Worship
Lent at Home guide is now available
“Christ Among Us” is the theme of the Lent at Home 2024 worship guide, now available for free from the Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) website: https://bit.ly/2024LentatHome. This guide uses weekly and daily Scriptures as a basis for worship rituals, prayers, and activities designed to help individuals and households of all ages prepare for the season of Lent.
Advent at Home guide available soon
Update: The 2024 Advent at Home worship guide is now available. Go to https://bit.ly/AdventatHome to download it. By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate Coming soon: Once again this year, Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) will be publishing an Advent at Home worship guide. It will follow the same Advent theme as Leader magazine, “How will we know?” The Advent at…
Advent at Home guide now available
ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Education Agency) — “Restoration is Near!” is the theme of the Advent at Home 2022 worship guide, now available at the Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) website: https://mennoniteusa.org/adventathome. Using the theme developed for Leader magazine, the guide offers weekly and daily Scriptures from the lectionary texts, worship rituals, prayers, activities, and background information to help individuals and households…
Video project focuses on visual art in worship
Together in Worship, an online collection of free worship resources from Anabaptist sources, is pleased to announce the launch of a new resource about the use of visual art in worship. A Creative God: The Visual Arts in Worship is a video project that explores how seven Mennonite congregations in southern Pennsylvania and eastern Virginia use visual art and other visual…
MCC offers worship resource for Day of Peace
To help your church observe the International Day of Peace, which is Sept. 21, Mennonite Central Committee has created a short worship resource. Congregations can choose to celebrate and pray for peace on Sunday, Sept. 25, or another Sunday. International Day of Peace – Worship Resource
Peace Sunday is Sept. 18
Mennonite World Conference invites you and your congregation to observe Peace Sunday together with brothers and sisters in the global Anabaptist church family on Sept. 18, 2022. The theme for this year’s Peace Sunday is “Being a new creation in the midst of external turmoil.” Worship planning resources for Peace Sunday 2022 are available now: 2022 Peace Sunday Worship Materials
Column shares thoughts on words for worship
Darrin Snyder Belousek, a member of Salem Mennonite Church in Elida, shares thoughts about the words we use in worship in a recent “Menno Snapshots” column on the MC USA website. Read his column at https://bit.ly/WordsforWorshipColumn.
Lent at Home guide is ready for download
“Seeking God’s Way” is the theme of Mennonite Church USA’s (MC USA) 2022 Lent at Home worship guide. The annual guide for home-based worship provides daily and weekly scripture readings, prayers and rituals for individuals and families observing Lent, the period of prayer and reflection from Ash Wednesday, March 2, to Easter, April 17. The guide also features at-home rituals…
Resources deal with considerations for in-person worship
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate As the COVID-19 pandemic enters a new phase and many local health restrictions are lifted, how should our congregations approach in-person worship? Anabaptist Worship Network has explored this topic in a recent webinar titled “Worship and Reopening Churches.” If you would like to watch a recording of this webinar, you can find it online…
Invite MMN to your worship service
Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) is offering resources for congregational worship services. MMN staff members are available to join congregations in worship to preach, teach, and share stories of God at work around the world. MMN staff members can join congregations through video chat or with a prerecorded message. To request a virtual visit from an MMN staffer, go to http://bit.ly/MMNinChurches.
AMBS offers worship materials to congregations
Recognizing the toll that COVID-19 has had on pastors and worship planners over the last eight months, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is offering several elements of a worship service for congregational use. Included are a call to worship and a prayer, as well as videos containing a scripture presentation, songs and a sermon featuring the story of Jesus in the…
2020 Advent at Home theme is “We Wait for Jesus”
In a time when many people are spending more time at home due to COVID-19, Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is again offering an Advent at Home devotional guide. MC USA’s 2020 Advent at Home devotional, “We Wait for Jesus,” is now available for free download. The annual guide for home-based worship provides daily and weekly scripture readings, prayers and activities…
Peace Sunday is Sept. 20
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) has created resource materials for a Peace Sunday worship service on Sept. 20, using the theme “When one member suffers, all members suffer: Peace as accompaniment and solidarity.” Go to https://bit.ly/2020MWCPeaceSunday to download these materials.
This far by faith
Vikki Pruitte-Sorrells, pastor of Lee Heights Community Church in Cleveland, wrote an article about her experience with music in worship for the July issue of The Mennonite. You can read “This far by faith: Music and worship in a diverse congregation” online at https://bit.ly/MusicLeeHeights.
