Worship and the Church
MANCHESTER CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Manchester, New Hampshire

In this series of email updates we are examining worship and the church from the perspective of two new churches and one older church in New England.

This time we are featuring Manchester Christian Church (MCC), founded in 1961, and currently holding three worship services on Sunday mornings. MCC is averaging close to 1,600 in worship and over 100 small groups meeting each week. Frank Reynolds is the Senior Minister and serves along with 15 other paid staff members. The interview is with John Cassetto, Minister of Worship and Arts. John leads and gives oversight to all forms of arts including praise bands, vocal teams, visual arts (painting, graphics, film), audio arts (readings, poems, stories), and Sunday morning participation. He has had a passion for the arts since high school, when he was heavily involved in the arts department. John holds a B. A. in preaching but was involved in choirs and vocal ensembles throughout his undergraduate program. He first came to MCC as an intern his senior year in college, and then in May of 1997 returned to MCC in the Resident Ministry program. One year later he was called to serve as the Minister of Worship and Creative Arts when there were only six people actively involved in that part of the church ministry. MCC's mission is "Changing New England by turning ordinary people into extraordinary followers of Christ-loving God and loving people."

John, what is your role or function as Minister of Worship and Arts in conjunction with your philosophy of worship at MCC?

I see my role as creating environments for people to express their hearts to God, whether that is on Sunday mornings in worship or children's ministry, on Sunday nights with students ministry, or on Thursday nights in Celebrate Recovery. Through all of these settings, we seek to create an environment for people to respond to God. In that process my role is to encourage the artists to be involved in shaping those environments so people can have an opportunity to corporately express their hearts to God while at the same time being encouraged to live a life that is constantly responding to God through whatever gifts God has given them. The biggest part of my time is spent with all kinds of artists-instrumentalists, vocalists, photographers, writers, poets, technical artists, visual artists, graphic designers-leading and encouraging them to use their God-given gifts in the life of the church as an expression of gratitude and response to God.

As a leader of leaders in the area of Arts, how do you lead?

My goal is relational by nature, being a servant leader. I come alongside people and ask myself, "How can I serve them, free them up in some way, grant them the courage to be the best that God has made them to be-as an artist, yes, but more importantly as a Christ follower." Ministry for me is first and foremost doing life with people.

How many leaders, teams, and individuals do you have directly involved in your Sunday worship experience?

We have over a 100 individuals connected to our bands, vocals and production teams. Another 10-12 make up our drama team, with additional leaders and individuals making up the teach team, tech team, visual artist teams, and writing team. On any given Sunday close to 30 individuals are involved on stage, back stage and in the control booth. There are only three paid staff in these areas, everyone else is a volunteer. Many of our team leaders are volunteers. Here is a sampling of some of our team leaders: worship leaders, band team leaders, vocal team leaders, production team leaders, audio leader, video leader, leader of tech directors and stage team leader. Recruitment is particularly challenging in the area of equipment use and training individuals so they are not overwhelmed. Training is primarily done one-on-one, with group training on occasions when new equipment is introduced or major upgrade in software is necessary.

How do you put together a Sunday morning worship experience?

The teaching team is made of up of seven members who give the programming team a "message sketch" from which they are able to envision the big idea for that Sunday. This team usually receives the information four to six weeks ahead of the target Sunday. The programming team is made up of five staff and five volunteers who take the message sketch, figure out what the big idea is and just brainstorm about it. Lots of ideas are put forward such as songs, monologues, films, spoken word, etc. They start with a blank canvas and over the four weeks that service comes together. Four weeks out they pull together several ideas and then narrow down the ideas to the list they are going to go with. Three weeks out they work the ideas into some sort of order, cast the singers for the selected songs and, if a film is to be used, the production team puts that together. Then the elements are tightened as each week passes. From week four to the actual Sunday there is much change and we are praying every week for that Sunday, listening to God as He is leading us in our preparations. Each Tuesday night, before a target Sunday, we rehearse in our teams-band, vocal, tech, camera, and production. Then we gather and pull it all together with the goal that we leave knowing what is expected of everyone on Sunday morning and what each individual needs to do. This allows each person to have confidence in their area of leadership. We try to build in the concept of God of Wonder in worship service. We keep all the key elements of the service of teaching and communion, but we try to do it in creative and effective ways to reflect the marvel and wonder of God.

What recommendations do you have for other churches?

Go into every worship experience with the expectation that many different people will show up-some who have known God for a long time and some who are new to knowing God and may even be resistant to the message of Christ. Always give your absolute best to create those environments for God to be at work in each person's life. Regardless of style of worship, each can create moments of transcendence: moments where people far from God can be totally inspired to pursue Him and seek answers to their questions, and moments where people who have known God for years can be thrilled and inspired by what their God has done. Those are the big things with which the church needs to wrestle. Take that word "wonder" and be creative in providing environments for all people to openly and honestly express their love and appreciation to their Creator/God. Don't do things like you've always done it, mix it up!

For more information concerning Manchester Christian Church go to www.manchesterchristian.com.