Worship That Works

At a Ballou Channing District Fall Conference in 2009 I got my first glimpse of transformative worship at a workshop led by Rev. Ken Belden of Wellsprings Congregation in Pennsylvania. This feeling of excitement for the potential of “worship that moves the soul” was reinforced through reading Worship That Works by Revs. Wayne Arnason and Kathleen Rolenz.

By the time of the Ballou Channing District Annual Meeting in spring of 2010, the urgency of “change or die” was driven home in moving fashion by church leaders like the Rev. Erik Wikstrom. The Pew Institute had just published its findings on how mainstream churches are fading into oblivion while people who identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious” is growing rapidly.

I felt a need to do something to contribute to my Unitarian Universalist faith, and I have come to believe that worship is the answer. So I read voraciously, attended workshops, and traveled near and far to find excellent worship so I could contribute to transforming lay worship at my congregation in Kingston, Massachusetts. Along with my fellow travelers, Rosemary Donahoe and Ellen Snoeyenbos, we listened, learned and tried some new forms of worship: pastoral, healing, intellectual, and community-building. We hope to share them with others who are looking for innovative forms of worship.