Worship Wellspring:
A Sampling of Innovative Worship Experiences
from Chicago Area Congregations

Saturday, April 24, 2010
2:00 – 5:00 pm
First UMC Park Ridge

The popular new workshop format from spring 2009 is reprised with a twist. Instead of short worship presentations from more than a dozen congregations, this time we present a fuller experience of two different worship styles.

Pastor Bonnie Beckonchrist and the worship team at First United Methodist Church of Arlington Heights weave elements both historic and contemporary into a fusion style of worship celebration. They employ their grand 29 rank Casavant pipe organ, revering great music as proclamation and enjoy new songs of jubilation often accompanied by their jazz quartet. Honoring scripture and tradition, the Word is shared in fresh ways as the gospel’s timelessness sends young and old alike into the world to witness to the love of God and neighbor.

Pastor Fred Nelson and the worship team at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Park Ridge have embraced Reimagine Worship as their frame to re-think and re-consider worship. Re-imagining worship reintroduces more imagination and creativity into worship gatherings and strives for worship that is participatory, not passive; authentic, not pre-packaged; creative, not clichéd; communal, not individualistic; multi-sensory, not just talk; mysterious, not shallow; and focused on Jesus and his way of life. Toward this end they use revolving worship formats, in order to keep worship fresh, experience different worship styles and approaches and achieve a balance between them.

In each half of the workshop one of these worship teams will lead us in a model worship service followed by a time for dialogue and reflection upon this experience. This workshop will also feature more extensive use of audio-visual technology to support and enrich worship experiences.

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