Church Leaders: You Need to Check Out This Brand-New Tool.

By Worship Strategies

Author

Derek Volkmann
January 24, 2026

In partnership with

Over the past few years of ministering through Worship Strategies, I’ve been blessed to connect with some amazing individuals who have been called to a similar mission to serve churches through creative arts.

Nathan Lain is one of those individuals.

He leads an organization called Living Liturgy—and he’s just released a tool that is a game-changer for how YOU 🫵 as a church leader can wrap your head around the worship identity of your church.

Let’s get into it—but first, I need your help with something.

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Living Liturgy & The Worship Identity Map

At Living Liturgy, Lain has a lot going on:

I’m always left encouraged and motivated whenever I finish reading the weekly Substack; Lain speaks pragmatically and pastorally, with thoughtful explorations that dig into the “why” of worship and translating that into the “how.”

And this week, he revealed a tool that I’m excited to use for our own church and other churches that we work with:

The Worship Identity Map

In a nutshell, it works much like other “4-quadrant” graphs (à la the “DISC” assessment), using these parameters:

  • Vertical orientation

  • Horizontal orientation

  • Formation

  • Encounter

I could go on, but Lain has a great explanation on Living Liturgy’s website; I highly encourage you to take a look and then take the assessment.

I do want to stress that this tool is meant as a guide, not a strict definition that places your church into a box. As your faith community grows, it changes, and their worship identity will evolve, too.

Use this to keep a pulse on what your congregation values, and you can even re-word some of the questions to reflect your own personal preferences and see where that aligns with your church’s results.

Be blessed 👊✌️

Derek is the founder and director of Worship Strategies and is also Creative Ministries Director Faith Family Church in Fayette, MO. Outside of ministry, he is active as a musician and entrepreneur. He is married to his wife Kaitlynn, and they have two beautiful daughters.

Want Our Help with Your Worship Ministry?

A big part of what we do at WORSHIP STRATEGIES is to help churches improve how they worship.

Practically, this looks like discipleship, leadership coaching, music instruction, and production advising to help your team grow and excel in their giftings to glorify God and edify His people.

The cool thing? We do this free of financial obligation for each church. We have a growing team of folks who support us in our work for YOU 🫵 and be a blessing to churches who need help but lack tangible resources for improvement.

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