Worship by the Book

by D.A. Carson (Editor), Mark Ashton (Contributor), R. Kent Hughes (Contributor)

'What is at stake is authenticity. . . . Sooner or later Christians tire of public meetings that are profoundly inauthentic, regardless of how well (or poorly) arranged, directed, performed. We long to meet, corporately, with the living and majestic God and to offer him the praise that is his due.'---D. A. Carson Worship is a hot topic, but the ways that Christians from different traditions view it vary greatly. What is worship? More important, what does it look like in action, both in our corporate gatherings and in our daily lives? These concerns---the blending of principle and practice---are what Worship by the Book addresses. Cutting through cultural cliches, D. A. Carson, Mark Ashton, Kent Hughes, and Timothy Keller explore, respectively: -Worship Under the Word -Following in Cranmer's Footsteps -Free Church Worship: The Challenge of Freedom -Reformed Worship in the Global City 'This is not a comprehensive theology of worship, ' writes Carson. 'Still less is it a sociological analysis of current trends or a minister's manual chockfull of 'how to' instructions.' Rather, this book offers pastors, other congregational leaders, and seminary students a thought-provoking biblical theology of worship, followed by a look at how three very different traditions of churchmanship might move from this theological base to a better understanding of corporate worship. Running the gamut from biblical theology to historical assessment all the way to sample service sheets, Worship by the Book shows how local churches in diverse traditions can foster corporate worship that is God-honoring, Word-revering, heartfelt, and historically and culturally informed

Genres: Theology, Christian, Ecclesiology, Church, Nonfiction, Biblical Studies, Christianity

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2002

About the author

Donald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received the Bachelor of Science in chemistry from McGill University, the Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He has written or edited about sixty books. He is a founding member and currently president of The Gospel Coalition. Carson and his wife, Joy, reside in Libertyville, Illinois. They have two adult children.

Reviews

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book pleasantly surprised me. Having left it lying on the shelf for three years, I finally opened it and read the final quarter of the book by Tim Keller. I loved it. I then started at the beginning and read the other three contributors (Carson himself writes about sixty pages, which is the average length of each of the other three contributors). Below I try to summarize some of the content of each and/or what was most salient to me.

Carson's chapter is decidedly theological, as expected. Nothing groundbreaking, but he writes with clarity and insight. Salient in my reading was his discussion of perspective in our approach to the entire subject. Do we approach worship first by asking what it is that God expects from us. Carson says that, in the first instance, what makes worship delightful is God himself. Consequently, deeper worship can only come through a deeper grasp of God's majesty in his person and in all his works (29-31). Again, not a novel thought, but Carson expounds and applies this thought well. Also excellent was his exegesis that worship in spirit and in truth is worship "by means of Christ" (37), that corporate worship has a distinctly horizontal application as well as vertical, and that central to the practice and goals of worship is the Word of God. (While intellectually this last statement seems almost axiomatic, it is disregarded surprising well by most churches I have attended.)

Mark Ashton writes about worship in an Anglican context. He makes much of Cranmer's legacy and how Anglicans can regain good that's been lost from Anglican worship since Cranmer's time. Ashton considers how services can model the redemptive story through their liturgy and offers some basic models for doing this. He talks practically about group input to keep worship word-centered, edifying, and accessible while avoiding the pitfall of catering to specific taste. He offers specific advice for various types of services and many elements of a worship service even down to announcements (or "notices" British speech). As a non-Anglican, I found much on which to ruminate in Ashton's chapter.

Kent Hughes chapter was the last I read and seemed less helpful than the others, though that may be due to my having heard many of the same things said by the others and not be a reflection on his content itself. Building on the centrality of the Word, Hughes highlights the connection between the Spirit of God and the Word of God, and how they cannot be separated. For someone who hasn't thought much at all about a theology of worship, Hughes contribution from a free-church perspective, is perhaps the most accessible and widely practical.

Timothy Keller's contribution is quite incisive. He opens by tearing down the distinctive walls built between contemporary and historic worship, dealing with the ideologies behind the worship wars. Excellently, he goes back to Calvin particularly among the reformers to offer a new approach beyond the idea of "blended worship" for what is largely a postmodern society today. Keller directs us to consult the Bible, culture, and tradition together to inform our worship. He criticizes those on both sides of the worship wars who would elevate corporate worship to a position to which it is not entitled. After this discussion, he discusses the traits of reformed worship and three results which should always result from true worship. Finally he gives advice for the worship leader, the liturgy, and the music, followed by sample services with accompanying explanation.

