Large Group Creative Worship Planning Team Expectations

Crafting Inspiring Worship Experiences for Our Community

Dear Creative Worship Planning Team,

Welcome to a dynamic and creative ministry role within Riverfront Family Church. Your role as part of the Large Group Creative Worship Planning Team is instrumental in shaping our monthly corporate worship experiences. Together with the pastors, you'll design and execute engaging, spiritually enriching services that encompass music and the arts, teaching and preaching, sharing and testimonials, silence and reflection, prayer, communion (monthly), and baptisms (as needed). Here are the expectations and responsibilities for your team:

1. Collaborative Creativity:

• Collaborate with your team members and pastors to brainstorm and design worship experiences that inspire and engage our congregation.

• Encourage the exploration of creative elements such as music, visual arts, drama, and multimedia to enhance the worship atmosphere.

2. Monthly Meeting Commitment:

• Commit to regular meetings, at least monthly, and additional meetings as needed, to plan and coordinate upcoming worship services.

• Come prepared to share ideas, feedback, and insights to ensure the services align with our church's vision and mission.

3. Worship Element Coordination:

• Be responsible for coordinating specific elements of the worship service, such as music selection, art displays, or testimonial opportunities, ensuring a cohesive and impactful service flow.

• Work closely with relevant individuals (musicians, artists, speakers, etc.) to ensure smooth execution.

4. Spiritual Depth and Diversity:

• Strive to infuse each service with spiritual depth and diversity, catering to the varied needs and preferences of our congregation.

• Encourage a balance between tradition and innovation to reach a wide audience.

5. Communion and Baptism Preparation:

• Assist in the preparation and execution of monthly communion services and coordinate baptisms as needed throughout the year.

• Ensure that these sacramental moments are conducted with reverence and meaning.

6. Fellowship and Community Building:

• Consider ways to incorporate fellowship and community-building opportunities into our worship services to strengthen the bonds among our church members.

• Plan for post-service gatherings or activities when appropriate.

7. Attention to Detail:

• Pay close attention to the details that enhance the worship experience, such as lighting, sound, visuals, and timing, to create a seamless and engaging service.

8. Adaptability and Innovation:

• Be open to adapting plans as needed and embracing innovative ideas to keep our worship experiences fresh and relevant.

9. Feedback and Evaluation:

• Regularly seek feedback from the congregation and team members to assess the impact and effectiveness of worship services.

• Be willing to make adjustments and improvements based on feedback.

Conclusion: Your role as part of the Large Group Creative Worship Planning Team is essential to nurturing the spiritual growth and connection of our congregation. By collaborating, creating, and executing inspiring worship experiences, you contribute significantly to the vitality of our church community.

Improving Your Serve

As we enter into a fresh Fall season of ministry, we are looking for some key people to step into leadership roles and for everyone who calls Riverfront home to "improve their serve" and volunteer somewhere significant.

In terms of leadership roles, we are beginning to structure our church around six Action Teams: Worship, Family/Fellowship, Spiritual Growth, Community Engagement, Justice, and Children/Youth.

This structure emerged out of the important vision/mission work we did this past Spring. Each of the teams will "steward" that area of ministry -- developing a vision, ideas, plans, and programs. We hope that every member and regular attender at RFC will serve on at lest one Action Team in some role.

Additionally, we are looking for leaders (or co-leaders) for each of these teams. These leaders will help coordinate the individual teams as well as meet monthly with the pastoral staff as an Action Coordination Team (ACTs) to make sure we are coordinating our efforts, stewarding resources well, and thinking about our vision/mission from a 30,000 foot level.

The Board will focus on areas of spiritual leadership, stewardship, policy, and accountability. Each Action Team will have a Board liaison serving on the team (but not necessarily leading the team. One of the pastors will also be a part of each of the teams.

So far, we have leaders in place for two of the teams:

1. JUSTICE ACTION TEAM - Miela Gruber & Chris Graesser

2. WORSHIP ACTION TEAM - Michael Minch & Diana Scott

We are still looking for people to take on leadership roles for the following Action Teams:

• Family/Fellowship Action Team

• Spiritual Growth Action Team

• Children & Youth Action Team

• Community Engagement Action Team

If you are interested in serving in one of these roles, or have any questions about them or want to discuss more, please email Pastor Ben and Pastor Michael at pastors@riverfront.church.

If you are interested in volunteering and serving in a particular role, you can also check out our VOLUNTEER INFO PAGE.

Vision Process Update

Friends,

The process of conversation and discernment we have used this summer to take an inventory of where we are as a church, and where we want to go, who we are, and who we want to be—is not over!

We have been in a time of reflection and anticipation, waiting for Pastor Michael to join us. Now that he is one of our pastors and settling in, it is time to revisit the journey we’ve been on, as we have revisited our identity, purpose, mission, and vision.

Here, we restate the summary of our conversations, but we will also add some ideas about mission and leadership generated by our pastors and the board.

As a community, Riverfront Family Church

• Values diversity and inclusivity of many kinds, from the differences of racial identity to theological and spiritual to neurodiversity.

• Welcomes and embraces children and youth.

• Commits to healing, wellbeing, and social justice.

• Intends to be a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community.

• Encourages engagement in deconstruction, seeking, and belief in whatever swirling and fluid combination they are at, at any given time.

• Aspires to be a powerful force of ministry in the Hartford area.

• Commits to anti-racism and building peace and reconciliation.

• Engages the problematic [sic recommend change to ‘challenges”] of climate change.

• Commits to helping others encounter Jesus and become more like him, that spiritual

• growth and discipleship is integral to our purpose and Mission.

We are an “experiment” of sorts, and “quirky”! We affirm that we want to be available to one another, building up our church “bearing one another’s burdens” and caring for one another with love.

For the past several weeks, the board and our pastors have discussed a new model of leadership and ministry that we believe fits well with the vision summarized above. We did not “roll out” this model and language because we waited for Pastor Michael to join us and give his input.

The idea is that there will be six “Action Teams” (in our now tentative language) in the church, each with leadership from someone not on the board, and each with a board member who is a liaison to that Action Team. They are the:

• Worship Action Team

• Fellowship (about ministry to and with members of RFC) Action Team

• Community Engagement (about ministry beyond RFC) Action Team

• Spiritual Growth Action Team

• Justice Action Team

• Children and Youth Action Team

Realising that stewardship is critically important to all that we do, we have discussed the merits of a Stewardship Action Team or rather, making sure we keep focused on stewardship in all the Action Teams.

You will recall that early this summer you received a message about the possible adoption of a Purpose Statement or Mission Statement (noting that our church simply does not have one). This idea is still alive. We (your pastors and board) will suggest a Statement in the weeks ahead.

We will present a campaign and process of transition from these ideas and commitments to the embodiment of them. That is, as a church, we believe we are now ready to move from conversation and discernment about our identity, purpose, and mission, toward the structures that will incarnate our vision, fellowship, and ministry. All church members will have the explicit opportunity to volunteer for ministry in a number of different ways.

Please look for, and pray for, the beginning of this transition on Sunday, September 18. Please join us in a season of anticipation.