The Presence Project

in your Church Community

Surely God is in This Place!
Help me notice!

Shaping a Culture


The Presence Project is a process, not a program. It is about deepening the things we are already doing, not adding more to them.


The Presence Project is about shaping a culture.


Cultures form through regular practices. The constant reminder, celebration and openness to God’s Presence can shape and deepen our congregational culture. It becomes a culture that knows and expects God is present. We start looking for experiences of God's Presence. We begin sharing and celebrating our experiences of God.


This might begin in our worship together. It spreads into all aspects of a congregation's life and work. It begins to shape how we experience God through our daily lives.


Your Operating System


On the Beginning page, we compared The Presence Project to a computer's operating system (OS). When we're installing it, we're paying attention to the OS: loading it, installing it, setting it up to work with our other software, customizing it to fit our own needs and preferences. Once it's installed however, we don't pay much attention to the OS (hopefully!) It's running the background, making all the other software work so the computer does the work we want it to do.


Using this metaphor, the Presence Project is about modifying your congregation's "operating system," its basic culture. Once installed, it runs in "the background." We keep doing what we were already doing. Yet now we do them differently, alive to God's Presence.


Immersion


This "installation" metaphor is limited, however. It feels mechanical and impersonal. So perhaps it's helpful to imagine an "immersion." Using different approaches that affect people in different ways, our congregation is immersed in an environment that opens people to God's Presence.


This is all about vitally changing how our congregations live and work . . . with a livelier awareness, availability and attentiveness to God's Presence . . . so we can be the people and do the work God wants us to.


This section gives you resources to help you immerse your congregation in The Presence Project. Feel free to use these in ways which fit with your congregation's needs and experiences.

  • Worship Liturgies

    The Presence Project can be introduced into a congregation within its regular worship experience, and grow from there.


    Your normal preaching rhythms, whether you use the lectionary or not, the songs you sing, your style don't need to change at all. (We do suggest a special sermon series at the beginning.) What changes is what's most important. Throughout your worship, look for ways to grow awareness, availability and attentiveness to God's Presence. How can you highlight these? How can you lead your congregation to share and celebrate its experiences?


    To help, we have some suggestions.

  • Teaching Sermons

    Your normal preaching rhythms, such as whether you use the lectionary or not, don't need to change. However, we suggest a series of sermons near the beginning. These introduce the congregation to The Presence Project and its themes.


    Here are outines and samples you can use and adapt.


  • Congregational Activities

    Whenever people are together . . . meetings, bible study groups, coffee breaks, work crews, knitting circles, Sunday schools, youth groups, justice initiatives, fundraising dinners, and so on . . . remember God's Presence. Try beginning each with something like:


    Surely God is in this place.

    Help me notice. Help us notice together.


    This practice becomes a regular mark of congregational life. It forms us to recognize God's Presence in all we're doing, not just formal worship times.

  • Weekly Reflection Emails

    We've prepared a series of 12 emails you can send to your congregation, 1 each week. They include both teachings and encouragements to practice God's Presence. Click here to get them.

  • Visual Reminders

    We've found that visual reminders (such as posters) are one of the most effective ways that people grow in their awareness, availability, and attentiveness to God's Presence.


    Here are a number of options you can download, print, and share with people.

  • Daily Prayer Practices

    We've crafted some patterns for daily prayer, which you can share with people in your congregation. You'll find them here.