Fresh Expressions Rural Conference

We had a really terrific time leading worship at the Fresh Expressions Rural Conference 2017. Entitled "Dying to Live", it was full of inspiring and honest stories of God's church taking bold risks in rural contexts (read a general report on the conference here). We were encouraged by the focus on "daring to fail" and the exhortation that "a small church is not a failed large church any more than a tangerine is a failed orange"!

Here are some of the resources we used during the worship times:

Monday opening worship

• Praise to the Lord - Jubilate lyrics
• "Come to worship" prayer by John Leach
• "Listen to the Words of the Risen Christ" by Joel Payne (this became something of a theme song and we used it in the closing service too)

Monday evening

• Taizé "Our darkness" chant (original title La Ténèbre)
• Sara led an examen - you can learn about these in our book Simple Worship

Tuesday morning

• In response to the Manchester bombings we sang an unaccompanied Kyrie, interspersed with silence and open prayers.
• We then continued with a liturgy from the Anabaptist Prayer Book.
• We ended with Marcus Meier's "Our Father".

Outdoor Worship

• Sara led a session of Outdoor Worship, which included ideas from Park Church and our "We're Going on a Prayer Hunt" stations
• We then taught a seminar which included material from our book Outdoor Worship

Tuesday evening

• We created a communion service based around Henri Nouwen's ideas about being Taken, Blessed, Broken and Given. We've just posted the PowerPoint and service plan to be downloaded here

Wednesday morning

• We used our Psalm 67 structure for worship and prayer
• We sang Sam's Jesus, Lead us to the Father

Wednesday closing worship

• We began with the "We are one in Christ" prayer
• We sang Sam's "Come You Thankful People"
• We closed with "We seek your Kingdom" to the tune of "Abide with me"