Family Worship - Peace in the Panic

On March 15, 2020, The Town will meet in their own homes as we ride out the outbreak of the pandemic Corona Virus. A sermon call "Peace in the Panic" will stream at 10:30am for everyone to watch together.

I want to encourage families to prepare for worship and would like to offer a few suggestions that anyone can take part in.

Gather your family sometime around 10am.

Tell your family why you are staying home from church - we are doing our part to help stop the spread of illness as we look out for our neighbors. Let your family know everyone in the church is staying home but we are all still worshipping together and at the same time through the use of technology.

Call to Worship. Tell your family you're going to begin soon in one central room. Perhaps begin by streaming some songs from this week's worship order. You can find the full playlist at this link.  Eat breakfast together or have some coffee while the music plays in the background. You may also want to make your own playlist to avoid commercials with your favorite music app. The songs are:

How Great Your Love Is (Red Rocks Live)
Nobody Like You (Red Rocks Live)
Love Changes Everything (Red Rock Lives)
You Say (Lauren Daigle)
Forever (Kari Jobe)
All Creatures of Our God and King (King's Kaleidescope

Open in prayer. Have everyone pick something or someone to pray over. Give thanks for God's goodness and let your prayer be layered with thanksgiving. Thank God for the time off to be with one another and to reboot and reconsider how you do life.

Prepare. If you have kids, challenge and encourage them to either draw a picture or write something down that they remember, because you will ask them at the end. If you don't have kids, take some notes.

Read Psalm 91. Perhaps let everyone who can read take a few verses.  This is a Psalm of peace given by God for people who might want to panic. Wait until you see what it says!

Sing. If you are able to sing songs and have musical talent or a singer or two, pick 1 or 2 songs to sing together as a family or as friends before the sermon begins. If you plan ahead you could play the songs on the TV with one of the lyric videos so you can sing along. 

Give. If you don't give automatically on a regular basis, go to our website and talk to your family about why you give as a family. Remind them that they cannot out-give God. You can give on the app or at www.thetown.org/give

Pray again. Ask God to speak through His Word to you and your family. Pray for other members of your Community Group or in the church. Pray for the leaders of the church to lead with wisdom, kindness and humility. Give thanks for the body of Christ.

Listen to God's Word. Broadcast the live stream onto the biggest screen you can. Don't get bent out of shape if the kids give you a rough time. But try to limit distractions. Call you family to worship.

Act. When the sermon is over, talk about how you are going to act after what you heard. Ask younger kids, "what is one thing you learned or remember from the sermon?"