Analysis of responses to Q22. Q22 was designed to discern what factors most influence the way worship pastors order or sequence elements in their worship services. Unlike Q17, which sought to discover what factors most influence how elements of worship are selected for inclusion in a worship service, Q22 sought to discover factors that influence sequential ordering of those elements once selected.

The response bank included influencers that can be divided into three basic categories: (1) musical elements (tempo, style, key or key relationships, fast to slow, slower to fast), (2) theological considerations (immanence to transcendence, transcendence to immanence, revelation-response, neo-liturgical formats), and (3) established traditions of the church. By far in all three ranking categories (most, 2nd most, and 3rd most influential), musical factors surpassed theological considerations regarding how worship services are sequentially structured. Figures 10, 11, and 12 demonstrate the high level of influence that these musical considerations play.

Figure 10. Most influential factor to sequential ordering of worship elements (musical considerations appear striped, theological considerations appear solid, and church traditions appear checkered)

Figure 11. 2nd most influential factor to sequential ordering of worship elements (musical considerations appear striped, theological considerations appear solid, and church traditions appear checkered)

Figure 12. 3rd most influential factor to sequential ordering of worship elements (musical considerations appear striped, theological considerations appear solid, and church traditions appear checkered)

Figure 13 conceptualizes the composite rankings of the most, 2nd most, and 3rd most influential factors sequenced from lowest to highest.

Figure 13. Composite ranking of influencers on sequential ordering ranked from lowest influence to highest influence (musical considerations appear striped, theological considerations appear solid, and church traditions appear checkered)

Considering the data in the aggregate, the following conclusions can be drawn. First, musical considerations exert the strongest influence on how a majority of worship pastors shape the order and sequence of their worship services. Second, the service contour that can be described as movement from fast/celebrative to slower/contemplative is the most significant influencer with a composite ranking of 71.4%. Third, musical style (38.0%), key or key relationships (37.3%), and tempo (32.9%) are notable influencers on how worship pastors order and sequence elements to be included in their worship services. Fourth, only one non-musical influencer, the concept of revelation-response, presents in the top five influencers. With a composite score of 33.3%, the influence of the concept of revelation-response is nearly half that of the influence of the musical consideration of moving from fast/celebrative to slower/contemplative (71.4%). Finally, most theological considerations and church traditions are of little consequence to a worship pastors’ sequencing of liturgical elements.

A related sphere of inquiry can be stated as follows: “Is the sequential ordering of a worship service influenced by a goal, value, or objective held by the worship pastor that would necessitate representing God in his transcendent otherness prior to representing God in his immanent nearness?” The data derived from Q22 do not indicate the influence of a sequencing objective that would necessitate beginning a worship service by conveying God’s transcendence and then later conveying God’s immanence. In fact, according to the data gleaned from Q22, neither the movement from transcendence to immanence nor the movement from immanence to transcendence has significant influence on sequential ordering of worship services. Figure 14 illustrates the relatively low impact of a service contour that is called for by placing value on a movement from viewing God in his transcendent otherness to viewing God in his immanent nearness.

Figure 14. Is a movement from transcendence to immanence indicated as one of the top three factors influencing the sequential ordering of worship services?

Presentation of Q22 and response bank. Worship pastors were asked to respond to the following three-part request:

The drop down list below displays factors that may influence how you ORDER or SEQUENCE elements in your worship service. Please indicate the top three most influential factors that impact how you ORDER or SEQUENCE a worship service.

Using the ranking system of most influential factor – 2nd most influential factor – 3rd most influential factor, worship pastors evaluated the following response bank of potential influencers on worship services’ sequential order:

1. Tempo (of a song)
2. Style (of a song)
3. Key (or key relationships)
4. Traditions of your church
5. The concept of revelation-response
6. Historic or neo-liturgical formats (e.g., Adoration – Confession – Thanksgiving – Petition)
7. A movement from fast/celebrative to slower/contemplative
8. A movement from slower/contemplative to fast/celebrative
9. A movement from conveying God’s immanence to God’s transcendence
10. A movement from conveying God’s transcendence to God’s immanence
11. None
12. Other

Table 8 indicates the responses by worship pastors characterizing the top three influences on how their worship services are sequenced.

(In each cell, the top number indicates the number of responses. The bottom number indicates the percentage.)