Worship Planning // Offertory (The Great Interruption)

I understand in this day and age (online giving and what not) that not every church has an offering time during the service. But for those that do, I think we sometimes view it as a disruption to the “flow” of the rest of worship. Before I get to the solution of my title’s problem, I wanted to share a bit from Scripture.

Why it’s important

We’re all familiar with what the Old Testament has to say about tithes and offerings and there are those that say tithing was an Old Testament command and not applicable to the New Testament church. We’re all familiar with the widow and the mite of Mark 12/Luke 21, the cheerful giver of II Corinthians 9, and the cautions of Matthew 6 and there are those that say all New Testament discussion of giving is directed to the needy and poor. But allow me to share my favorite passage on giving.

“Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.” (Luke 8:1-3 NASB)

What does this “support” mean? Probably food, clothing, housing, etc. But the important fact is they were contributing out of their private means. This was not the mandated Old Testament 10% tithe. This was not giving to the poor and needy. This was contributing to the ministry of Jesus and his disciples as they ministered to others.

Fast forward to today and financial giving remains a necessity of ministry. Regardless of how large or small a church’s budget is, utilities and insurance have to be paid. As a church grows, it needs to have more staff, more curriculum, more facilities, etc. I realize that I’m going on about something that isn’t worship planning, but we all need to be reminded just how important giving is.

Offertory as worship

So imagine that you are deep in worship and the congregation is participating and glory is being given to the Almighty. And then…we have to sit everyone down…and then we have a prayer for the offering…and have the ushers/deacons come forward…and then pass the baskets…and someone from the worship team does a song that turns out more like a solo than worship of God…and then the service can continue.

If we view the offertory as the necessary time that sustains our church financially, then the above will happen EVERY. SINGLE. SUNDAY. But if we view it as God’s people contributing to the ministry of Jesus and His disciples and that it is a vital aspect of their worship of Him, we may start treating it a little bit different.

When we lead people into a communion time, we allow them some time to prepare their hearts to receive it, right? It would make sense then to allow them time to prepare their hearts for giving too. Maybe instead of bringing the baskets to them, we have them go to some spots around the sanctuary to give their tithe like the widow. The songs we sing/play during this time shouldn’t be haphazardly chosen, but well thought out to lead people to a better understanding of what they’re doing. There’s a million different things that we can do to enhance this time; we just have to think about it in the right way.

My problem for years was that I was creative with my service planning but when it came to the offering time, I viewed it as a necessary interruption to the rest of worship time. But if we view it as a vital part of people’s worship of God, we’ll handle it in the way that is most pleasing to Him.