Liturgy Practice for the Christian Churches
Formation Opportunities for the Christian Churches
With deep roots in the liturgical renewal championed in the Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and with broad ecumenical experience, JHA Consulting founder Jim Alphen leads our Liturgy Practice, offering a suite of formation opportunities designed to launch and sustain continuous improvement in liturgy and its leadership.
Liturgy Ministers Formation
A lively gathering for faith sharing, exploration of the foundations of Christian liturgy, and ministry-specific practice in the art of celebrating the holy mysteries. Can have general focus for all liturgy ministries or specific focus on a particular ministry. Flexible format, from half-day to multi-day to weekly or monthly series.
Liturgy Formation for a Whole Community
An evening or weekend gathering or series of gatherings to help “ordinary” church members become more fluent in and more confident about participating in worship. Can be for adults or open to parish or community members of all ages.
Hear Our Prayer
A two-part clinic for clergy, liturgy directors, music ministries directors, and other preparers of intercessory prayers. Each tradition has its own approach for what are called the Prayer of the Faithful, the Prayers of the People, Prayers of Intercession, or another name; this clinic focuses on intercessions that are prepared locally.
Session One offers grounding in the basics of this ministry and introduces a model for intercessions that has received widespread acclaim as truly prayerful and inspiring. Session Two provides an opportunity for constructive feedback and coaching on texts that participants prepare for this session.
Crafting a Charter for Collaborative Stewardship of the Community’s Worship
In an article in the November-December 2014 issue of Pastoral Liturgy, Jim Alphen had this to say about the relationship among a community’s liturgy leaders:
There’s always a lot to do in caring for the community’s liturgy. Big issues, such as the experience children have at Sunday Mass and the quality of preaching vie for attention with more routine concerns such as ministry schedules and environment budgets.
The [liturgy] committee will be much more effective if it takes a strategic approach, focusing on issues and tasks that are at a big-picture level and prioritizing them based on values such as importance and impact on the whole community. Avoiding any micro-managing, the committee needs to respect the distinct roles of staff and other liturgy ministers.
This one-day retreat for all your community’s leaders with responsibility for liturgy provides a space to work through any issues impeding effective collaboration among staff and worship committee and to craft a charter to sustain effective stewardship of your common prayer. Intended for the pastor, rector, or principal community leader, all clergy, liturgy director, music ministries director, worship committee, other staff, and any others you’d like to include.
Your Next Step
If you would like to consider bringing one or more of these liturgy formation opportunities to your community, contact JHA Consulting at jimalphen@comcast.net or 312-636-4267. Jim Alphen will work with you to determine whether one or more of our services are a good fit for your situation and then, if you decide to engage us, to align the experience with your community’s strengths and needs.