Q16 offered worship pastors the opportunity to reflect on a series of factors and their potential influence on their own worship planning. Specifically, the purpose of Q16 was to assist worship pastors in thinking categorically in terms of what values, goals, or objectives are at work in their selection process of elements to be included in a worship service.

The data presented in Table 2 indicate a variety of potential influences that may affect a worship pastor’s liturgical choices. The top three “very strong” influencers are to celebrate/rehearse the gospel (49.8%), to engage the heart (38.3%), and to convey God’s immanence (35.7%).

Figure 1 reflects the aggregate scores for the two highest categories of influence: the categories of “strong influence” and “very strong influence” represented in Table 2. The data represented in Figure 1 indicate nine factors selected by over half of the worship pastors as strong or very strong. These factors include celebrating/rehearing the gospel (87.5%), conveying God’s immanence (84.2%), engaging the hearts of their congregations (80.1%), musical considerations like a song’s style, key, or tempo (74.5%), calling their congregations to holiness (72.6%), conveying God’s transcendence (61.0%), supporting the theme of the pastor’s message or series (60.2%), calling the lost to repentance and faith (60.0%), and stimulating the mind with theologically rich content (58.6%).

Figure 1. Goals, values, or objectives ranked as strong or very strong that influence the selection of worship elements

Because two-thirds of all factors offered in the response bank were rated by a large majority of worship pastors as significantly influential to their selection of worship elements, this question in isolation does not provide definitive information about which specific goals, objectives, or values are most operative in the worship planning process. The descriptive conclusion that can be drawn from Q16 is that a majority of worship pastors are not strongly influenced by the goal of connecting with the culture (36.7%), selecting songs based on their popularity (15.8%), or honoring the congregation’s expectations, preferences, and traditions (15.5%). To gain additional clarity, Q17 was written to assist worship pastors in discerning which factors most influence their choices of elements to be included in a worship service.

Using the Likert-type rating scale of no influence – slight influence – moderate influence – strong influence – very strong influence, worship pastors identified the level of influence that certain goals, values, or objectives have on their worship planning process, specifically on how songs or other worship elements are selected to be included in a worship service. The following response bank was offered:

1. Popularity of a song based on rankings from Praise Charts, Planning Center, CCLI, etc.
2. The song’s style, key, tempo, or singability
3. To call the lost to repentance, salvation, and faith
4. To call the saved to holiness and repentance
5. To celebrate/rehearse the gospel (Christ lived, Christ died, Christ rose, Christ is coming again)
6. To connect with the culture
7. To convey God’s immanence (his love, care, and concern for his people)
8. To convey God’s transcendence (his distinction and separateness from his people)
9. To engage the heart and express human emotion (e.g., joy, celebration, contrition, desperation, thanksgiving, awe, wonder, etc.)
10. To honor the congregation’s expectations, preferences, and traditions
11. To stimulate the mind with theologically rich content
12. To support the theme of the pastor’s sermon or series
13. Other

Table 2 below indicates the worship pastor’s perception of the relative strength of the goals, values, or objectives listed above on how or why elements are selected to be included in a worship service.

Table 2. Influential goals, values, or objectives that influence the selection of worship elements (Q16) (In each cell, the top number indicates the number of responses. The bottom number indicates the percentage.)