Conducting a Solemn Assembly Service
Conducting a Solemn Assembly Service
“A Sample One-Night Outline for Leaders” Drawn from “Restoring Our First Love”
By Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell (This material is copyrighted and may not be used for sale or mass production. However churches may reproduce this material for their congregation only.)
The following outline is best used in churches that have already experienced a significant process of personal repentance in the days preceding the service. Though any church could benefit, the outline is better used as a culmination of cleansing that has occurred in a personal journey of repentance. Expect this service to be at least one to two hours in length. Please also remember this is only an outline and is just one option. Solemn assembly type services can be shorter and simpler than this outline or literally stretched out for two weeks. Each church must seek and follow God’s specific guidance for them. However, the shorter services can be somewhat limited in depth. In view of today’s tendencies toward shallowness, I urge church leaders to take solemn assemblies with great seriousness. Above all, we want the Holy Spirit to guide. For additional materials on full solemn assemblies, contact the BGCO Office of Prayer.
Key Principles for Church Leaders
1. A solemn assembly is not a program you simply plug in or a script you rotely follow. As you examine the suggestions in this sample outline, tailor the suggestions to fit your own needs. Trust God to lead you with phrases and ideas for your own people. This outline is a guide for ideas and directions, not a script.
2. Bathe the whole process in fervent prayer and serious preparation. Have your church leaders and entire church fast and pray for God’s detailed directions and power. Resist the modern temptation to take the easiest options with the least depth and effort.
3. Involve key leaders in both the preparation and facilitation of the service. They can lead prayers, read Scripture or guide in some of the times of confession.
4. If you sense either you or your church is not prepared, delay the process and seek God’s face until you sense it is His timing. Solemn assemblies should never be done casually or just because others suggest them. Based on Scripture, it would be far better not to do a solemn assembly at all than to do one casually, ill prepared or as a program. The leaders of our convention are in no way insisting that solemn assemblies be done on a certain date. It would be more effective to call a solemn assembly a few weeks later and do it right than to do it in a shallow, ineffective manner. However, do not let these cautions cause you to delay too long. The current need for repentance is extremely urgent.
5. Strongly emphasize that this process is about a full surrender to Christ’s lordship in new obedience and specific lasting changes. A true solemn assembly is far more than a temporary event of general confession. It is to be the first love covenant to specific lasting changing changes.
6. Consistently focus attention on Christ’s grace and His full acceptance for all who acknowledge their sin and embrace repentance. Keep a strong balance of grace throughout the entire process of repentance. Always conclude each major area of repentance with a focus on who we are in Christ’s righteousness. Conviction is to point believers to grace and transformation, not condemnation and hopeless despair.
7. Familiarize yourself with various resources and tools for conducting solemn assemblies. In addition to my resources, I urge pastors to become familiar with tools by Henry Blackaby, Richard Owen Roberts, Claude King and Keeney Dickinson. The remainder of this document is a fairly detailed outline of a sample one-evening solemn assembly format.
The One-Evening Solemn Assembly
By Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell
Optional Prelude – Thirty minutes prior to the service: While a preparatory prelude is not essential, it can add considerable impact. If you use the prelude, strongly urge everyone to be seated in the sanctuary thirty minutes before the main service begins! Stress that they sit in absolute silence and pray through the thirty minute cleansing guide (attached at the end of this outline). Distribute the attached Prelude Cleansing Guide to all participants. During the prelude, ask everyone to prepare their heart in prayerful surrender. I suggest soft instrumental music in the background. Take steps to prevent any noise in the foyer or surrounding areas! If given the chance, Satan will surely create distractions.
Phase I
Introduction, Biblical Preparation, Praise and Prayer
During the opening moments, explain the purpose of the solemn assembly. Two powerful Scriptures help identify the purpose. (2 Chronicles 7:14; Joel 1:14, 2:12-16)
One option for clarifying the purpose is to read excerpts from the one-page document issued by the SBC in 1989. It still applies just as well today. See the attached document entitled “Call to Solemn Assembly and Prayer.”
A second option is to briefly summarize the major reasons for calling the solemn assembly. Some primary reasons are: (1) Many believers and churches have clearly left their first love; (2) Apathy, sin and compromise have grieved God’s Spirit and profaned His name; (3) Key convention leadership senses God’s leading to call believers to special repentance and prayer; (4) There is an utterly desperate need for sweeping revival; (5) The extreme urgency of evangelism, discipleship and missions; (6) There are powerful increasing signs of God’s judgment upon our land; (7) The urgent need for global spiritual awakening.
Pastors should emphasize the specific reasons his own congregation needs a solemn assembly. After the pastor (or leader) has shared reasons for the solemn assembly, stress that the ultimate purpose is a lasting return to our first love covenant to Jesus. If a solemn assembly is merely a programmed event, it is of little value and can even be spiritually dangerous. It is a serious thing to put on a surface show of repentance.
In preparing to enter God’s presence, genuine praise and thanksgiving are nearly always important. (Psalms 100:4-5) At this point in the service, I encourage pastors to read Scriptures that remind us of God’s greatness, glory, holiness and grace. Give special focus to praising God for our covenant of grace in Christ’s blood. His blood is our sole hope for forgiveness and blessing.
*Voice a corporate prayer of praise and then ask the people to turn in small groups for prayers of thanks and praise. Also ask the prayer groups to cry out for God’s power and blessing on the service. *After five to ten minutes of small group prayer, voice another corporate prayer of praise and intercession for God’s blessing upon the meeting.
Immediately following this prayer, a moving solo or praise team song about Christ’s blood is especially powerful. A song about His holiness and love can help focus the people on God’s glory, grace and mercy.
*Music note: During small group or silent prayer times, it is often helpful to have an instrumentalist play softly.
Phase II
Confession, Repentance and First Love Obedience
The leader strongly stresses that our purpose is not only confession of sin, but a return to lasting obedience and love to Jesus. (Read aloud Proverbs 28:13 and I John 1:9.) Remind the people it is only by Christ’s grace and the Holy Spirit that we can genuinely confess, repent and walk in powerful growth. Assure them of His grace to forgive and His power to transform our weaknesses. Emphasize that true confession is both specific and thorough. (Read Psalm 139:23-24.) General confession has little depth or power.
Explain that full surrender of believers’ lives involve seven basic areas: (1) A total heart passion to know, love and fear God; (2) Spirit-guided attitudes and pure thoughts; (3) Godly words and communications; (4) Right relationships (personal, family and church); (5) Surrendering sins of transgression; (6) Surrendering sins of omission; (7) Embracing Christ’s cross in brokenness, humility, yielding of heart idols and prideful self-will. Ultimately, true commitment always centers on renewed passion for the Great Commission.
During the phase of personal confession and repentance, ask the people to sincerely confess their sins to God and surrender to full obedience. Urge the people to listen closely and resist wandering thoughts. Warn them that Satan will try to distract them. Remind the people that God convicts to point His people to grace, repentance and hope, not condemnation and despair. We are accepted and counted righteousness in Christ! (Romans 4:5; Ephesians 1:6) For simplicity and sake of time, I suggest combining the seven areas into five separate times of personal examination, confession and repentance. (The pastor or leader guides the congregation to pray through the five areas)
Area One – Embracing First Love Passion and Reverential Fear of God: The leader briefly emphasizes that our walk with God starts with the commitment to know, revere and love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus utterly rejects lukewarmness and half-hearted commitment!
Read some or all of the following passages: Matthew 22:37-39; Ecclesiastes 12:13; John 17:3; Revelation 2:1-4, 3:15-17. After reading the passages, make brief application as God leads. (It is usually very important to minimize sermonizing so we can maximize the time in confession and prayer.)
Ask the people to bow in reflection, personal confession and repentance. While their heads are bowed, I suggest that the leader ask select reflective questions to help the people embrace specific repentance. (Examples of such questions are found in my five-day cleansing guide, which is on our website. More extensive questions and options are found in my new book Restoring Our First Love.) Let me also state that pastors have the option of asking very few reflective questions. The Scriptures themselves are very powerful and may not need many reflective questions. Each leader should seek God for the right balance for his people.
In the reflective questions, it is vital to give people ample time to confess sin after each question. If you read the questions too fast, people are prevented from praying and surrendering each area to God. At the end of each of the five major areas of reflection and confession, a pastor or leader should voice a corporate prayer of commitment to obedience.
Area Two – Embracing Godly Attitudes and Pure Thoughts: The leader briefly shares the critical importance of godly attitudes and right thoughts. Read some or all the following Scriptures: Proverbs 23:7a; Matthew 5:28, 6:33; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Philippians 2:5; 1 John 2:16. After reading the passages and making brief comments as God leads, ask the people to bow in reflection, personal confession and repentance.
As their heads are bowed, I encourage the leader to ask select reflective questions to help the people embrace repentance. (Reflective questions are found in my five-day online cleansing guide and in the book Restoring Our First Love.) Again, pause long enough after each question for believers to surrender that area to God. After the period of silent personal prayer, a pastor or leader voices a corporate prayer of commitment to godly attitudes and thoughts.
Area Three – Embracing Right Words and Godly Relationships: The leader briefly shares the vital importance of godly words and right relationships. (For most believers, this section on relationships is the longest and most crucial to full surrender) Read select Scriptures from the following list: Proverbs 18:2, 29:11 & 20; Matthew 12:36; Ephesians 4:29-32; John 13:34-35; Matthew 5:23-24, 6:14-15, I Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 5:22-6:4; Psalms 105:5; I Thessalonians 5:12-13.
After reading the passages and making brief comments as God leads, ask the people to bow in reflection, personal confession and repentance. While their heads are bowed, I encourage the leader to ask select reflective questions to help the people embrace repentance. (Check the website and the book, Restoring Our First Love.) Again, pause long enough after each question for believers to surrender that area to God. After the period of silent personal prayer, a pastor or leader voices a corporate prayer of commitment to godly words and right relationships.
Area Four – Embracing Full Obedience (Overcoming Sins of Commission and Omission): The leader briefly shares the key importance of overcoming persistent sins of commission and omission. Read some or all of the following Scriptures: Proverbs 28:13; Malachi 3:8; Luke 12:47; John 14:15; James 4:17; I John 3:4, 5:3; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14.
After reading the passages and making brief comments, ask the people to bow in reflection, personal confession and repentance. While their heads are bowed, I encourage the leader to ask reflective questions to help the people embrace repentance. Again, do not rush! Pause long enough after each question for believers to encounter God. After the period of silent personal prayer, a pastor or leader should voice a corporate prayer of surrender to full obedience and pursuit of holiness.
Area Five – Embracing Brokenness, Humility and Full Surrender to Christ’s Cross: The leader briefly shares the essential importance of brokenness, humility and full surrender to Christ’s Cross. Read the following Scriptures: Matthew 16:24; Luke 6:46, 14:27; I Peter 5:5b; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8.