Strange Lyre: Conclusion
A good theologian once drew me a diagram of the progress of Christian doctrine and Christian history from the apostles to our day. He drew… Read More »Strange Lyre: Conclusion
Articles on Worship
Cessmaticism: The Strange Hybrid of Contemporary Christian Worship
We began this series by making the claim that Pentecostalism has quietly (or not so quietly) colonised Protestant worship, even in those churches and groups… Read More »Cessmaticism: The Strange Hybrid of Contemporary Christian Worship
The Idols of Intensity and Extemporaneity
A polarized debate goes on between different stripes of Christians over the place of experience in Christianity. One side asserts that experiential faith (what the… Read More »The Idols of Intensity and Extemporaneity
Pentecostal “Praise and Worship”: A Radical Departure from Historic Worship
Christian worship has often had a remarkably similar shape across traditions. Bryan Chapell showed in his work Christ-Centered Worship that corporate worship (sans communion) in… Read More »Pentecostal “Praise and Worship”: A Radical Departure from Historic Worship
Early Beginnings of Pentecostal Worship
An easy error for a historian to commit is to equate or link events or movements in history that are similar, while ignoring or underplaying… Read More »Early Beginnings of Pentecostal Worship
Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship
It’s hardly disputable that global Christianity has been overwhelmed and colonized by the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. After Roman Catholicism, the Christianity identified variously as… Read More »Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship
Discerning the Christian Imagination: Analogies and Proportion
If Christians should grow in their ability to discern superior Christian works of imagination, how should they do this? Must every Christian pursue some kind… Read More »Discerning the Christian Imagination: Analogies and Proportion
Shapers of Christian Imagination
How is Christian imagination shaped? A true but not very helpful answer would be to say, “everything shapes imagination”. Visits to the doctor, watering the… Read More »Shapers of Christian Imagination
The Work of the People
A biblical understanding of the corporate importance of gathered worship should impact everything we do in corporate worship. First, although every church member is a… Read More »The Work of the People
Sacerdotalism in Contemporary Worship
The medieval church suffered from a kind of sacerdotalism that removed worship from the people and made it the worship of priests on behalf of… Read More »Sacerdotalism in Contemporary Worship
The Work of Ministry
Last week we saw that since all who are in Christ are priests who are able to draw near and offer sacrifices to God, therefore,… Read More »The Work of Ministry
The Priesthood of All Believers
In the year 365 a council of church leadership met in the city of Laodicea to discuss various problems that had arisen in the churches… Read More »The Priesthood of All Believers
Dialogue with God in Corporate Worship
Over the past several weeks I have been developing the biblical idea of the dialogical structure of corporate worship. Historically, church worship services have been… Read More »Dialogue with God in Corporate Worship
God Speaks, We Respond
Last week we noticed the dialogical structure of worship manifest in the terms “spirit” and “truth” in John 4. So let’s unpack this two-part, dialogical… Read More »God Speaks, We Respond
Conclusion: Beauty as Love
In this series, we have considered the meaning of beauty, objections to beauty, and how beauty is to be sought. We’ve answered the objections that… Read More »Conclusion: Beauty as Love
Dialogue with God
Jesus’s conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4 illustrates well the essence of worship with God as a relationship of communion with him. But where… Read More »Dialogue with God
In Defense of the Prayer Meeting (Part 2): Its Essential Purpose
This series of posts is in defense of the prayer service. In the first post, I offered some important introductory remarks, and laid out the… Read More »In Defense of the Prayer Meeting (Part 2): Its Essential Purpose
Living Water
For the past several weeks I have been building the case for a biblically-founded theology and practice of corporate worship. The first few posts established… Read More »Living Water
The Practices of Correspondent Love
The practices, or disciplines of the Christian life function to nurture correspondent love. The disciplines are not themselves the sum and substance of communion with… Read More »The Practices of Correspondent Love
Covenant Renewal in Corporate Worship
The understanding of the purpose of corporate worship that I have been exploring for the past couple of weeks is this: Corporate worship is communion… Read More »Covenant Renewal in Corporate Worship