«Jeg brenner jo for involvering.» Involvering og delaktighet i gudstjenester med økt oppslutning

Abstract

In this article, I investigate the ways in which the involvement of lay people is practiced in four parishes with increased participation. The notion of involvement is central to Church of Norway‘s recently implemented liturgical reform. Involvement means that lay people are invited to become involved in preparations and co-leading of the services, which in the article I call direct liturgical involvement. I detect at least two other forms of involvement. The first one is facilitating involvement. This means that lay people facilitate the service by being church hosts or making cakes for the church coffee. The second is local community involvement. This means that local historical groups, women farmers groups, and other local groups support the church buildings and services without necessarily participating in the services themselves. In the article, I argue that the term involvement should be expanded to include these categories.