School of The Rock™

Worship and Plot Arcs, or How to Keep Your Worship Services from Flatlining

Every story has a “payoff” and a “build-up” to that payoff. A comedy may build up to a really big laugh. A love story may work up to a big first kiss. A detective story works its way toward revelation and arrest of the culprit. Some folks call these climaxes the “payoff.” In a sense, they’re the audience’s reward for sitting through the complicated plots and “build-up.” Ironically, it’s the “build-up” - the plot twists, obstacles, and hardships - that make the “payoff” pay off.

As an example, one of the biggest “payoffs” in recent film history is the sunrise meeting between Elizabeth and Darcy in the Focus Features version of Pride and Prejudice. Tears and racing hearts have occurred among the least sentimental of viewers. But if a person who had never seen the movie would fast-forward to that scene, it would mean nothing at all.

Leading Up to the “Payoff”: Plot Elements and Plot Arcs

Critics like to “connect the dots” between all of the elements - the plot twists, obstacles, and hardships that lead up to the pay-off. They call the result a “plot arc,” (even when they don’t graph it out like I have below.

As a former literature professor and former worship leader, I can’t help recognizing that there are parallels between planning a good story and planning an effective worship service. This article examines those parallels, and makes some suggestions about the ways they might help you plan the next worship service.

What is Your Worship Service’s “Payoff”?

If you could think of your next planned worship service as a story, what would be the “payoff”? If you don’t like the word “payoff,” think about your best and highest goals for the worship service? For example, you may want folks to:

Sense the presence of God through a moment of high praise or deep devotion
Revaluate their lives, especially anything they need to change.

What are the elements you have to assemble to build up to those results? In the next few paragraphs, we’re going to look at the way story-tellers build up to their payoffs, and hopefully use their example to plan your worship “story,” building involvement and anticipation as you work toward your best and highest goals for the service.

More About Plot Arcs

We’ll use an example of a typical television mystery to show how story elements go together to make a plot arc.

A murder occurs or a body is discovered – “high tension.”
The detective is introduced, usually doing something trivial – “low tension” (this would be “very low tension,” except that we already know something the detective doesn’t).
The detective is informed of the murder and begins investigating – “medium tension.”
The detective has a narrow escape from someone who thinks he or she is getting too close – “high tension” (this usually happens right before the thirty-minute commercial break).
The detective thinks he or she has it figured out and begins trying to close the case – “medium tension.”
An unexpected twist places either the case or the detective in jeopardy – “high tension” (this usually happens right before the 40 minute commercial break).
The detective reorients himself or herself and really closes in on the perpetrator – “high tension.”
The detective and perpetrator have a battle – of wits, gunplay, or driving skills – “maximum tension” (this usually happens right before the 50 minute commercial break).
The detective wraps things up and goes back to relaxation mode – “very low tension.”

This “story arc” is at least 60 years old, but it is still used today – with occasional variations - because it works. In fact, television viewers are so used to the pattern that, when they are watching television mystery shows on DVD, many have to remind themselves to stop reaching for the remote after plot elements #4, 6, and 8.

If you wanted to visualize the “story arc” it would look something like this:

Plot Elements And Worship Services

Just as you can break a classic story type down into “elements” that authors arrange and “flesh out” to tell their stories, you can break a worship service down into elements that generally function best in a certain sequence.

The list below shows one possible way to describe the most common contemporary worship service’s musical “elements” and the kinds of songs that generally work for each one. I understand that every songleader would define these differently, or sort different songs into the categories. In addition, a clever arrangement may move a song from one category to another. But I wanted you to have some idea what I meant when I talked about Anthems, or Calls to Action later on.

