We had another visitor in class today, and it was a surprisingly refreshing conversation. Jordan Rife, Worship Pastor at College Wesleyan Church in Marion Indiana, came and spoke to us about how she leads worship and cultivates a culture of worship at her church. Immediately from listening to her, you can understand that her whole life has been marked by an intentional pursuit for God and for his Church. I really appreciated how she told us her personal story, her story at the church, and how the Wesleyan denomination has formed her.
Jordan shared with us how she views worship leadership, but really worship sheparding at her church. She shared the levels of how she goes about creating an atmosphere of worship. She talked about how she was in a unique situation with her congregation because when she first was hired on as staff, her church basically consisted of five different congregations based on style. So, as a part of her work she had to consider how to unify the congregations through the avenue of worship. In general, it goes: God, the Body, Individual. Worship is a response to God, it is a conversation. So the unifying aspect of worship is that we have revelation of God and we respond to that. Then, we acknowledge the story of God: creation, incarnation, and recreation. These things can be shown through the songs sung, the Scripture read, or any other element of the service. She had really good things to say about how this should be the grounding thing, not style or personal feelings or even the Church calendar (which the Wesleyan church practices). The Body is formed and edified but worship. Then the individual part of worship is how we as individuals approach God.
Jordan closed by saying that worship, discipleship, and outreach ebb and flow in a harmony. She said it is like a whoola hoop, they are all connected and work with each other. They can’t be separate, and this was really refreshing to hear.
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