usher” to hand out the bulletins to their siblings. Get your Bibles out and whatever you use to take notes. In other words, don’t think of this as a break from normal church, but carry out the same routines you would do if you were going to our church building for the worship service (in fact, maybe it’s an opportunity to improve on some of your routines).
2) Join in the singing. Go to the Evergreen SGV Sunday worship playlist on Spotify when it comes out earlier in the week, and perhaps have that playlist cued on a different device so that if there are glitches in the livestream you can play the song from the other device and keep on singing. Unlike being in the sanctuary, at home you get to control the volume of your device. So if you want, crank up the sound and sing with all you’ve got! If you have a musical instrument and want to play along with the worship team, this is a great opportunity to do that—make your own live worship band at home! Younger kids might enjoy pounding on a toy drum or keeping time with an egg shaker, or make up your own hand motions to go with the songs as you sing. Whatever you do, don’t just sit there and watch the singing on your screen—participate!
3) Pray together. When there are times for corporate prayer in the service, pray aloud on your own or together with whoever is with you. If you have kids, give them a prompt for how to pray (e.g. Son, can you pray that God would help the people who are sick right now? or Let’s each go around and tell God one thing we are thankful for today.) These are great opportunities to teach and model prayer with your children.
4) Engage in the sermon. Listen attentively and take notes, just as if you were in service. When the sermon begins, move from the Chat tab to the Bible tab, so you can have an electronic Bible open as you listen. If you have kids, set up various “competitions” with them (parents against kids, kids against each other, girls against boys, etc.) to see who can notice the most repetitions of the key word that is given—perhaps have them keep a tally sheet. For older kids, challenge them to write down each of the main points, as well as anything that stands out to them. (Actually, there’s no age limit on paying attention for key words and main points—adults can do that too!) Encourage kids to ask questions if they don’t understand something—if there’s not a quick answer to the question, just jot down the question and tell them you’ll talk about it after the service. Or if you have a question about something in the sermon, type “I have a question” in the Chat tab after the service, and a pastor will message you individually through the online platform.
5) Share with others after the service. Rather than bemoaning the fact that we cannot hang out with our friends after the service, take the initiative to engage with others in the ways we can. The Chat tab will be open for about 30 minutes after the service—that’s a great place to share something that stood out from the sermon or the singing, and to hear what others are learning and processing too. If you are at home with children, ask younger children about the key word they were listening for: What does it mean? Why is it important? What would God want you to do about it? Ask older children about the notes they took or the points that stood out to them: What caught your attention? Is that easy or hard for you? How can you grow in that area? Take time to pray for one another, either about the things you learned from the sermon, or about anything that is on your heart. Click on the Live Prayer button (at the bottom of the livestream video player) and one of the pastors will pray with you. Even beyond Sunday mornings, you could reach out to someone else in our church family and discuss what God has been teaching each of you this past week. Be intentional about making a phone call (or even sending a “snail mail” note!) to one of our senior citizens, who may not be able to access the livestream worship service. Find ways to create community and encourage one another in this time.
6) Share ideas with one another. As you experiment with various ways of participating with the service, share them with other families and friends you know. Swap ideas together. Laugh about the funny quips or antics someone's children did. Commiserate about the things that are hard. Pray for one another in the struggles you are facing in this time. In doing so, you will be encouraging one another and growing in community, even in this time when we are physically apart from each other.
May God bless you richly as you participate in this new mode of worship service, and may God grow us as a church family through all the creative ways that we engage in this core value of corporate worship.