Call to Worship – usually upbeat, often a hand-clapper, to help the folks in the pew get their mind off the troubles of the day and focus on worship. Though the lyrics are scripturally sound, they don’t generally require deep thought. Most upbeat “worship choruses” fit this category.
Transitional Song or Hymn – This is a good, familiar song that is a bit too slow to clap to – it helps the congregation transition between the “handclappers” and the anthem.
Anthem – A statement of profound truth and – often – your determination to live up to that truth. An anthem may describe Divine attributes, but that’s not universal. In addition, an anthem may embed a “Call to Worship” theme but its primary role is to make a statement, not an injunction. An anthem may be sung by the congregation or performed as “special music.”
Devotional – A song that inspires contemplation about the deep truths of God. Such songs are especially useful leading up to a communion service, a message on a serious subject, or as part of an invitation.
Call to Repentance – A devotional song that asks for a decision to repent and serves Christ, usually slower, more thoughtful, often focuses on Jesus’ sacrifice to save us, usually performed after a salvation message.
Call to Service – Usually slow or moderate tempo, emphasizing a decision to perform some Christian responsibility or ministry. Generally performed after a message that includes a specific call to action.
Detour Song – Depending on how much time you have for your service, or how you’ve structured you “special music,” some services have room for a “detour song” that occurs after the transition song and before an Anthem or Devotional “payoff” song. The primary function is to maintain very high interest, and maybe perk up the ears of folks who haven’t responded to what you’ve given them so far. An example might be a funny song, or a song in a radically different style, say a Bluegrass, Swing, Celtic, Calypso, or Reggae number. Generally it is a “special music” number, although if you choose, say, an easy song or a children’s song with motions, it could be a congregational number.

Every songleader, of course, would come up with different categories or definitions, and some songs may really fit into two or more categories. Also, every church has a “comfort level” and you only want to “push the envelope” so far in any given service. But for now, let’s use the list above as a tool for further discussion.

Back to our “plot arc” metaphor: you don’t start a Jane Austen movie with the “big kiss.” Nor will you get the intended result if you try to jump-start the congregation directly into high praise (anthem) or deep spiritual contemplation (devotional). They’re just not prepared, and frankly, it’s not their fault.

Worship Service Plot Arcs

One thing that complicates the worship service plot arc discussion is that worship has a spiritual dimension as well as a temporal dimension.

For example, there is a tempo to a detective story, but the speed of events often reflects the level of tension, so graphing that isn’t critical. In worship, however, the most inspiring anthems and the most effective call to repentance are both likely to be relatively slow. So our “plot arc” will really have two parts. One is tempo. The other could represent the spectrum between physical participation (standing, maybe clapping) and spiritual involvement (pouring your heart out to God in praise, prayer, commitment, or repentance).

If you try to draw these curves for a typical contemporary worship service, you’ll discover than the curves tend to go in somewhat opposite directions. Here’s an example, using a common pattern: An upbeat Call to Worship followed by another one that is even faster. These are followed by a Transition song with a bit less physical energy but more spiritual content. Next, an Anthem gives the congregation the opportunity for high spiritual praise. Finally, a Devotional closer helps focus the congregation’s attention on the “life application” from the sermon.

As you can see above, the level of spiritual involvement may increase as the tempo of the music drops. So why not “cut to the chase” and start out with the most “spiritual” songs in your scheme? Because if you don’t have a “build up,” you’ll never have a “payoff.” The congregation just isn’t “invested” enough in your “story” yet.

Granted, it is possible for a detective show to “break the rules” and still succeed – if the writing is great otherwise. Similarly, it’s possible for an experienced worship leader to “break the rules” occasionally and still have an effective service. But there’s a world of difference between knowing the “rules” and why they work before you “break” them and throwing the elements together willy-nilly, because you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.

In contrast, let me graph the “plot curve” of a service that I attended not long ago. The music started with an anthem the congregation didn’t know, moved on to a slow praise song they did, to an even slower song that they knew and sang well. After the sermon, the service closed with another unfamiliar anthem. So, although the congregation was standing, and there were words on the screen, they were really only equipped to sing on two of the four songs used, and the slowest ones at that.

Though I am showing the tempo part of the graph, I’m not going to show the “physical versus spiritual” graph, since the congregation was never very involved – physically or spiritually.

Why Plot Arcs Can’t be Flat Lines

The all-slow-song service graphed above not only resembles a flat line – it also came close to flat-lining the church service itself. But an all fast-song service would also be a flat line, and would be just as harmful.

