Last week, I noted that the most common expectation today of the Holy Spirit’s work in worship is that he will make God’s presence known… Read More »Pentecostalism’s View of the Holy Spirit’s Work in Worship
Arguably, the default expectation of contemporary evangelical worshipers is that the Holy Spirit works in worship in such a way so as to create an… Read More »Holy Spirit, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
“Our church’s worship is pretty formal, but I prefer Holy Spirit-led worship.” Such was a comment I overheard recently by a young evangelical describing his… Read More »The Holy Spirit’s Work in Worship: Extraordinary Experience or Disciplined Formation?
A critic recently approached me about our hymnal and rebuked us for (among other things) including hymns written by Catholics in our hymnal. It is… Read More »May a Baptist (or any other Protestant) sing Catholic hymns?
We have seen thus far that good hymns help us to express the affections of our hearts in response to God’s character and works, which… Read More »How Singing Forms Us
With this post, I conclude my series on Scripture-regulated worship (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7). The Christian impulse to submit to Christ ought grounds our willing… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 8: Love for Christ through Scripture-Regulated Worship
I am forming an argument for Scripture-regulated worship from two pillars: the authority of Christ and our love for him (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6). If Christ… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 7: Loving What Christ Loves
This is the sixth post in this series (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5). The whole of the first five parts could be summarized… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 6: Love for Christ and New Testament Authority
My initial post in this series introduced the idea of worship regulated by Scripture alone (also known as the Regulative Principle of Worship). The second post considered important… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 5: Christ’s Authority 3
In the first post, I introduced Scripture Regulated Worship and the topic of this series. In this post, I consider some of the most important… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 2: Arguments for RPW
Note: This is the first in a series of posts on the Regulative Principle. This offers documentation for and expands upon my presentation to the 2018… Read More »Love for Christ & Scripture-Regulated Worship 1: Introduction
I recently received an email asking for my opinion on whether worship should be only reverent, or whether celebration and joy—especially expressed through physical expression… Read More »Some Thoughts on Physical Expression in Corporate Worship
The Gospel Coalition recently published an excerpt from a new book by Brett McCracken in which he makes a very common argument about music in… Read More »The Unproven Premise Strikes Again
In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln established an annual national holiday of Thanksgiving to be observed on the last Thursday in November. Most of us look… Read More »Thanksgiving: The Primary Worship Response
Kevin T. Bauder Christian writers from Augustine to Dante picture the eternal destiny of the righteous as beatific vision. The idea is that in eternity,… Read More »Our Eternal Occupation
In order to grasp the essence of Christian worship, we must start in the beginning. Creation provides the foundation for understanding not only the nature… Read More »Drawing Near to God as the Essence of Worship
Many pastors and Christian leaders believe they are purifying Christianity and worship when they remove any kind of formality from corporate worship. Formal dress, an… Read More »Sincerity and Profanity
It appears today that “authenticity” has become the most important virtue. In one sense this is good. Hypocrisy is a vice condemned by Scripture (Mathew… Read More »But we never talk like that in real life!
When the topic of music and worship comes up, a favorite slap-down argument against thoughtful discrimination of music is that pastors need not study music… Read More »Pastors – Become Literate in Christian Culture
For several years now James K. A. Smith has been helpfully speaking and writing on the subject of liturgical formation in education and worship. His… Read More »Review Article: You Are What you Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit