Call to Worship for Extravagant Generosity

I’m currently preaching a series on Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. This week we’re on ‘Extravagant Generosity’ and I’m using 2 Corinthians 9:1-2, 5-11 as our scriptural focus.

The Call

Our God, Creator and Sustainer of all life

   instructs us to give generously and cheerfully.

We come, giving the funds, time, and gifts God has given us

   cheerfully and without hesitation or pressure,

Trusting that in our upside-down life of the Gospel,

   our wealth is measured not by what we have but what we give away.

We give joyfully as an act of our faith trusting you great God,

   to bless your church, your people, and your creation through our giving.  

Call to Worship for Radical Hospitality

I’m currently preaching a series on Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. This week we’re on ‘Radical Hospitality’ and I’m using Luke 15:11-32 as our scriptural focus.

The Call

God rejoices at our presence here today

   and welcomes us home with a celebration.

We come from different places bringing different needs

   and God’s love accepts and provides for us all.

God, help us extend your extravagant welcome

   and share the gift of true Christian hospitality. 

Call to worship for Risk-Taking Mission & Service

I’m currently preaching a series on Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. This week we’re on ‘Risk-taking Mission and Service’ and I’m using Mark 2:13-17 as our scriptural focus.

The Call

We come seeking Jesus
   our teacher and model for our faith.
We find him at the home of a known sinner
   eating dinner with low-lifes and degenerates.
Jesus calls us sinners to follow him
   to bring healing and hope to those who need it most.

Call to worship for Intentional Faith Development

I’m currently preaching a series on Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. This week we’re on ‘Intentional Faith Development’ and I’m using the scripture Philippians 3:12-21 (The Message) as our scriptural focus but this also references Jesus’ words from John 15:1-17 which is the series theme.

The Call

God calls us to worship

   to refresh us for the work of following Christ.

But only one weekly refreshing is not enough!

   We need support.

We need accountability and encouragement

   to remain connected to Christ the vine.

Connect us in our time of worship, God

   and guide us to seek the support we need to continue to grow in you.

Call to Worship for Passionate Worship

I’m currently preaching a series on Robert Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. This week we’re looking at passionate worship and I’m using the scripture Acts 2:42-47 as our scriptural focus but this also references Jesus’ words from John 4.

The Call

God we come to worship you

   in Spirit and Truth!

We come to empty ourselves for you.

   Receive our praise and worship, our joys and sorrows, our hopes and fears.

We give all ourselves to you in worship

   so that you will fill us up with your Spirit

and send us out into your world again to continue the work of your kingdom!

   Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

Prayer for Illumination for Five Practices series

Here is the prayer for illumination we’ll be using for the series we’re doing based on Robert Schnase’s book The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. It references John 15:1-8 which is the theme scripture I’m using for this series.

Prayer for Illumination
God of love, plant us in the soil of your grace. Nurture us in the Truth of your Word, the vine of everlasting life. Enlighten us with the wisdom of your Spirit, which flows through us today and all days. Abiding in Christ we pray. AMEN

Sermon Series on 5 Practice of Fruitful Congregations

This year the leadership team at our church read Robert Schnase’s book The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations and we wanted to share the great information and inspiration he provides with the rest of the congregation. I decided to use the season of Easter to preach a series on this book. Focusing on these five practices will help us prepare for the big event we had planned on Pentecost. Pentecost is traditionally known as the birthday of The Church so we thought, let’s throw a big birthday party for The Church and use Pentecost as our ‘bring a friend to church’ Sunday!

You can download my worship plan for the series here: Five Practices Worship Plan
I will be posting the prayers and Call to Worships we use in the weeks ahead.

Happy Planning!

This is the image I designed to be the bulletin cover image for this series.