Many opinions contend in the church today for what constitutes true worship of God and how best it can be practiced. This collection of essays carries on a conversation between biblical scholars and church music practitioners. It begins with three studies investigating what we can learn about worship in the Old Testament, followed by essays on the teaching about worship in the Gospels, Epistles, and the book of Revelation in the New Testament. The church music practitioners featured in the book respond to each of these essays. The final essay by Wendy Porter takes a historical journey of theological reflection on Christian worship from the days of the early church, tracing worship developments in the Western church through the centuries to today. This is an important book for anyone who wants to think theologically about how and why Christians worship God.
Many opinions contend in the church today for what constitutes true worship of God and how best it can be practiced. This collection of essays carries on a conversation between biblical scholars and church music practitioners.
Processes of Change and Renewal in Christian Worship
This magisterial book examines the changing nature of Christian worship from the earliest years of the New Testament to the liquid modern world. As in his previous, highly praised book, Company of Voices, George Guiver's expertise is as a forensic detective, tracing in the default practices and customs of ordinary people going about their prayer in church and alone, a vast body of liturgical DNA. He provides us with tools with which to discover the past and examine a range of assumptions and presuppositions about worship today.
One of the foundations of life in the black church is the proliferation of various worship practices and music. Reconciliation of Worship in the Black Church seeks to pave the way to the revitalization and restoration of faith celebration within the black church. There is a need to develop a practical theology of worship, incorporating the two main types used within the black church traditional, devotional-style worship, with its focus on spontaneous praise and testimony; and contemporary praise and worship, with its emphasis on rehearsed liturgy. In recent years, the rich history of traditional, spontaneous worship of the black church has been challenged by the praise-and-worship movement. Charles Lewis's insightful look at his own denomination demonstrates the importance of clinging to traditional practices while giving due consideration to modern modes of worship. Lewis sees the issue not as a choice between two competing styles but as a challenge for the church to blend the styles without compromising genuine worship or alienating large segments of the church. Carefully researched and presented from the heart, Reconciliation of Worship in the Black Church hopes to contribute to a lasting unification of worship practices.
Reconciliation of Worship in the Black Church seeks to pave the way to the revitalization and restoration of faith celebration within the black church.
Learn to Live and Lead a Life of Authentic Worship The Way of Worship is a practical, hands-on guide for readers seeking to better equip themselves as worshipers and worship leaders. Written by veteran worship leader Michael Neale and worship-theologian Dr. Vernon M. Whaley, this book combines skillful storytelling and biblical wisdom to help guide readers through the scriptural foundations and essential practices of worship. This book is ideal for anyone wanting a deeper more biblical understanding of what worship truly is, including: Worship leaders Pastors Youth pastors Worship team members College or seminary students training for ministry Each chapter takes you on a journey of discovery through different important facets of worship. Each chapter features: River Story: Episodes in each chapter take you on a white-water rafting adventure and draw connections to the role of a worship leader Biblical Application: Provides concrete application of biblical principles to worship based on the most recent episode of the River Story Essential Wisdom: Addresses important issues facing worship leaders on a week-to-week basis Scripture Focused: Every chapter features an abundance of relevant Scripture passages to help you understand what the Bible really says about worship Engaging, wise, and thoroughly steeped in Scripture, The Way of Worship is the go-to guide for Christians who desire to live and lead authentic worship.
This book is ideal for anyone wanting a deeper more biblical understanding of what worship truly is, including: Worship leaders Pastors Youth pastors Worship team members College or seminary students training for ministry Each chapter takes ...
Gathering as God's People, Going Out in God's Name
Too many Christians still think that worship is only a Sunday-morning activity done inside the church, while mission involves how the church engages the outside world. But Ruth Meyers argues that a dynamic relationship exists between worship and mission -- that gathering as God s people includes at its heart our being sent out into the world in God s name. Meyers explores this relationship by taking readers through the various parts of the worship service: gathering, proclaiming the Word, praying for the world, celebrating the Eucharist, and going forth to continue participating in God s mission in the world. In each chapter Meyers includes stories of worship practices in different churches and considers how the actions of worship relate integrally to mission. Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission emphasizes that missional worship is not a set of techniques but rather an approach to worship and congregational life in which God s mission permeates every aspect of what the church does.
Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission emphasizes that missional worship is not a set of techniques but rather an approach to worship and congregational life in which God s mission permeates every aspect of what the church does.
Worship with John Calvin in Sixteenth-Century Geneva
The Church at Worship is a series of documentary case studies of specific worshiping communities from around the world and throughout Christian history — case studies that can inform and enrich worship practices today. In Lifting Hearts to the Lord Karin Maag brings together a wealth of primary sources to examine worship as it was taught and practiced in John Calvin’s Geneva. Enhanced with Maag’s introductions and numerous marginal notes, this volume covers the period from 1541 to 1564, capturing both Calvin’s signal contribution to Reformation worship and the voices of ordinary Genevans as they navigated — and fought about — changes in their worship. Some of the primary materials included here: · Selections from John Calvin’s Scripture commentaries and sermons dealing with worship · Pages from the Genevan Psalter and service book · Historical maps and illustrations of Geneva and its churches · Genevan city council edicts and ordinances on worship · Excerpts from letters, eyewitness accounts of Reformation worship in Geneva, and consistory records
Enhanced with Maag’s introductions and numerous marginal notes, this volume covers the period from 1541 to 1564, capturing both Calvin’s signal contribution to Reformation worship and the voices of ordinary Genevans as they navigated ...
Hero Worship is a 12-week devotional journey. Jesus is our ultimate hero, and we live our lives in imitation of him as we do many of our other heroes. Ultimately, we become like the thing we worship. To know him is to love him. To love him is to trust him. To trust him is to obey him joyfully. To joyfully obey him is to love the way he loves. In hero worship, we observe practices that imitate various rhythms we see in Jesus' earthly ministry. When we imitate him in these practices, we are saying, "Here I am. I want to be close to you. I want to be like you. And I am prioritizing our relationship out of love and admiration. On each page, there is: A weekly verse to memorize. A weekly practice to engage. A daily verse and questions to help you focus. A daily practice suggestion. A daily journal entry to process the day's experience.
Over the past several years, churches have engaged in an ongoing debate between two different styles of worship--"traditional" and "contemporary." Here, Ronald Byars argues that many of the differences between the two styles are superficial. Authentic worship, being wholly theocentric, can and must be both responsive to contemporary culture and grounded in history and tradition. Thus, rather than merely trying to please their members, congregations must focus on exploring worship that is biblical, honors our communion with the saints, and takes seriously the ways that our culture is reshaping us. He concludes with a description of an authentic, postmodern Protestant worship service.
" Here, Ronald Byars argues that many of the differences between the two styles are superficial. Authentic worship, being wholly theocentric, can and must be both responsive to contemporary culture and grounded in history and tradition.
The historical course of Christianity in the twentieth century has been strongly marked by the Ecumenical Movement and the Liturgical Movement, and often these currents for the recovery of the Church's unity and the renewal of its worship have flowed together. In this new book, author Geoffrey Wainwright draws on his three decades of active participation in both movements to offer a theologically informed account of what has been at stake in them, what their achievements have been, and what tasks remain for them to accomplish. He shows how the two movements have engaged such issues as the authority and function of scripture and tradition as well as the nature of the Church and sacraments. In this last connection, Wainwright illuminates the convergence represented by the widely received Lima text on "Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry," in the writing of which he played a prominent part. The linguistic and anthropological turns that characterize twentieth-century thought are reflected in the attention given to the language and ritual of worship. The social location of the Church is addressed in chapters that look to liturgical practices for common Christian perspectives on ethics, politics, and culture, so that discords and conflicts may be resolved and reconciled. The book makes its own contribution to the symphony of praise to which the apostle Paul summons Christians and the churches when they will "with one mind and one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In this new book, author Geoffrey Wainwright draws on his three decades of active participation in both movements to offer a theologically informed account of what has been at stake in them, what their achievements have been, and what tasks ...
