Worship in the woods
Last Saturday, around 40 friends and families gathered at Adventure Pirate. We represented four or five churches from along the south coast. We had invited our friends Sam and Sara from Engage Worship to come and spend the day demonstrating, teaching, and facilitating ways in which we might deepen how we worship God outdoors.
The day was split into two workshops. The first gave us a broad understanding of worship and introduced a variety of tools we could use to connect with God. We used cardboard signs to retell the creation story, then reshaped those same words into prayer stations built with sticks, leaves, and stones we found in the woods. We sang simple choruses in the round, voices weaving together in the trees. We played games, explored movement, and let the natural world become both backdrop and participant in our worship.
What stuck with me most was the breakdown of worship into three movements:
Broadcasting — any way we publicly speak or sing about God.
Serving — any way we live out or demonstrate our love for him.
Bowing — any way we submit to God in our words or actions.
This stretched my view of worship beyond (but including) singing. It touches nearly every part of life. When we were handed clay and asked to shape something we could use in worship, the table saw laptops, guitars, footballs, and homes and lots more emerging. Everyday objects, but reimagined as sacred things we could give to God.
Later, after a game, we had a powerful conversation about gathered and scattered worship. There’s strength when we come together, but also a challenge: how do we resource one another so worship continues in our homes and families? One person admitted, “It’s a lot harder to worship at home with the family than it is to do it all together.” I think others shared that thought.
In the afternoon, we turned to the difference between worship indoors and outdoors. A big theme emerged: indoor worship often feels controllable; outdoor worship, much less so. And yet, isn’t that the point? That worship in the wild brings us face to face with unpredictability — weather, noise, children, distractions — and somehow God meets us there.
For our Ocean Church community, I came away inspired. With a little courage, what might be possible for us in deepening our worship? Maybe it looks like more singing songs we have written toether, maybe it’s giving space for silence, maybe it’s paying closer attention to the natural world around us. Or maybe it’s something we haven’t even thought of yet. I wondered what your thoughts are?