[Andrew Geddert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for all ministers, leaders, directors, and pastors of worship in any church setting and ministry context. It includes many highly valuable insights for corporate worship - both practically and theologically.

[Bill Forgeard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an astoundingly helpful book for me in my role as coordinator of music & worship at our church. Both rigorously theological yet easily practical. D.A. Carson's long introduction was the highlight, but I was impressed as each author discussed their own worship tradition/approach (all different to my own), yet made the broad principles easily apparent. Highly recommend it if you want to give deeper biblical thought to the way you worship in church.

[Josh Loewen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 3 in one shampoo of books. The authors tackle the meaning of corporate worship through the lens of multiple denominations, providing an insightful read. While I personally disagree with the point made in Chapter 11 about having non-believing musicians on worship teams (I took away a star for this), I found the rest of the book to very well written and informative.

[RuthAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended

Recently, I asked a pastor friend, "What's the point of going to church?" Not the point of religion or choosing a certain denomination or anything but physically going to a church on a Sunday. With so much information available online and in books, what is the purpose and benefit of a corporate worship setting? He recommended this book to me, and I got so much out of it. It helped me understand the theological background of the concept of gathered worship, plus insight into church history (of which I know virtually nothing). Reading this book helped me process a lot of what I was seeing at church and how I was responding to it. I'm so glad I read this book, and if you have any interest in this subject, I highly recommend it.

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Preface (DA Carson)
We are as suspicious of mere traditionalism as we are of cutesy relevance. (7)

Worship Under the Word (DA Carson)
...the semantic range of our word "worship" in any contemporary theory of worship, does not entirely match up with any one word of group of words in the Bible. What it means to be corrected by Scripture in this case is inevitably rather complex. (14)

...the point is simply that the "pick-and-choose" method of constructing a theology of worship from the whole Bible lacks methodological rigor and therefore stability. (17)

Worship is the proper response of the creature to the Creator. Worship does not create something new; rather, it is a transparent response to what is, a recognition of our creaturely status before the Creator himself. (29)

...our response to God in worship should begin by carefully and reflectively examining what God requires of us under the terms of this covenant. We should not begin by asking whether or not we enjoy "worship" but by asking, "What is it that God expects of us?" That will frame our proper response. To ask this question is also to take the first step in reformation. It demands self-examination, for we soon discover where we do not live up to what God expects. (29)

...we worship our Creator-God "precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so." What ought to make worship delightful to us is not, in the first instance, its novelty or its aesthetic beauty, but its object: God himself is delightfully wonderful, and we learn to delight in him. (30)

...one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it's a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset. (31)

Some think that corporate worship is good because it is lively where it had been dull. But it may also be shallow where it is lively, leaving people dissatisfied and restless in a few months' time. (31)

What we must strive for is growing knowledge of God and delight in him -- not delight in worship per se, but delight in God. (32)

In godly repetition and retelling, we must plant deeply within our souls the glorious truths about God and about what he has done that we will otherwise soon forget. (34)

Christians work not only as God's creatures in God's creation, but as redeemed men and women offering their time, their energy, their work, their whole lives to God -- loving him with heart and mind and strength, understanding that whatever we do, we are to do to the glory of God. (40-41)

Following in Cranmer's Footsteps (Mark Ashton with CJ Davis)
If we are to follow in Cranmer's footsteps, we must be as determined as he was to put the bible at the center of our church services; we must be as committed as he was to making Christianity accessible to ordinary people; and we must have the common sense he had in judging between primary truths and secondary truths, knowing where to be inflexible and where to be flexible. (79)

The church service should be one of the most effective means of evangelism. (84)

It has been wisely pointed out that many tussles over words and books are basically disputs about power in the life of a local church. (91)

To some extent congregations get the preachers they deserve, because preaching is a two-way process: the attitudes of preacher and congregation must unite in a humble hunger for God's Word. (100)

Our worship is not confined to the time we spend in church. It embraces the whole of our lives. (101)

Change without an understood and accepted scriptural rationale will create heat but not bring any light. (102)

Great simplicity requires great clarity of thought, and that will require the sort of deep understanding of the passage that comes only through hard preparation. (106)

