Forge Intensive Monday - Mark Pierson

I thought I'd post up my raw notes from the intensive ... totally unedited I'm afraid, so please excuse anything wrong, offensive or unintelligible.

Mark Pierson. Urban Seed.

Worship sustains people in the following of Christ in the world.
leader has a responsibility to sustain people in their place in the world. Not about pushing them into what you're thinking.

Worship leader --> Worship Curator
- responsible for overall shape of the whole service. absolutely everything that's involved is overseen by the curator.
- goal is to sustain people in their following of Christ in the world.

working definition of worship
- responding to god heart, mind, soul, strength.
- not just about taking on information, but responding

- something to take away is important ... paper vs digital

An Order of Service.
- opening ritual
- call to worship and prayer for blessing
- meditation or song/s (depending on participation this sometimes gets dropped)
- prayer of confession and worlds of forgiveness
- scripture reading and sermon
- (response)
- communion (brief) and offering (done with water for it's significance)
- prayer of thanks for gifts
- concerns of the church
- prayers for others (issues are shared and then 'Lord hear our prayer')
- song (depending on participation this sometimes gets dropped)
- benediction

- helpful to have a structure to hang things on, plus it becomes connected to the community.

Sustainability.
- having a liturgy/structure is helpful in terms of sustainability
- in mission.
- multifaceted - different for different people - individual paths
- scripture, prayers, journalling, retreats

Is Urban Seed a Christian organisation?
- the Christian faith, worldview, lifestyle undergirds what is done by Urban Seed rather than imposed over the top of it. It's not that it sets out to be a Christian organisation but rather that it happens to be.