by Eddie Pipkin
I’ve always been a Saturday Night Live fan, and I’ve been consuming comedy for most of the show’s tenure, so I really enjoyed the 50th anniversary special that aired last weekend. It was a star-studded event (featuring many of the kinds of mash-ups I wrote about just last week, old faces paired with new, across generations of iconic skits). The whole thing was, of course, LIVE. And the process of putting together such a behemoth of a special occasion held lessons for any of us who dabble in live gatherings – say for instance, weekly worship, anyone?
For a show that has been airing for five decades, there have been multiple casts with breakout stars from every era, and there are die-hard fans from each of those eras. Our cast was clearly the best cast ever! The special did a stellar job of bringing in favorites from the past and often pairing them with the current cast. The skits and short, pre-taped movies paid homage to the best ideas from previous years while keeping things fresh and up-to-date.
Local churches can emulate those strategies. We rely upon our current “cast” of ministry leaders to keep us inspired from week to week, and we stay connected to our current “audience” (I mean, of course, deeply engaged congregation members) by focusing on issues and challenges that are relevant to their day-to-day lives.
But there are generally some former cast members around who can be brought into the worship proceedings on occasion and spotlight a nostalgic connection for the folks who have been faithful for many years, as well as emphasizing the history and heritage of your community for the folks who are more recent arrivals.
Callbacks to a local church’s heritage (and denominational history and customs as well) are essential to deepen the knowledge of people who have joined your local church on their spiritual journey. Those more recent attendees will have a stronger connection with the theology and mission of your community when they understand its roots and backstory.
People who have been around for a long time have a lot to share. We should work put them up front in speaking roles on a regular basis. This gives people a sense that they too, if they stick around and invest themselves, can be a part of a larger story that matters and has impact. We can bring in former cast members “ringers” to host special seminars, teach short-term classes, host concerts, or post content on social media.
It can also be fun to revive old worship elements on occasion in a callback to nostalgia. Maybe there is a recurring schtick that will be cherished in people’s memories because it’s something you used to do back in the day. This something has been retired (as all things should eventually be retired in favor of new ideas), but it can bring a smile to people to revive such things on a temporary basis on occasion. It can even have the effect of reminding people how the change to a new thing was a good direction to go. Maybe you used to regularly have a shout-out-your-favorite hymn sing-along, or you had children read the Scripture every week, or you had a comic character who shared the announcements. Bring it back once in a while, acknowledging that’s what you’re doing, and showing the way you value what has come before. Ministry sub-groups can utilize this same idea: youth groups, children’s ministries, for instance. And it can be a blast to temporarily revive events that you historically held but no longer do.
Additionally, pairing old “cast members” with new “cast members” can pay dividends in emphasizing the connectivity of members of your spiritual community through time. Don’t be afraid to highlight guests who are former congregation members who have moved on to other things and other locations. Former pastors, former soloists, former youth directors, former participants of all types can play an occasional part. This brings a warm glow to the folks who knew them when, and it can not only refresh your current worship leaders’ thinking – a little history can be good for that – but it is also a good way to give people a small break, a week off to rest while someone else takes the reins.
It is counter-intuitive, but such callbacks steer us toward the future and remind us that change and adaptation is part of who we are as an institution. Everybody tends to be dug in with the attitude that the way we are doing things right now – our generational preferences and superstar leaders – are the best way things have ever been done and shall always be the best way to do things. But nostalgic callbacks and reminiscences are a reminder that people will change, performance styles will change, formats and schedules will change, but the institution is bigger than all that. Change is inevitable, and it’s good. The new generations step forward and bring their new ideas and perspectives, building on what has come before, keeping the core values and keeping them germane.
By mixing in some people and ideas from the recent and decent past, we have the bonus benefit that we remind those people that their work mattered, that they matter, and that even though they may not be in a starring role currently, they are an important part of the work that got us to where we are today. They are a resource we should not forget and should not ignore. They still have much to offer and much to teach us.
Do you and your current team mix in callbacks to your past in your current lineup of worship events? Do you keep the luminaries from your history engaged in the continuation of your story? Do you feature them in ways that help the next generation understand where they have come from and how they can use the past to inform the future?
Good things happen when we do! Don’t forget to celebrate with joy.
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