What is the Wholeness Service?

A Fellowship of Believers

The Georgetown Ecumenical Wholeness Service is not a church. Instead, we are a diverse fellowship of area believers who come from many different churches, and sometimes from no church at all. The Wholeness Service is a supplement, not a replacement for regular worship. We gather by candlelight to seek personal reconciliation with God, pray for each other, and pray for the world.

We are an ecumenical body, but we also celebrate and support the area churches that we call home. Most people who come out on Sunday evenings attend another church during regular worship times. Many of these churches support us in their own ways; financially, materially, or by making our ministry known to their congregations.

Mission partners: As a fellowship of Central Texas Christians, we rely on area churches to adopt and host our ministry under their legal umbrella. This partnership allows us to share their worship licenses and financial structure for as long as we are hosted as a mission. To date, the Georgetown, Texas partners First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church, and San Gabriel Presbyterian Church have served as our mission partners. Our current mission partner is San Gabriel Presbyterian Church, Georgetown, Texas.

About the Services

Our meetings use two very special types of worship templates: the Protestant Service of Healing and Wholeness and Taizé Common Prayers. The Service of Healing and Wholeness, found in many Protestant books of Common Worship, is the root of our approach. Occasional evenings of pure Taizé prayer are offered throughout the year. The major difference between the two is that a Taizé Common Prayer service replaces a spoken homily with readings from the Bible.

Even in the Services of Healing and Wholeness, most congregational songs are from the Community of Taizé. In every service, time is set aside for intercessory prayer, candle lighting, and private prayer with a minister. Many of our meetings offer open Communion, with gluten-free elements available. All services are open to the public.

Congregation and Leadership

Men, women, Protestants and Catholics serve in our leadership circle under one banner, “All are Welcome, All are Embraced.” The Apostolic nature of our ministry means that we are able to work together unbound by creeds or church polity and focus on God alone.

If a person is called to speak (“prophesy”), we will trust God and allow them to do so. Multiple people may deliver a homily, an intercession, or a scripture reading. Anyone may also serve as a musician, usher, or prayer minister. Like the early church, we recognize that the Body of Christ needs all members to become her hands, feet, and voice.

Guided by the Holy Spirit, we welcome all seekers from all faith backgrounds, including those who have none.

Theology, Vision, and Worship Practices

Theology: Our theology strictly relies on scripture, which is most often read from the New International Version of the Bible. While we have no creeds of our own, The Apostle’s Creed is a good summary of our beliefs.

The heart of each pastoral homily is a careful balance of spiritual insight with available scripture. Church doctrine and any other kinds of continuing revelation are carefully excluded from the Services of Wholeness. This “least common denominator” approach allows us to keep meetings accessible to seekers from almost any background. From time to time, a service is conducted with scripture alone, but most include a brief spoken meditation. When a homily is spoken, the speaker strives to illuminate, not mutate the written Word of God.

Vision: Our vision is to provide curated spaces and times for inner reconciliation with God, and to encourage community reconciliation throughout Central Texas. It is heavily informed by the Community of Taizé, France, a Christian monastic village that annually hosts tens of thousands of young adults worldwide, all traveling there on a “pilgrimage of trust.” This community was started by a man known as Brother Roger of Taizé, who wrote and taught extensively on a vision of peace and reconciliation worldwide. To date, it is still the only place where the observance of Holy Communion between both Protestants and Catholics is accepted as a sacrament by the Catholic Church.

Music: Most of our congregational music is from Taizé, and serves the overarching purpose of our vision: the songs and prayers of Taizé are not attributed to any one denomination. Since the worship material does not resemble or reflect any doctrinal bias, nor does it carry any cultural hooks, we find that this is an excellent way to welcome all who would come: by avoiding denominational baggage, we make it possible for everyone to drop their arguments at the door. From time to time, other songs may be introduced for congregational participation, so long as they also align with our vision.

Annual Themes: Like our teachers in Taizé, we adopt an annual theme for the season. A series of topics is considered each year, and taught from the Bible. Themes vary, but they are chosen in a meeting of service leaders each Spring and Summer, guided by the Holy Spirit. When preparing each service, careful thought is given to scriptural context in the thematic topic of that month.

Themes are helpful to us because we expect God to call new ministers to serve at any time. To align with our non-doctrinal theology and our vision of ecumenical worship, it is helpful to present each speaker with a scriptural focus. Themes almost always teach a series of lessons whose arc spans from September to May each year.

Congregational songs

Taizé Prayer chants are congregational, made of short phrases that are repeated for ease of participation. Because Taizé represents over 100 countries worldwide, the songs are translated into many languages. In our services, we usually sing these songs in English. For an idea of how the songs sound in their original languages, please enjoy this YouTube playlist.