Free Church Worship: The Challenge of Freedom (R. Kent Hughes)
This is what worship is: day-in-day-out living for Christ, the knees and heart perpetually bent in devotion and service. (140)

This intensifying effect of corporate worship enhances edification. In fact, edification will not flourish as it ought apart from it, because hearing God's Word amidst the corporate assent of a congregation intensifies the mind's engagement and reception of the truth. Likewise, participation in the community of belief intensifies taking the truth to heart. (142)

By insisting that corporate worship must be radically God-centered, I am not in any way suggesting a disregard for humankind and the lost world, but rather I insist that the proper approach to worship must first be God-focused and then human-sensitive. Only when the question of God's glory and pleasure is addressed can the second question, regarding humanity, be pressed. (151)

If you worship Christ as the Creator of everything, every cosmic speck across billions of light years of trackless space, the Creator of the textures and shapes and colors that dazzle our eyes; if you worship Christ as the Sustainer of all creation, who by his word holds the atoms of your body and this universe together; if you worship him as the Goal of everything, that all creation is for him; if you further worship Christ as the Reconciler of your soul -- then you worship the God of the Bible. Anything less than this is reductionist and idolatrous. (153)

Properly understood and administered, corporate worship will strengthen authentic worship throughout all of life. (159)

Corporate worship must always fuel the sacrificial fires of everyday worship. (160)

Reformed Worship in the Global City (Timothy J. Keller)
I propose that we forge our worship best when we consult all three -- the Bible, the cultural context of our community, and the historic tradition of our church. (197)

The fullest definition of worship, then, is something like "obedient action motivated by the beauty of who God is in himself." (204)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid "views" book on corporate worship. Carson gives an introductory chapter, largely defining "worship" and setting the context and expectations for the book. Three writers contribute, Mark Ashton--an Anglican, Kent Hughes--a baptist, and Tim Keller--a Presbyterian. All three contributors give several examples of what their corporate worship gatherings actually look like including a full account of their weekly liturgy.

All three are very solid in most things and contribute significantly to the discussion of what corporate worship is for and how it ought to be done. They are driven both by biblical text and by tradition. All are predominantly influenced by the Reformed tradition.

Carson helpfully defines worship:

"Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so. This side of the Fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that God has graciously made. While all true worship is God-centered, Christian worship is no less Christ-centered. Empowered by the Spirit and in line with the stipulations of the new covenant, it manifests itself in all our living, finding its impulse in the gospel, which restores our relationship with our Redeemer-God and therefore also with our fellow image-bearers, our co-worshipers. Such worship therefore manifests itself both in adoration and in action, both in the individual believer and in corporate worship, which is worship offered up in the context of the body of believers, who strive to align all the forms of their devout ascription of all worth to God with the panoply of new covenant mandates and examples that bring to fulfillment the glories of antecedent revelation and anticipate the consummation."

All the writers seek to define weekly Sunday worship services as "corporate worship" in order to avoid the confusion so predominant that "worship" is only a once-a-week thing, or even worse--simply music.

I suspect most readers of this sort of book want to know where the writers fall in the so-called "worship wars." It is somewhat difficult to tell where exactly their sympathies lie, as all the writers seek a sort of "middle way." They setup the poles of the full-contemporary and full-traditional and then seek to find the right balance between the two extremes. Hughes and Keller seem to have a good grasp of what is important in the debate, recognizing that "musical form and style are not neutral" as Keller puts it.

Hughes is especially helpful in critiquing music because his principles aren't so polar in "contemporary" versus "traditional" but gives three criteria, "text, tune, and fit."

Ashton is quite unhelpful in this regard as he basically says music style doesn't matter. His actual position might not be so flippant, but that was the impression he left in his essay.

One of the most helpful sections in the book is when Hughes argues that the church essentially abandoned the traditional liturgical form in favor of the revivalistic method. He calls it the "de-biblicizing of corporate worship" which resulted in "“a revivalist message with opening exercises.” The structure of corporate worship became: (1) the preliminaries, (2) the sermon, and (3) the invitation."