Ecumenical group develops guidelines for resuming in-person worship
Following an extended consultation, an ecumenical group of religious leaders has developed a set of guidelines for resuming in-person worship services. You can read their recommendations at https://bit.ly/ResumingCare-FilledWorship.
Anabaptist Worship Network develops website
The Anabaptist Worship Network, which began as a group on Facebook, now has its own website at http://anabaptistworship.net with worship resources and information about courses and events. The Anabaptist Worship Network is dedicated to supporting worship and song leaders in making intentional, theologically grounded, and spiritually inspired choices about worship practices that respond to their local contexts.
Thoughtful and prayerful reopening
All of our congregations throughout Ohio Conference are discerning when is the best time to start gathering together in person again and what steps need to be taken to try to prevent any spread of COVID-19. Most will be reopening in phases offering limited interaction (e.g. no Sunday school, no nursery care, no coffee and refreshments). Some will begin by…
Anabaptist Worship Network offers connections
Are you interested in sharing ideas with others who are planning worship? Anabaptist Worship Network, a new Facebook group conversation, is hosted by Katie Graber and Anneli Loepp Thiessen. This Facebook group is a meetup for pastors, worship leaders, song leaders, and those interested in Anabaptist worship. Participants can ask questions, share ideas and resources, and make connections. To participate,…
2019 Advent guide for families is now available
Anabaptist Faith Formation and Mennonite Church USA are offering a free, downloadable guide for family worship during Advent written by Elsie Rempel. This resource, titled Waiting and Wondering, is designed for parents to use at home with their children. With this free worship guide, families can create a space to notice important questions and bring them to God. For six weeks from…
CommonWord offers Lenten worship resources
CommonWord, a collaboration of Mennonite Church Canada and Canadian Mennonite University, offers many resources for planning worship during the Lenten season. If you’re looking for resources to help you with planning worship or leading a devotional, you can visit www.commonword.ca/go/1765. Many of these resources are available as free downloads. If you’re looking for resources for a specific day you can…
Central Mennonite to host worship workshop
Save the date: Oct. 5-6, 2018, Central Mennonite Church in Archbold is hosting Rachel Miller Jacobs for a one-and-a-half-day workshop titled “Enhancing and Equipping for Worship.” Break-out workshops, worship, food, and fellowship are planned for this educational and inspirational experience for worship leaders and planners, lay persons and pastors. Brochures will be available in August. The Worship Ministry Team at…
Enhancing and Equipping for Worship Workshop
Oct. 5-6, 2018, Central Mennonite Church in Archbold is hosting Rachel Miller Jacobs for a one-and-a-half-day workshop titled “Enhancing and Equipping for Worship.” Rachel Miller Jacobs is associate professor of congregational formation at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. Break-out workshops, worship, food, and fellowship are planned for this educational and inspirational experience for worship leaders and planners, lay persons…
2018 ACA sermons now on website
Would you like to hear the sermons presented at the 2018 Annual Conference Assembly at Bluffton University? Recordings of the Friday evening (March 9) worship service featuring speaker Meghan Good and the Saturday morning (March 10) worship service featuring speaker Marvin Lorenzana are available on the Conference website. See “About Annual Assembly.”
Worship Service and Community All-Ages Concert with Bryan Moyer Suderman
Bryan Moyer Suderman of Kitchener, Ontario, will visit Summit Mennonite Church in Barberton for the Sunday morning worship service on Sunday, Feb. 18, followed by a community concert for all ages and a potluck dinner. Schedule 9:30 a.m. — Worship — Lent I with Bryan Moyer Suderman 10:30 a.m. — Community All-Ages Concert Noon — Potluck Dinner Bryan Moyer Suderman also will be…
Worship is formation — formation is worship
By Ellen Nussbaum Members of Oak Grove Mennonite Church (Smithville) and Sonnenberg Mennonite Church (Kidron), having discovered a common interest in exploring training and resources for leading congregational worship, came together to plan a Worship Resourcing Seminar. It was held on Saturday, May 6, at Sonnenberg Mennonite Church. Sixty-three participants gathered from 16 different Ohio Mennonite congregations. Participants included youth,…
Seminar to focus on worship
Are you interested in deeper, more meaningful worship experiences in your congregation? Sonnenberg Mennonite Church in Kidron will host a worship resourcing seminar on Saturday, May 6. This seminar, featuring speaker Rachel Miller Jacobs, will provide participants with practical training, resources and theological teaching for planning and leading worship. Rachel Miller Jacobs is an assistant professor of congregational formation at…