Practical Notes​

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LEADERSHIP

As a student-leader, you are responsible for preparing your chapel service.  But you are not necessarily responsible for leading every single portion of it. The spreadsheet named Western's Got Talent has a list of students, staff, and faculty who have volunteered their gifts for use in worship. Use it to begin identifying people to help lead worship on your day. You should begin here, but there may be others you want to include who are not listed. Strongly advised: Ask politely, ask widely, ask early. In addition to the faculty advisor (Ron Rienstra or another faculty/staff member), you will find that your Chapel Steward can help select songs, shape rituals, edit prayers, rehearse dramas, etc. The Worship Resource Center in the Library is full of helpful items—guitars and percussive shukka-shukkas, standard hymnals and prayer books, CDs of images, songs, and looped animations, bookmarked websites with dramas, images, and great alt-worship ideas for ritual actions. Drop by and have a look.

 

One important reminder: It’s easy in Holland, Michigan to just ask white dudes to help out. Do try to invite leaders who represent the diversity of the reign of God. 

 

LECTIONARY

Your first planning resource will be the daily lectionary, which will point you in the direction of a thematic focus for your service. There you will find one OT text, two NT texts, and an invitation to use whatever Psalm seems good to you. Read all the texts and carefully listen for the one you think God might best use to speak to the community. Or course you are free to refer to more than one text, but it will be good to consult with your Faculty Advisor and your Chapel Steward,

 

The theme for your service should usually come from one of these texts.  On occasion, it can come from an extra-biblical source (e.g. a particular need in the community, or a preparer’s particular passion), but we will normally take our cues from the scriptures as presented to us in a daily lectionary.  

 

By following the lectionary, we are sure:

• to cover a breadth of Scripture readings, from both testaments and nearly every Biblical book;

• to tell the story of Jesus’ life as we follow the church year;

• to protect the community from idiosyncratic choices of one leader or a group of leaders;

• and to join brothers and sisters in ecumenical unity as they also use these lectionary readings to shape their daily prayer.

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LANGUAGE

Please be attentive to issues of ecumenicity, inclusivity, community, and faithful imagination as you put the words of prayer on the lips of God’s people. In particular, this means all leaders should attend to the seminary policy on inclusive language with regard to people.

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LOGISTICS

Please note the following:

 

1. Cherri will help you set up a 20-30 minute meeting with your Faculty Advisor (Prof. Rienstra, Rozeboom, Bechtel, DeGroat, West, Pierce, or Collier) to read scripture in community at least three weeks before the date of the service. Ideally, the Chapel Steward is also present at this meeting.

2. At a second meeting, two weeks before the date of the service, students will present a rough-draft of the service—including the homily or discussion questions or body of the prayer, etc. to the chapel steward. This meeting will identify further resources and give direction for revisions. 

3. A final draft of the service should be completed at least one week before the date of the service. This will allow time for rehearsal, and time for other technical aspects of the service (space set-up, power-point, bulletin, etc.) to be properly prepared. 

4. After the service, a final meeting may be scheduled with a member of the faculty in order to debrief and to receive feedback.  

5. Students are responsible for scheduling all these meetings through the Chapel Administrative Assistant (Cherri.Westhouse@westernsem.edu)

 

Bulletins – Though not required, most days we will use some sort of order of worship/bulletin, or a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation as a matter of hospitality. You are responsible for preparing these materials, and for proofreading them. Cherri Westhouse will be happy to assist. She will NOT be happy to assist if you’re putting it together the day before. The Templates provided on this website are already formatted in a common font and layout. Of course you can adapt it, but do so with an eye toward aesthetically pleasing and readable results. Be mindful of accessibility considerations; your Chapel Steward can help with this. 

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Copyright – We print/present lyrics for songs that are widely known. We also have access to a songbook (Lift Up Your Hearts) that has a wide variety of great music for worship. Because we're a musically literate community, other songs—especially new songs—need to be engraved (put into western musical notation like this). Your Chapel Steward can help you with this. But *you* are responsible for following appropriate legal protocol, securing the use of such songs. For more info on how to do so properly, THIS page.

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PPT/Keynote–If you decide to use PPT/Keynote, you will need to communicate with the chapel host assigned to your service by sending them your file (see the Chapel Schedule to find out which host is assigned to your service).You can also send it via email to chapel@westernsem.edu. Your Chapel Steward can help you put together a ppt/keynote if you don't know how. 

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Technology – Though our worship space is acoustically excellent, we still use amplification in order to record or stream, as well as to make use of the hearing loop in the chapel. Thus, you will need to communicate with the chapel host for your date. Email them with your tech request (see the “Technology” document to determine what level of help you need). Be sure your musicians also know who your chapel host is.

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Chapel Set-up – Mulder Chapel is remarkably flexible in the ways it can be configured for worship. You are responsible to identify a seating/furniture configuration that fits the design of the chapel service. You are also responsible to contact the facilities manager, David Becker, with your choice. See THIS document to identify some common set-ups.

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Attire - You should also ensure that your attire is appropriate for representing Christ as a worship leader.  

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Timing - Because of our tight class schedule, our services need to be lean and purposeful, finished in no more than 20 minutes. That’s less than you think. So as you’re planning, you will find that less is more. 

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Please feel free to contact us with any questions. We look forward to working with you!

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