Active worship
Activities based on John 15.1-8
A simple worship activity for all ages
Give balls of coloured wool to people at the furthest edges of the congregation.
Ask those people to hold onto the loose end and pass the ball towards the middle of the church. Ask the person who receives the ball to keep hold of the thread and again to pass the ball on towards the middle. When all the balls are together at the centre, ask several people who do not yet have hold of a thread to bring the balls towards the front of the worship space, weaving them together loosely as they do so. Place the balls at the front – e.g. on the Communion table. Invite everyone to consider how, through the threads, they are all interconnected to each other and – represented by the balls on the table – to God. Keep a short time of silence, and then sing ‘Bind us together’, or another suitable song.
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Pruning the vine
Working in small groups, ask each person to share what events in their church life take up the most time and effort. Are they all ‘fruitful’? When everyone has had a chance to speak, ask the groups to discuss together what elements of church life might be ‘pruned’ in order for other ‘branches’ to grow.
Invite feedback and see if there are any common threads. Are there some ideas that your church could take forward?
W E A
Feeding the vine
Divide the congregation into two or more age-related groups (at its simplest: children and adults). Ask each group to make a list of ‘things that friends and/or family do that make you feel loved’. Bring the groups together to compare answers – are they the same? Encourage everyone to say something positive and affirming to someone sitting near them who is from a different age group.
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Growing the vine
Give everyone a veined leaf. Invite people to look closely at the veins, and in particular, at how the ends of the veins are thin and delicate. They are so fragile. Invite everyone to think about people who may be like these veins – at the edges of society, with only thin and fragile connections to other people. What might your church take on as a new ministry to others, to make and strengthen connections, particularly with people that no one else connects with?
W A
Spiritual styles abbreviations
W Word E Emotion S Symbol A Action
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