In May, I attended Rochester's College's "Sermon Seminar" on the theme, "Dare we live in the world imagined in the Sermon on the Mount?" Rochester College is a liberal arts college in Michigan, associated with the Churches of Christ.

Churches of Christ is an interesting "denomination." They do not ordain women. Many congregations do not allow women to be elders. Even women leading prayers in worship would be problematic for some. Many of the congregations do not use any musical instruments. (I discovered this at the first seminar I attended when a room of approximately 150 men and 10 women began singing acappella in beautifully haunting harmony).

The seminars are organized by Dr. David Fleer, a gracious and courageous man who doesn't seem to mind inviting people into challenging situations. This year, two women led prayers in the worship services during the seminar. At one point I commented to him how much I appreciated his having women in leadership but also recognized that this must have caused him some trouble in some quarters. He replied simply, "It's the right thing to do."

For some time now, as I reflect on the process of worship renewal, I have been thinking about the need for that kind of courage among the people in our congregations: people who dare to do something that will probably land them in some trouble simply because "It's the right thing to do." And, I've been wondering about the role of worship in shaping such people. In Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, Marva Dawn encourages churches to "plan worship that keeps God as the subject that nurtures the character of the believer that forms the Christian community to be a people who reach out in God's purposes to the world." We need worship that forms "Christians who follow Jesus in his willingness to suffer for the sake of God's kingdom."

I suspect anyone who begins to venture into the arena of changing worship practices quickly discovers that this a place full of dangers. No one emerges without some scars. Last year, at a colloquium for recipients of worship renewal grants from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Kathy Smith offered some metaphors to help us be prepared for the challenges that come with change.

She spoke of an experiment conducted in a biosphere, an enclosed system where all "negative" influences were eliminated. The fruit trees that grew there produced bountiful fruit but the fruit fell off before it was ripe. The stems on the branches were not strong enough to hold the fruit because there had been no wind in the biosphere to bend them and, thus, to strengthen them. Similarly, amoebae grown in a "perfect environment" died. They needed the challenge of change.

When you are on the receiving end of people's complaints about changing worship practices, she said, think of yourselves as being the ball carrier in a football game. The other players chase and tackle him not because they don't like him. They tackle him because he's carrying the ball.

When a congregation begins making changes in worship, the ordered minister (or whomever is responsible for leading worship) will need to find the courage to "hold the course" in the midst of powerful resistance. One of the most helpful bits of advice I have received came to me from an elderly woman, Hughena Marshall, who had done many courageous things in her life. She said, "At my funeral, don't let anyone say that everyone liked her. If everyone likes you, it just means that you haven't done anything significant with your life. If you're going to do something important, you are going to offend someone. The question you have to ask is, 'Whom are you willing to offend?'"

For too long, our churches have been willing to offend everyone but those who want to keep things "the way we've always done it." What I have learned is that, when it comes to changes in worship, there will be a group who will be very vocal and straightforward with their objections. If you make changes and they are offended, they will let you know. If you don't make changes, there will be significant numbers of people who won't let you know that they are offended. They will just leave. When a congregation is considering the responses to changes it has made, somebody needs to be designated to give voice to the viewpoints of people who are no longer there.

It is not just the members of ordered ministry who will need courage to face the resistance to change. The ordered minister cannot do this on her or his own. There will need to be a group of people in the congregation who are willing to take the time and effort to study carefully what it is that makes for good worship. (We study and discuss a book on worship for the first half hour of each of our worship committee meetings.)

The people in the group will need to be willing to discuss openly and truthfully with others what they are thinking about worship practices. They will need to let themselves and their attitudes be changed by what they learn from others. They will need to be prepared to receive criticism from the congregation for the decisions they make, to reconsider and make adjustments where warranted. At the end of the day, however, they will also need to be willing to say, "We are sorry that you are offended/hurt/angry by this, but we believe that this is the right thing to do."

There is no doubt this is dangerous territory. Sometimes we really are wrong. In our pride and egotism, we may impose on the congregation changes that are harmful to it, instead of allowing change to happen organically. The process of worship leadership requires a commitment to constant learning, humility, prayer and openness to the Spirit's leading and correcting us. There will be times when the group providing worship leadership will simply have to persevere through the criticism. There will be times when it will have to say, "We made a mistake. Let's try this again in a different way."

How do those of us charged with worship leadership shape worship so as to create such courage in people? Among the many factors that contribute to faithful leadership is something Stanley Hauerwas told us at the Sermon Seminar. When asked about the challenges of our real-life congregations "living in the world imagined in the Sermon on the Mount," he offered this simple advice: "Don't lie."

As we train ourselves to tell the truth, both in preparing to lead worship and in our worship services, there is formed in us and in the people of the congregation the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ in our world. That will change our worship, even as we are changed by such truthful worship.