Performing the Ministry
Learn Theatre Skills to Enrich Your Performance as a Member of the Clergy
No prior acting experience or acting talent is necessary.
No prior acting experience or acting talent is necessary.
THE MINISTRY is the most inherently theatrical of any non-theatrical profession. You perform every day of your working life. The best acting reveals theatrical truth, not falsity. The best ministerial practice is equally authentic, genuine, not pasted on, not a lie.
PERFORMING THE MINISTRY workshops, courses and coaching enhance your performance as a spiritual leader. The work is participatory, experiential, physical. It is cumulative. The more you do it, the more skilled you become.
In PERFORMING THE MINISTRY workshops, courses and coaching, YOU WILL LEARN to:
- Present your authentic, best self to congregants and others.
- Sharpen concentration, focus and memory.
- Observe and interpret others’ body language and expressions.
- Listen closely and precisely, increasing your empathy and deepening your ministry of presence.
- Strengthen posture and body movement so you can communicate with your whole body, not just your voice and head.
- Use your voice as a beautiful, expressive instrument and deepen your understanding of the role of sound in worship.
- Articulate clearly and pronounce words correctly.
- Arrange space as a setting, an environment for worship.
- Reduce nervousness.
- Find a point of separation of professional persona and private life.
The actor’s skills:
- Centering , breathing, focusing the body, relaxing, opening the right brain
- Memorizing
- Responding quickly to visual, verbal and paralinguistic cues from others
- Identifying problems and doing something to overcome them
- Grounding the body to absorb the strength that comes up from the floor through your toes to your head: learning to use the communicative, expressive potential of the entire body, learning to get rid of the “talking head” syndrome
- Finding truth in the performance of characters
- Awareness of how each part of your body moves, how it creates spatial relationships between self and furniture, self and others
- Handling “props” – (symbolic objects integral to your service)
- Vocal strength: ability to produce rich, full, inviting sound, strongly supported by breath; ability to project to all the areas of the space; using techniques of oral interpretation: controlling color, varying tone, pitch, inflection, pace, pinpointing focus. Using mental images to give life to spoken text.
- Speech: clear articulation and correct pronunciation
- Wearing “costume” (clerical garments) with ease and comfort
Designers’ skills:
- Choosing and arranging objects to create a particular environment for the action of worship.
- Use of objects to illustrate sermons, carry out ceremony, serve as symbols of faith and presence of God
The director’s skills:
- Choreographing meaningful movement of self and other celebrants
- Working with sound – music – to create mood, suggest the presence of God
- Producing a sense of unity and “flow” among all the elements: textual, visual (set, costumes, lighting), kinetic, and auditory