How long have we made members of our congregations sit motionless in church - apart from when they stand to sing, or put their hand in their wallet to give money? Is this a good thing? It certainly doesn't seem to reflect, the theology of the New Testament (everyone has a gift and should use it 1 Cor 12, 1 Peter 2: 9), nor what we know of the practice of worship in the New Testament church, (Acts 2: 42-27) nor the whole mind/body/spirit understanding of worship.

One of the goals of Project Reconnect was to help small congregations gain independence.  The local congregation conducting worship is a first step toward independence. Then however there is little point training up one person in a congregation so everyone is depended on that one person. Practically and theologically we are no further ahead training one individual.  So we made a goal that everyone who attends worship, as they are willing, participate and contribute. It might be that they control the DVD player (the under 10 years olds are best at this but we found a few 80 years olds who got pretty handy at it too!). It might be reading the Bible readings or taking up the offering. We also discovered among our congregations some pretty handy discussion leaders - who themselves didn't realise they had this gift.

We watched how participation caused people who had only come to church for the first time come back again because as soon as they arrived they had a role in the congregation (obviously sensitivity has to be used in offering a role). We found that people were really engaged in the prayers like never before, as they were the ones reading the prayers. We provided training at the beginning of Project Reconnect and taught good public prayer techniques. These skills helped the pray-er and everyone else to enter into the prayer.

Of course there are some drawbacks. Some places have got very chatty in their worship. Sometimes this trivialises the experience. However it is much improved on the "holy silence" where the reality is often people are just disengaged. There is plenty of opportunity for more training and encouraging congregations to use silence and solemnity as a means to encounter the wonderment of God.

We recognise it is essential that no one is pushed into doing something they don't want to do. At the same time it is crucial that the invitation be always made. So every week individuals are invited to participate in some way. An expression of the potential for transformation this creates is in this real life example: "My (80 year old) mother-in-law would never read. Now nearly two years since we started Project Reconnect she will read the Bible lesson. It is such a small step that means so much!"

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October 10, 2007