2) Read a Psalm out loud slowly. Pause at particularly significant bits. Allow people to drink in what is being said or simply to use the words of the psalm to focus on God.

3) Do the same with the Lord’s Prayer. Take it line by line, allow 15 minutes to finish the prayer.

4) Use the breaking of bread as a focus for worship.

5) Construct a simple cross. Use this focus for worship. Plain children’s building blocks make a good job of this!

6) Write out the name ‘Jesus’ in bold block capitals. Put it on the mantelpiece or some other focal point. Again allow people to mediate on the name.

7) Experiment with body posture! Kneel as a sign of penitence. Stand as you wait on God.

8) Pray in tongues together

9) Have a reading of a passage of Scripture or some other devotional passage as a starting point for a time for silent worship and / or mediation.

10) Encourage people to write out their most heart-felt prayers to God as a preliminary to worship. Collect their slips of paper and, without reading them, place them in a inflammable container and set them alight as an offering to God.

11) …or simply encourage them to listen to God and write out the replies.

12) Get a big sheet of paper and invite people to write down words that describe God. The begin thanking God for who He is.

13) Light a candle, play some music, think about Jesus – the light of the world!

14) Bring some art materials and get everyone to draw or paint something that expresses worship to God.

15) Use an excerpt form the Jesus video with a music track in the background.

16) Do a group meditation together, using a technique like Lectio Divina.

17) Get a short fat candle. Turn the lights in the room off and then strike a match, light the candle and think of how the candle resembles Jesus: “Perfect shape – It flickers, but reforms. You can’t physically touch it, but you know it’s there because you can see it’s effects. It gives light, heat/warmth, destroys/powerful… (There are loads of things you can think of.) Then light some more candles from the main one.. Explain how the light spreads to people… Prayer that you will be a light, resembling God and pray that you will spread the light to other people.”

18) For this you will need a staff (a broom handle will do); a red or purple robe ( we used a red door curtain); a crown of thorns (use any blackberry bush for this, but be careful when winding them together);three large nails (the rougher and rustier the better); a large hammer or mallet; a glass of red wine; broken bread. The above are to be hidden in another room – out of the sight of the rest of the group. Play a worship song about Jesus suffering and going to the cross and have people listen to the song with their eyes open. After a while leave the room and bring in the rod, place it in the middle of the group and then sit down. A few seconds later, go and get the robe, place it with the rod and then sit down. Do this until everything is on display. Then have a few moments of silence and praise God for what He did on the cross.*

19) Choose a psalm i.e. 103. Read it aloud and then ask the Home Church to imagine they are going on a desert island and they are only to take a verse or a few words of the Psalm with them for the rest of their lives for their encouragement or to remind them of one aspect of God etc. Write it down on a piece of paper and place on the floor in the centre of the room. Take some time out (perhaps with background music) to look at all the contributions. When everyone is finished, thank God for all those things on the paper.

20) Gather a random collection of objects from around the house, it can literally be anything. One for each member of the group (and a couple more just in case!). Give them out and get everyone to meditate on them and allow God to speak to through the objects. Then get everyone to share what they have got from God, this may be revelation into Gods character an understanding of some scripture or a hundred other things!

21) Produce stickers for each member giving reasons why worship is difficult today (”I’ve had a bad day”, “so and so has upset me”, “those curtains are interesting!”). Peel off the reasons and place them in a waste bin. Then distribute new stickers with Bible verses printed on them, affirming our status as God’s children, declaring God’s unconditional love for us, and so on. Take turns to read them out and to thank God.

22) Go through the alphabet from A to Z and ask the group to come up with an attribute of God to fit each letter! (Humour and worship together!)

23) Or try the same with things for which we can thank God.

24) Spend five minutes in silence listening to God, then share the results. Perhaps give a few verses from a psalm as a seed thought before the silence begins.

25) Go into the garden and spend ten minutes individually contemplating a weed or a flower or a leaf that you find there. People could bring back the object they selected and talk about it.

26) Or lie on the ground gazing up at the sky, chatting to God in silence.

27) Use worship CD’s and sing along. The louder they’re played, the more confident people will be to join in.

28) Read a short passage of scripture about Jesus and ask each person to write their own short psalm inspired by that passage. Then let each one read their psalm and allow people to pray in response to each reading…

29) Read Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Spend time individually writing out a declaration of Jesus’ worthiness. Then read them out with others praying short prayers inspired by what has been written.

30) Clear as much space as possible from the room. Get everyone to stand against one wall with clear ground in front. Read Revelation 4:1-11 through once and ask people to visualise the scene, with eyes closed. Get them to picture the door of heaven and then to “knock” on it; wait until it is opened and then move forward and in through the door. Allow time and silence (and space!) to picture the throne room of heaven and then to approach the one who sits on the throne.

31) There’s a wealth of liturgy available: some from your denomination, alternative pieces from other denominations or published resource books.

32) Write a psalm, hymn or spiritual song together. You’d probably want to go for words only and then you could find a musical genius to write a tune and teach it at the next meeting!

33) Pray together about one aspect of God’s character (His faithfulness, love, mercy, grace, &c.).

34) Read a psalm together.

35) Prepare a meditation (e.g. Get the group to close eyes and to imagine they are a character in the Bible. Talk the members through the particular Bible story and how they might feel. Allow time and periods of quiet for this. See the Revelation 4:1-11 example above.)

36) Everyone pray only Thank You prayers. This is good to do because most people will find it hard to pray without eventually turning it into an asking prayer and it’s quite a challenge to keep the prayer thankful only.

37) Use an object to focus on one aspect of God. Examples might be a lump of clay alongside a pottery vase, reading Jeremiah 18:4f. or Isaiah 64:8. Or you could use garden flowers and a passage about Creator God.

38) Modernise an old hymn (or re-write some old liturgy).

39) Read the Gospel of Mark, or another short Bible book, one chapter each around the group.

40) Prepare by taking a magazine(s) and cut out very many small squares of different shades of colour from the photographs. Place the “confetti” in a basket and at the meeting have each person select a colour that appeals to them. Then get the group to arrange themselves in a line with the colours in the order of the spectrum. Join the ends of the line so that the group forms a circle and then get the different colour groups to use their imagination and make the noise of their colour!! Mention that, together, all of the colours of the rainbow make pure white light. Read Genesis 1 and have the group make their sound and wave their colour swatch whenever the word “light” is mentioned.

41) Be creative with clay, paints or crayons. e.g. Give each person a small piece of modelling clay. Ask them to pray silently and to meditate as the leader reads a passage of Scripture. Encourage them to play with the clay in silence and see what is formed as the meditation progresses.