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How to Handle Interruptions in Worship
Orginally published on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 7:51 AM
by Todd Rhoades
Joe McKeever writes, "Some years ago worshipers at one church of my acquaintance watched in horror as a man approached the pulpit ranting and raving and then fired off a gun. He was subdued and held for the police. Needless to say, the rest of the worship service was anticlimactic..."
He continues: In my last pastorate, we had a member who was diagnosed as schizophrenic. So long as he was on his medicine, he behaved normally. But the injections were so difficult and made him feel so bad, sometimes he intentionally didn’t take them. That’s when he got into trouble. He would ride the bus downtown and walk into the sanctuary of one of the largest churches in the city, one that was broadcasting on live television, and would enter down the aisle “preaching” in a loud, disruptive voice, until he reached the platform. Church leaders would hustle him outside and call the police.
Most church interruptions and disruptions are not as dramatic as gunshots, as dangerous as bomb threats, or as unnerving as a wild-eyed schizophrenic. They might be as routine as a baby crying, as bothersome as someone simply talking too loud, or as distracting as unsupervised children misbehaving in the balcony. In any case, these situations threaten to end the worship service for everyone around them.
Church leaders are frequently in a tough situation during these interruptions. Deal with the distraction and you offend the parties involved. Ignore it, and you betray the larger crowd, those who came to worship God. If one has to err, it’s better to err on the side of the larger group.
Most large churches have faced these situations and developed plans for dealing with such interruptions. They will frequently have a small group of men in the area of the pulpit to protect that section of the sanctuary from harm or intrusion. They will also have a plan for dealing with other distractions, everything from a crying baby to a pet getting loose in the sanctuary. In most cases, this falls under the responsibility of well-trained ushers.
A church needs a plan. No matter the size, every church needs a plan. For the smaller churches, that plan might require one or two people to be designated, trained, and prepared to handle any emergency that might come up. The pastor will need to take the lead in this, and then will need to remind the others involved from time to time to stay on their toes.
Read the rest of the article here at Pastors.com...
FOR DISCUSSION: Does your church have a plan for interruptions? What is the biggest interruption you’ve ever experienced during a worship service. (Mine was in college when the organist had a heart attack and slumped over the keys with the volume at full blast.)
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 8:46 AM
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 9:11 AM
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 9:46 AM
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 2:20 PM
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 9:31 PM
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Post Your Comments:I had a similar situation as yours, a lady was singing a solo before the sermon, then collapsed with a brain aneurism right there on the stage. Fortunately she survived, but for 10 min. we waited for an ambulance and didn’t move her. After they took her, we prayed and the Pastor continued his message, even though no one could really even pay attention to what he said. It was a small church and everybody was close.
On the other hand, at the church I am at now we have select emergency people that keep an eye out for physical needs and security needs; and most of the time things are handled in such a way that the congregation as a whole are not even aware.
Yes, our church does have a plan. We have individuals who are a part of our response team based upon the interruption. For example: Back in March my mom’s boyfriend passed out at almost the very end of the worship service. Fortunately, they were in the back of the sanctuary. He is a rather tall man and had he passed out any where else - could have really hurt some people and definitely would have been even more of a scene. This called for the “medical response” part of the team. And… of course… an ambulance was called. This day will be etched in our minds for years to come..... I had just asked the class to pray for our family & friends about mom dating again. Then, suddenly - there was my hubby running into my class. Our family was in full blown mode that we know all too well… Although this time.... I was found driving H’s car while calling his daughter on his cell phone with my mother and oldest son with me following the ambulance. Life........ We’re thankful he passed out that day.... He currently lives alone and was found out to have severe sleep apnea as a result of staying in the hospital a few days. Of course we do like to tease him that he passed out because of the younger woman he was out with the night before… He’s 79 and she is 64.
The main plan we have to have is in regards to the fact that we have a nuclear power plant within viewing distance. Our church is also one of the staging places for the Red Cross.
The worst we’ve had is a baby crying, but we just installed our portable defib machine just in case. When it’s a small interruption, I try to make light of it. One time we were doing “Undignified” and there was a totally out-of-control little kid dancing. At the end of the song I encouraged everybody to make the kid at home by being more undignified than usual during worship… They didn’t… but it was a fun “song illustration” moment.
The worst thing that we have had hapeen (and still happen) is the annoying cell phone going off during worship, playing some awful tune from the 80s. Haven’t people discoved the vibrate mode by now!
The worst interruption that I have seen in a church is Billy Joe Daugherty getting punched in the face during a time of prayer. BJD is the pastor at Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was praying for a group of people during an altar call and he got punched, right in the eye. This was in November 2005.
After getting punched, BJD continued the service and with blood trickling down his face he forgave the man in front of the congregation. How cool is that! He recorded a short video and put it on their church website. The video contains footage of the hit and BJD’s response to the incident.
You can see the video here: http://www.victorytulsa.org/homepage/events/PastorsResponse.asp
He also wrote a book in 2006 inspired by the incident entitled Knocked Down But Not Out.http://www.amazon.com/Knocked-Down-But-Daugherty-Billy/dp/0768423910/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-0832580-8668754?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181675304&sr=8-1
Here are my top 3 favorite worship mishaps:
3) I was playing second guitar on the team one week when a new family of visitors smuggled in a tamborine, then during worship proceeded to add a lil’ somethin’ extra to worship. Our poor pastor wasn’t sure what to do, but I think eventually “suggested” they stop. The family left during the middle of worship. (This has actually happened twice in the last year with different familes!)
2) I was again playing second guitar one week when our “relief” worship leader (he does one week per month) forgot to turn off his cell phone which was in his pants pocket. His ringtone was an mp3 clip of Thousand Foot Krutch’s “Move” (a hard rock song). Ooooh man, it was awesome--it was even during a “quiet, reflective, instrumental” moment! I thought our pastor was going to dive on the platform and strangle him right there.
1) This is actually during a sermon, but I have to share...At a previous church, the front row consisted of couch-like seating. Well, during the pastor’s message the pastor’s pre-teen son, who was sitting in the front row, had laid down and stuck his head underneath the arm rest. When he tried to sit back up, he found his head was completely stuck in the armrest, which forms a kind of loop. His arms and legs went flailing wildly, accompanied by grunts and whining. The pastor just stared down and lauged loudly. Eventually some one helped him free, but it was hilarious.
At a former church we had an irrate drunk neighbor come charging down the aisle yelling and screaming, and interrupting a children’s musical. After the deacon’s escorted him out, there was dead silence and then the child up front said her next line which was “I’m so afraid!”
The congregation broke out into hysterical laughter following that one.
Another time, and during another musical, the pastor’s son who was mic’d with a wireless lapel mic, that hadn’t been muted, got into a screaming match with his girlfriend backstage. The language was quite colorful and was the talk of the church for quite awhile.
Anyone have contingency plans for bats? During one service I was in, the pastor was half way through his message and a bat swooped over the congregation - multiple times! The service was being broadcast on the radio until the screams and nervous laughter began in the congregation. The pastor made a swift decision to suspend his sermon and end the service allowing the nervous and some scared to exit while the brave took care of capturing the culprit bat.
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