The lead-in to the start of a church service is an opportunity for a congregation to do several things:
- Communicate God’s love by being warm and welcoming.
- Set expectations for the flow the worship that is about to begin.
- Create a space for members and guests to participate, thus providing an invitation into the congregation’s worship life.
To help you take advantage of this opportunity, GCI-Media has produced a GCI-branded countdown video for use in transitioning from the fellowship time before church into the worship service. The video comes in two formats that can be streamed below and downloaded from YouTube by following the links provided.
1. Countdown without introduction (at https://youtu.be/zsoCdtDaNes)
2. Countdown with introduction (at https://youtu.be/nDUSgihbd98)
If you use the countdown without introduction version, you’ll need to provide introductory words yourself. Here is a suggested script:
Good morning, welcome to Grace Communion __________. Thanks so much for spending part of your weekend with us. My name is _________. Thank you for bringing the church into this building. For us, church is so much more than a Sunday service, and we want you to know that there is a place for you here at Grace Communion. We are going to get things kicked off with Praise & Worship. The team will lead us in a few songs, and the lyrics will be up on the screen, so you can sing along and engage in worship however you feel comfortable. After that, our pastor will share a message about Jesus. All in all, we’ll be here for just about an hour and a half. If you have kids with you, we want to let you know that we’ve got fantastic kids programming. It’s safe, secure, and most importantly your kids are going to have a blast. [Explain when and how children will be dismissed]. Once again, thanks for being here. Let’s all rise for the opening prayer.
