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Why call this group RAWWG – Renewing Anglican Worship Working Group?
The group called together in March 2009 was initially called the Bishop’s Liturgical Commission.
This group requested that it be re-named as Renewing Anglican Worship Working Group: RAWWG.
· This name reflects the diocesan strategic priority, Renewing Anglican Worship.
· The words Working Group suggest that renewing Anglican worship is a work-in-progress, open to testing and trial rather than a finished, perfected work of art.
· The words Working Group emphasize the active and collaborative role this group wishes to maintain in helping congregations and regions achieve the strategic goal.
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RAWWG News and Events, Past, Present and Future
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Page 1News
The National Worship Conference 2010: www.nationalworshipconference.org begins on Sunday, July 4th, 2010, and ends on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010, with Sallie McFague and Douglas Todd as the keynote speakers, Karen Ward and Mark MacDonald as the plenary speakers. All events will take place at Vancouver School of Theology.
Click POSTER to download the latest version of the conference poster
Renewing Anglican Worship Working Group.
The Liturgical Commissions of the past had done stellar work within the worship life of the Diocese of New Westminster with the most recent version of the Liturgy Commission having completed its work in 2008.
Since then, the Strategic Planning team organized numerous meetings and events where people from every part of the diocese were encouraged to share their ideas about how they would like to see God’s Mission through the church develop as we move toward the year 2018. Those who participated in the consultative process have been recorded in an excellent report assembled by the Diocese of New Westminster – Plan 2018 Strategic Planning professionals, Marleen Morris and Associates Ltd.
Item 10.4 of that report under the heading Renewing Anglican Worship states the following:
People highlighted the need for Anglican worship that is relevant to people of all ages, at all life stages and from diverse communities. They spoke of creating new, more inclusive approaches to worship while maintaining traditional forms, with the hope that this would enhance meaning and relevance for more people, engaging existing members and energizing people to come to church.
Actions include:
- Offering a broader, more diverse range of liturgy/worship by developing more inclusive, contemporary liturgy – keeping in mind the needs and preferences of different ages/life stages, as well as multicultural communities
- Taking worship and ‘church’ out into the community
- Incorporating new music.
Developing new forms of liturgy to compliment existing forms that engage, welcome and uplift and range from contemplative and prayerful to energizing and praiseful is a tall order but it is also an exciting challenge. The Renewing Anglican Worship Working Group is not the Liturgy Commission with a different name, it is a different concept and different approach to visioning where worship is going and where it needs to go in order to spread the Good News.
When asked to encapsulate the mission of the RAWWG into one brief sentence RAWWG member Richard Leggett responded:
"We are tasked with building Anglican worship that is faithful to our tradition and is vital and life-giving."
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 John Wesley’s Rules for Singing (1761)
1.Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let
not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you,
take it up and you will find a blessing.
2. Sing lustily, and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half
dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of
your voice now, nor more ashamed of it being heard, then when you sing the
songs of Satan.
3. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, as to be heard above, or distinct from, the rest of
the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your
voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
4. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it. Do not run before,
not stay behind it; but attend closely to the leading voices, and move therewith
as exactly as you can. And take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way
naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among
us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
5. Above all, sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at
pleasing Him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this,
attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried
away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be
such as the Lord will approve of here, and reward when he cometh in the clouds
of heaven.
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