Obviously, by definition, it is about providing an experience for the person in the pew. In the past 25 years, churches tried very hard not to surprise the churchgoer at all on Sunday mornings. The people back then wanted to know everything that was going to happen, so that church would not "freak them out."

I think that people are now connecting much more with the "mystery" of the Gospel again, like the early centuries. They want to "experience" God rather than have Him logically explained to them, (as they wanted in the 80’s).

Rather than explain the theoretical premise of the “experience” versus the “presentation”, my style is just to give you the practical. Here are some things our church is doing to provide the churchgoer with an experience of God and His Community.

1) We had a message about what we believe God wanted to mold our career lives into. We gave everyone a small piece of clay and asked them to form something representing what their true passion was. Everyone in the audience made a little creation in their seat. Someone made an adding machine, someone made a test tube, someone made a Bible, and someone even made a convincing computer. The most important part was that the Teaching Pastor had several of them stand up and talk about what they made.

2) We had a message on "Thou Shall Not Kill." We made the entire service a full-on murder mystery. We had different participants on stage become suspects for a staged murder. The audience had to pay close attention during the services for clues and then vote who did it at the end. Each suspect had different motives, like speaking really cruelly to the victim, or telling someone else they wish the victim were dead. That made an excellent set-up for the message of how we can kill with our words and attitudes.

3) During a service on involvement, we gave the entire audience 3 Post-Its notes of different colors. We asked them three different questions on people that spiritually influenced them. They wrote down each answer on a separate Post-It. Then, while we were singing, we had everyone come forward and stick the Post-Its on the walls in front to make a giant “stained-glass” mosaic of our church's involvement.

4) One Sunday, to open our singing time, we asked the audience what songs God had placed on their hearts in the last week. The message was about loving people the way they wanted to be loved. The worship application of that message was to worship God the way He wants to be worshipped. We sang as many of their requests as we had time for. We provided an opportunity for the people to offer the songs God wanted to hear.

5) On December 31st, we are doing a service called "Party Sacred." We are basing the service on the Psalms use of "make a joyful noise". We are going to sing David Crowder’s “Make a Joyful Noise” while we pass out noisemakers to everyone in the service. We are then going to invite them to “make a joyful noise" anywhere during the worship that they feel led.

1) One particular Sunday, when we were focusing on God’s community, we found a new way to worship in community. The message was about when we choose Christ, it gives us a new-found responsibility to each other. During the singing, the Worship Leader walked off stage to the center of the room, where he asked the entire audience to turn and face him. Then he asked the people to look at the faces around them. After giving them a moment he said, “When we turn our eyes upon Jesus, we are turning our eyes upon the Church and each other.” We then sang “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. This may seem simple, but it was highly effective.

2) Another service that stands out was based on “God is our audience and we are the performers.” We asked everyone to enter the auditorium through the stage doors. We set-up the band at the very front edge of the stage, with their backs to the audience. As people walked on stage, they were invited to just stand worship God in that place. After a period of time, they were offered Communion and then took their seats in the auditorium. With the band facing away from the other worshippers, we could truly understand that we are all equal performers, worshipping God, our Creator.

1) We had a service on Praise that centered around Exodus 19, when God comes down on Mt. Sinai to be with His people. We tried to re-create that entire moment (as much as you can simulate an act of God). We produced a convincing earthquake (with sub-woofer speakers) and displayed video of fire and clouds descending upon a mountain. The stage was filled with smoke as the band and vocals came out, dressed in white. When the trumpet began to blast a call four times, the room became very quiet. We concluded the moment by singing "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?", "We Fall Down," and "Let My Words Be Few."

2) I really enjoy teaching Old Testament ideas of worship. We had a service on conflict that included some heart-wrenching moments of truth. We needed something to emphasize those moments of self-reflection, so we introduced the idea of the “Selah”. Selah is the liturgical note in the book of Psalms used to tell the band and singers to play instrumentally or pause in silence and reflect upon what they had just sung or heard. Four times during the service, the music or speaking would stop when the word “Selah” appeared on the video screen above. The heaviest moment was when we played an (edited) video clip from the movie “American Beauty” where the Dad stops a fight at the dinner table by smashing his plate against the wall. We followed that with Everclear’s song “Wonderful.” (Everclear’s lead singer is a songwriter that has serious issues with his parents.) When the song ended, a video slide immediately came up saying “Selah.” The room was completely silent as everyone grasped to take in the moment.

3) One Sunday, we created a Celtic worship time, complete with giant drums, violin, Irish flute and Irish dancers. The whole sequence was based upon what worship will be like in heaven. Those are my favorites! We celebrated through this giant sequence of music, singing, hand-clapping and finally dancing. After a long period of applause, we returned to the Vineyard song "We Will Dance," emphasizing "from every tongue, and tribe and nation, we will join in the song of the Lamb."

4) Several months ago, I began using rolling video behind the song "We Will Dance." I found a video called "Heaven and Hell". It includes rolling images from Revelation of how heaven may appear. I felt it was very effective. As they were singing "for the bridegroom will come", there was a picture of a horse and rider coming through the clouds. It was a great teaching moment.

5) Experiential worship involves stretching the worshipper, no matter where they are at. We had a service where we gave people an opportunity to come forward, take Communion, be anointed with oil and be prayed for. We could not foresee the people’s response, but we felt that it was what God wanted us to do. It turned out to be a spiritually moving moment for all! We also have services planned in the next month when we will ask people to bow down during worship and another service where we give them the opportunity to worship through dance.

An important point made by our Creative Arts Director is that having this kind of attitude with your worship is not dependent upon your preference of music style. This “experiential” worship can be carried out with intimate hymns just as easily as with the latest Delirious songs. Also, this type of worship does not depend upon the size of your church. We do this with two thousand people a week, but it can also be done with two hundred people, or even ten. What does matter is that your Creative Arts team and Senior Pastor are willing to take risks! I would encourage you to explore taking risks in your church’s worship life that will lead to a better understanding of Biblical worship and of God’s intense desire to know each of us intimately.