Scriptwriters know that they need ups and downs in the show, because a sustained period of very low tension will cause folks to reach for the remote, but attempting to sustain high tension throughout the show makes what should be the plot’s “peaks” seem anticlimactic.

The truth is that human nature needs variety, even in the best of experiences. Devout Christians, with some “build-up” to it, can sustain an attitude of high praise throughout a single great anthem. But if you put two great anthems back to back, energy will noticeably diminish halfway through the second one. As an example, “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “O For A Thousand Tongue to Sing” are both anthems that a properly-prepared congregation can sing the daylights out of, and finish up feeling that they have proclaimed – and perhaps sensed – precious truths. But if you put those songs back to back (in either sequence), the congregation will never sing the second one with the same level of energy and commitment as they did the first one. It’s a little like rewinding the climax of a great show with the hope of enjoying it as much the second time as you did the first time – the same level of energy and anticipation is just not there.

The same thing is true for deep devotional moments. An effective worship leader can bring a congregation to the point where they can sing a richly contemplative song with heart-touching conviction. But following up one “richly contemplative” song with another will not sustain or deepen the congregation’s devotional mood – it’s more likely to lead to them checking their watches. We’re just not wired to spend more than a few minutes on any emotionally-intense experience.

From Elements to Moments

Once you’ve figured out how you’re arranging the elements of your service, take some time to figure out how to make each of them effective. Consider each song a “vignette” of sorts, with a different planned purpose all of its own. Like a compelling story, these moments lead the congregation through an effective sequence of physical, emotional, and spiritual responses, each of which seems “fresh” in its turn, and all of which build toward your planned “payoff.”

For more help with this aspect of planning, you can refer to the resources and workshops from Tom Jackson. Tom is a former touring musician and an experienced coach/consultant who has helped Christian Artists of all styles improve their ability to relate to the audience talks about “creating moments.”

So, borrowing terminology from Tom, the service may:

Start with a standing and clapping “moment” in which people begin to transfer their attention from the cares of the week to the glory of God.
Continue with a standing and singing (transitional) “moment” in which clapping may be less important than singing about the richer truths of God. (Note that to the congregation, this song doesn’t seem transitional – it seems like the logical follow-up to the fast songs.)
Continue with a “moment” of high praise or deep contemplation, which the transition song leads into gracefully.
End with a call to action or call to repentance “moment” that is the logical and spiritual conclusion to all that has gone on before.

Once you’ve decided what your planned “moments” are, think about how to make each moment in the service more special or effective. Tom likes to talk about letting songs “breathe.” Among other things, this includes reworking familiar songs to make them fresh, and thinking beyond verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus arrangements.

By the way, if Tom ever sees this article, he’ll probably tell me I’ve gotten him all wrong, probably because I’m only emphasizing one dimension of his teaching – the dimension that relates most specifically to my topic. So, do yourself a favor and get Tom’s “big picture too, any way you can, through attending his workshops, or buying his DVDs and sitting through them with your praise team more than once.

Tom’s staff tells me that his first Expressive Worship DVD (http://expressiveworship.net/expressive-worship-1/) contains a good introduction to Tom’s explanation of “creating moments” in worship. Although they think you should consider the three-DVD set (http://expressiveworship.net/expressive-worship-dvds/). To me, attending Tom’s workshops is even better.

Next Steps

Any approach to structuring worship services will seem formulaic and artificial until you’ve really given it a chance and figured out what works and what doesn’t work for you.

Of course, there are also “worship leaders” who confuse lack of preparation with “leaving room for the Spirit of God to work.” Experience and observation have both convinced me, however, that God is more likely to use those who prayerfully prepare for ministry – even if He has to derail some of your plans - then he is to use those who confuse lazy or haphazard “planning” with “openness to His leading.”

I also admit that I don’t know how many songs you usually do in your services, or how many people you have on your praise team, or the demographics of your church . . . . .

But I do know that the most effective worship leaders intentionally plan their services to lead the congregation into more focused praise and devotion.

For your future use, we’ve provided a blank set of “plot-art” graphs to let you graph your next service or three. Click of “HERE to see the graph in PDF format.

God bless, and see you ‘round the throne.

Paul Race