Theme: Closing Worship

How a service ends matters as much as how it begins. The closing moments of worship are the spiritual threshold between the gathered community and the scattered mission — the sending point. Songs chosen for this moment should commission the congregation, send them with blessing, or name the mission they're stepping back into. After twenty-five years leading worship, I think of the closing slot as liturgically important: these are the last words the community sings together, and they should carry weight. Songs that send people out with a sense of purpose, identity, and divine backing do incalculable good in the long life of a congregation. Don't coast to the end — seal what God has done.