One awesome vehicle for invoking a response in worship that we’ve been doing for the last year or so at my church is what we’ve begun to call “Read and Share.” If worship is a response to truth, then the truth of God’s Word should be stirring our hearts all week long and then overflow as we gather together.
So during the service when we’re doing read and share, we invite the congregation to find those verses that they’ve been holding onto that week and give them the opportunity to share them with someone in the room. For sure there are people there who don’t have a verse come to mind, or maybe they had an off week, or maybe they’ve never read their Bible in a personal time! We put verses on the screen and encourage everyone to find a verse and to simply read it to someone else.
I know it’s uncomfortable for some, but I also believe that it calls us to be in God’s Word, reminds us to always have an answer for the hope within us, and it practices the sharing of God’s Word among the body. All wins!
Watch an example of one of the times we’ve recently done it: