Pathways Takes Different Approach in Worship

Interested in ways that the UUA’s new Pathways Church near Fort Worth, Texas - a church that was organized with growth in mind from the very beginning - might be different from your church or fellowship? Here are some:

The hour-long Sunday services, held in a “cafetorium” of a middle school in Southlake, Texas (the church plans to someday build in nearby Keller), are contemporary in nature, featuring multimedia presentations, a band, and lots of congregational singing. Each Sunday there’s also a drama piece featuring meaningful life stories.

The services are aimed largely at “guests,” said lead minister the Rev. Anthony David. “We don’t do any insider stuff.” Most announcements are not read from the pulpit, but are projected onto a screen just before the service starts. Announcements also appear in the order of service and in a weekly e-mail newsletter, which can be found on the church’s Web site, www.pathwaysuu.org.

The service may start with three or four upbeat songs. “They really get people warmed up, in the spirit of worship,” said David. On a typical Sunday, of six or seven songs, perhaps one or two come from singing the Living Tradition. Others are popular songs, original compositions, and praise songs. Words are projected onto a screen so that people are looking up, not down.

Other ways the services are different:

• There are no joys and concerns. Those are shared in the small groups in which many Pathways members participate during the week.

• Children do not come forward for a story. Instead, the drama piece is designed for, and aimed at, the whole congregation and great care is taken that the piece is meaningful for all ages.

• Visitors are called “guests.”

• Stewardship is also different. Each month, Pathways partners with a local group and donates all undesignated funds from the offering to it. Guests are asked to let the plate go by.

• Services flow well from one element to the next, without hesitancy. Leaders, readers, and musicians all know their parts and have the timing down.

• The actual listing of the order of events in the Sunday morning service occupies a space about as big as four postage stamps in the four-page program. The remainder of the space is given over to a listing of upcoming events and community service opportunities and a description of the church and its programs. “We want new people to look at the order of service and see lots of things happening here that they can participate in,” says David.

• The order of service also includes a place to take notes and a list of discussion questions about the service that people are invited to take home with them. “We want them to take the worship experience home and move it into their small groups,” says David.

Small groups are a key part of Pathways’ growth plan. Many were formed a year ago as a way to create community even before worship services began. “That’s where people get to know a few people really well,” says David. “We don’t worry here that everyone won’t know everyone else who comes on Sunday,” adds the Rev. Christine Tata, Pathways’ worship pastor. “If you create the expectation that everyone must know each other the group tends to cap itself at 60 or 70 people. But if you have an average of 100 or more at worship no one expects to know everyone else and it allows for growth.”

Pathways currently has eight small group ministry groups, some of which gather around gender or life stage; others gather around particular interests. There are also seven ministry and mission teams that help present worship services and do social justice work.