How Inclusive Was Our Worship Service?

As your Coordinating Minister, I work with staff and lay leaders to provide inspiring Sunday worship services at Peninsula United. We regularly review our worship services and would like feedback from members/adherents who attend in person or online.

We are asking, “How inclusive was our worship service?” After you attend a worship service, we’d appreciate your feedback on the following questions (please answer as few or as many as you like):

How did the worship connect with your context/contemporary issues?

Was it relevant in the everyday lives of those attending AND those in the wider community?

How did it appeal to different generations? 

What appealed to your generation? What appealed to other generations?

How was the balance between active and passive participation? 

How were you given an opportunity to speak and do something in worship? How were you given an opportunity to hear or see something in worship?

How was it sensitive to different Spiritual Styles? 

(The Spiritual Styles are listed below.)

Word

Those that have a preference for the word style, know God when they know about God. For them, the spoken and written words used in worship are important; they encounter God through well read Scripture readings, through the words of hymns, through the words of prayers, through the exposition of the Word through sermons.

Emotion

Those that have a preference for the emotion style, know God when they can feel God, especially when they're with others. They encounter God through music, drama, dance, being with and sharing with one another. Personal relationships are treasured by people with a preference for the emotion style, so enabling them time within worship to cultivate them is important, as is the sharing of personal testimonies.

Symbol

Those that have a preference for the symbol style, know God through mystery, symbols and images. They sense God through beauty, awe and wonder, and in the natural world so God can be felt in the mountains or in a stained glass window. For them meditation and chants can be really worthwhile activities and they value times for silent reflection as they like being alone to wonder about God.

Action

Those with a preference for the action style, know God when they are doing the work of God. Spirituality for them is very much something to be lived so they have an unquenchable thirst for justice. They really like welcoming people as they come into church, writing letters, signing petitions and raising money for charity campaigns.

Thank you for your feedback!

These questions have been designed to assess how our worship services include your preferences AND the preferences of others. Please try to answer the questions from an inclusive point of view (e,g., “This is what resonated with me” AND “This might have resonated with others”). 

Send your feedback to minister@peninsulaunited.com

The material above is adapted from the Church of Scotland (churchofscotland.org.uk). The Church of Scotland seeks to inspire the people of Scotland and beyond with the Good News of Jesus Christ through enthusiastic worshipping, witnessing, nurturing and serving communities. It is one of the largest organizations in the country, with 280,000 members and 650 ministers serving in parishes and chaplaincies. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church and established itself as a church in the reformed tradition.