Does this sound familiar?
A staff member or volunteer just gave some announcements, and now it’s time for offering. A few moments pass. Increasingly uncomfortable.
Ok, it just got awkward. Someone forgot their cue, timing is off, no one is coming to the mic, there’s obvious concern, but no one knows who’s supposed to call and/or pray for the tithes and offering.
In fact, the only thing that’s pulled everyone’s attention away from the awkward situation is the guy towards the back who is doing “the nervous cough.” Murmuring starts and finally someone, anyone steps up and does the job.
Silence
We’ve all experienced it. Some of us are guilty of causing it … the awkward silence.
It kills the flow of service, and breaks the atmosphere you are trying to provide. There’s a reason they call it “The Awkward Silence,”because it makes everyone feel awkward. I know – rocket science. I’m not trying to be harsh here, I just see this as a very avoidable issue that most churches don’t pay much attention to.
While you can’t ban this beast from your service completely, you can cage it with a little planning ahead.
A Tool
I’ve attended some great churches in my short lifetime, and during some of those visits I’ve experienced an awkward transition or two. Since I’ve started at Cornerstone, one thing that I’ve really appreciated about my Pastor is his organization.
Not only does he give us his notes several days in advance, but he always pushes us to continually work on our organization too. About a year and half ago, we started using Planning Center Online to enhance the order of our service. We’re able to make an outline of our entire service with each section broken down individually.
Everyone knows what (and how many) songs are being sung. Everyone knows who will open with an encouraging word, and everyone knows who will transition to the meet and greet. It really allows us to break it down piece by piece, and we all can do our part in concert.
So how do you decide who is doing what? When do you need to transition? How do you keep that ugly beast from showing his face? Get out your whip, Indy, let’s tame this thing.
A Strategy: How
There’s a few different ways to transition effectively.
We’ve used videos, songs, skits, and even short instrumental solos. Many times, as our meet and greet time or offering time, we’ll turn the lights down when we see things are winding down and use a video to move into the next section of the service.
Let’s be honest, time is an issue. When you schedule your service wisely, you’ll be surprised how many extra things you can fit in with great transitions. For instance, if our meet and greet time is before our announcements, we may show a short testimony video.
Showing the video right there will do two things; 1) It allows on of our members to communicate/hear a great story of how God has provided, rescued, or comforted them during a created time slot. And 2) It allows the viewer to mentally move from one thing to another.
If you want to get real crazy, you could show a promo for an event that you also have a follow-up announcement for. You’ve then seamlessly transitioned from the meet and greet into the announcements, and they didn’t even know what hit ’em. One last thing; anything is better than nothing!
A Strategy: When
Anytime you move from one set of items to another (i.e. announcements to offering, offering to sermon, etc.). This may seem silly to expand on, but many churches don’t think about transitions at all, so I want to hit all my bases.
Be creative and decide how you’re going to transition. It can be as simple as a certain person walking up to the stage or up to the pulpit at the right time, as to not allow the awkward silence to dominate. Just so it’s talked about ahead of time.
A Strategy: Who
Well that’s really up to you. Every week is going to be different. The simplicity of this question and answer is crazy, but I didn’t include it because of its cosmic wisdom. I included it because it needs to be thought-out.
On thing to think about: If your service is geared towards young adults, choose young adults to make the transitions or announcements. If you’re service is geared towards youth, get some of your core youth members to do them. It’s important for the people to visually understand who this service is for. That’s part of you telling your story internally, it’s part of you showing your brand.
Remember, if no one realizes you just transitioned or they weren’t bothered by it, then you’ve been successful. When you can nail these easy steps down, you can work on crafting an atmosphere for maximum experience. It doesn’t matter if you have a great worship set, hilarious announcements, and an organ-cranking sermon, if your transitions are messy, your atmosphere will suffer.
Can I just take a minute and balance something? A well thought-out order of service with great transitions is great, but you should always make room for God to move. If God is doing something in the midst of your congregation, you need to let Him. We plan for structure, and then we accommodate the God accordingly.
Remember, whatever you do … do it with excellence!
Nick Shoemaker says
Word Nate!
Great post. I just wish churches would get rid of the “meet & greet”. Seriously- how is that helping n00bs feel comfortable and accepted? [off soapbox]
But, yes- there has to be planning.
John Saddington says
planning. like, epic?!
PhillipGibb says
“would everyone turn around to the person behind them and say hello”
I hate that, hey that could be a post on Stuff Christians Like, lol
– it could be used as a transition, but you have to ask people to simmer down and take a seat – which does not stop talking until halfway thru the next song
Nate Beaird says
I guess it is a toss up. The meet and greet time at our church does really well, we usually have to cut it short because people want to talk, haha…
Travis Fish says
I have to disagree. I enjoy meeting the people around me. I feel like sure it can be awkward at times, but it can also make the visitors feel welcome. If the person finds out they are new, most of the time they are very kind in welcoming them and helping them out with questions. I feel like visitors feel more comfortable asking the people next to them questions when they’ve already said hello to them. Just my opinion though. 🙂
PhillipGibb says
That picture with the Strawberry, quite surprising, lol.
I must say that I am righteously proud (is that possible?) about the way my church handles transitions.
ok, maybe it can get a bit much when videos are uses for almost any transition.
Yeah we use Planning center as well – very cool. And we do run thrus to practice the necessary transitions.
True that there are some that say that too much structure inhibits the work of the Holy Spirit (can you really do that?) but them we would counter with out excellence for God mantra. I am all for the structure being in place for God to work in the hearts and minds of people that will not be distracted by unplanned things and technical glitches.
I guess in the end if God wants to move; no amount of structure or lack or will prevent it from happening.
Nate Beaird says
Very true! I think God can move with or without structure, but when crafting an atmosphere- I’d rather have structure.
PhillipGibb says
I don’t think that God acts randomly and without structure, if anything He is ultimately Patient and intentional; just look at how He put into effect Salvation. We could pick out a lot of examples where God put things into place that would have an effect later, sometimes much later. a.k.a. structure
Nate Beaird says
Word.
greenhornet79 says
We just started using Planning Center and it has helped us tremendously with organization. Everyone knows what’s going on and who is doing what.
“Remember, if no one realizes you just transitioned or they weren’t bothered by it, then you’ve been successful.” This hits it on the head. The best transition is one that no one notices.
Nate Beaird says
If you think about it, most of our job is like that. No one even thinks about the sound or the IMAG until it’s not working, then everyone’s looking at the soundbooth…haha! It’s a thankless job, but someone has to do it! 🙂
Travis Fish says
Love this post. Planning center can be so useful for church organization. I’ve had experience in churches that use it and those that don’t. The churches that use planning center are usually much less stressful and flow better.
Nate Beaird says
It’s amazing how when there’s a plan, it brings freedom…
Ryan_B says
Good post. We’ve been using Planning Center for about a year and it’s really helped us plan well beyond the upcoming weekend. It’s definitely obvious in any church service when the transitions are an afterthought.
Nate Beaird says
Many times they spend time planning what’s on either side of the transisitons without talking out the transition itself….dang, I should have put that in the article! 🙂
Scott Magdalein says
Awwww, but awkward silences are fun. It makes everyone feel vulnerable, which is perfect for church.
Dang. More sarcasm. Sorry. 🙁