Keller also has a very helpful portion at the end of his essay. He writes:

"Each piece of music has to be judged on its own merits. Music that people may consider “pop” is acceptable if it can be performed excellently, if the words of its text are rich and doctrinally illuminating, and if it conveys the gospel. We have no broad-based definition of “pop music” that eliminates a piece automatically before we apply these tests. Third, music styles have integrity. As I said before, we do not think it is easy to mix classical and contemporary music equally in the same service. The first obstacle is the instrumentation. We are committed to quality and excellence, but can an organ, brass, and tympani accompany “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High” as well as can a guitar and snare drum? On the other hand, can guitar, saxophone, and drum accompany “A Mighty Fortress” as well as organ and brass? The answer in both cases is no. And it would be extremely jarring to go from organ-and-brass to saxophone-and-drum in the same service. The second obstacle is that, since musical style is not neutral, we should recognize that folk/contemporary music has a frame of reference that is different from Bach. They set different tones. Each one conveys certain theological themes better than the other. One kind of music is better for certain occasions, for certain architecture and settings, and even for certain styles of preaching than is the other. Therefore, we have generally found it best to let one kind of music dominate any particular service. Nevertheless, as I said above, judicious mixing of classical and folk in a service is both possible and desirable. In a HW service, a folk or popular chorus can sweeten and lighten the tone at the end of a time of praise, after a confession of sin, or during the Lord’s Supper. On the other hand, the CW service almost has to borrow some historic hymns, since modern choruses tend to harp on the same themes over and over. (It is nearly impossible to find certain themes, like the holiness of God or social justice, in them.) However, to honor the integrity of musical forms, it is best for traditional hymn lyrics either to be put to contemporary tunes or at least to contemporary arrangements."

On the whole this is an outstanding work on what corporate worship is and how to do it "by the book."

[Luke Seibert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thought-provoking book on worship. I come from an exclusively Baptist background, so I appreciated hearing the Anglican and Presbyterian insights this book also includes (chapters come from all three traditions). Throughout the book, the authors describe what truly focusing and worshipping God looks like. There is an aspect of worship that involves us gathering together, but worship encompasses all of life. Also, true worship of God leads to proper interactions with His people. This is a thorough discussion of worship and the chapters help the readers explore various aspects of this doctrine.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Anglican, a Baptist, and a Presbyterian walk into a bar… and write this book.

Each gives their interpretation of how worship ought to be approached, what should be present and what should be absent, the biblical context for their opinions, and examples of what their services look like. This hits all the major discussions you would expect from this topic, but it is unlike many of those counterpoints books because the other authors did not get to rebut their co-authors opinions outside of passing remarks in their own contributions.

And while a Baptist may not venture into the bar, he did have one of the most thoughtful contributions of the book.

[Jamie Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many helpful thoughts offered concerning worship as a topic and 'corporate' worship in particular. I'd probably give it just under a four, but it might be because I didn't concentrate as hard as I could. It may well have been a 4.5 if circumstances were different and I was thirstier for the contents. I particularly enjoyed D.A.Carsons chapter on what worship is. Mark Ashton's chapter on Cranmer was also interesting as something I'm unfamiliar with.

[Sam Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carson’s essay was fabulous. Parts of Keller’s essay, particularly his overview of Calvin’s liturgy, was helpful and informative. The other contributions were disjointed and rambling. I felt that the chapters were far too long. It would have been helpful to divide each chapter out as its own section with multiple chapters.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful look at some of the practices of/in corporate worship from Anglican, Baptist, and Presbyterian perspectives as well as the biblical theology of worship. Easy to read overall.
Unsurprisingly, the Keller chapter was the highlight for me, but I appreciated something from each person/chapter.

[Beck Conway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very helpful things, however being framed in 1990s american/british church, the helpfulness of the book sorta ended when they got to practical application and sample services. Also, having the book written by 4 authors meant some whiplash in writing style and also overlapping arguments

[Matt Allhands · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic resource for anybody taking a more serious look at worship and its underlying theology in the church.

[Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more interesting and helpful treatments of corporate worship that I've read to date. As someone who has spent many years serving on worship teams and church choirs, as well as listening to a variety of preachers from different denominations with their own traditions and perspectives on corporate worship, I've always been interested in studying how churches choose to order and conduct their weekly services. The concept of this book is quite brilliant: choose three ministers from three different denominations to lay out their thought-process for how they approach their weekly gatherings, and then have them give specific play-by-plays of sample worship services in their churches. This allows both their similarities and differences to be seen quite clearly by the reader, who can then decide which principles and practices he would deem most helpful in his own context. The opening essay by Carson was excellent and rich with theological and exegetical insights that shed light on the biblical definition of "worship." Out of the three ministers, I found myself agreeing with R. Kent Hughes's "Free Church Worship" model more than the other two approaches due to its Word-centeredness. However, Tim Keller's was the most thought-provoking. His treatment of the modern "worship wars" (Historic Worship vs. Contemporary Worship), his distinction between "Reformed Contemporary Worship" and "Contemporary Reformed Worship," and his thoughts on the impact and usefulness of various styles of music were all very helpful. The chapter that I found myself disagreeing the most with was that of Rev. Mark Ashton; his brand of Anglican worship seemed to lean just a bit too far towards the seeker-sensitive model in my opinion. Overall, this book would be an extremely useful read for anyone serving or leading in their church's corporate worship gatherings; and for those who are not, it can instill a greater appreciation for how much planning and preparation goes on "behind the scenes" every week and how the truths of the gospel can be applied to corporate worship in ways that differ from church to church or culture to culture.

[Lee Bertsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of 4 authors. A couple of the sections were rather predictable outlines of basic stuff. But as he has done in other books, the writing of Timothy Keller was very compelling to me. Among other things he got me really interested in Calvin's writings about worship which reflect his insistence that we consult the Bible, our culture, and our historical traditions in the way we construct worship. I also pulled out this quote from C. S. Lewis which I thought was particularly applicable to the way worship songs are written today and the way worship is sometimes led: "Instead of telling us a thing is 'terrible', describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was a 'delight', make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description."
We would do well in our selection of songs to skip over those that blather on and on about "Give him glory...oh praise him.." and sing songs that give us substantive thoughts that simply lead us to do that.

[Liam Chilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carson’s essay on corporate worship is great! Just a great bit of theology all round.

My favourite quote:
“You cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship ‘worship’ rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it’s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset.”

The other chapters are more specific and somewhat helpful.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great group of essays on what "church worship" should be, giving music its proper place in that definition. Very thorough, especially Carson's essay, which is worth the price of the book. He builds a case for biblical principles of worship, from both the Old and New Testaments, which, ironically, is different from how people tend to talk about church worship today.

Highly recommended.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of the different views that there are concerning what is and is not proper worship to God. I do wish that it had been more definite in its presentation rather than in the buffet style it was presented.

[Matt Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Created fresh categories for thinking of gathered worship.

[Cliff Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I simply couldn't put this book down. Having a history in serving the church with music and having a mind bent towards management, I found this book insightful and well organized to communicate what corporate worship should be for each congregation. Most importantly, this book addresses how the Bible is clear in certain things about worship and unclear about certain specifics for a corporate service. Carson formed an excellent team to point to the history of the church, their experience - even failures, and most importantly the Bible. I recommend this book even for the layman, for this book has caused me to see the corporate gathering itself as more worshipful to God than before I read this book.

Summary of each contributing author and it's impact on me - not extensive:
1) D.A. Carson - a comprehensive and exhaustive definition of the word "worship"
2) Mark Ashton - seeing God's Word as the spiritual force in any work man creates (ex: Cranmer's "Common Book of Prayer")
3) Kent Hughes - ensuring worship is: a) God-centered; b) Christ-centered; c) Word-centered; d) Consecration; e) Wholehearted; and, f) Reverent. Hughes also emphasizes the necessity in selecting music for a service that is relevant to the Text being biblical, the Tune expressing a specific emotion, and the Fit being appropriate for the congregation at hand.
4) Tim Keller - challenging me in what musical excellence for a service should look like. Keller hires professional musicians (even nonChristian) as he notes to be consistent with the Reformed view. I'm currently in disagreement with this as a necessity for a service, but I will continue to look into this aspect over time.

[Michael Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carson's long introduction was the highlight of this book. He argues that all of life is worship, while also defending the distinction of "gathered worship". Carson's principles come from the Old and New Testaments and provides the proper foundation for the remaining essays.

Other than offering different perspectives, I didn't find the other essays particularly helpful. Hughes and Keller shared what their gathered worship services look like, which was interesting, but they both failed to provide the Biblical rational.

I'll refer back to Carson's introduction, so the book was worth reading.

[Tyler Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carson’s chapter on theology of worship: careful and helpful! Wish he had interacted more with the regulative principle.

Ashton’s chapter on Anglicanism: very interesting. Not sure how representative he is or the tradition as a whole and largely an “in house” discussion. Much of it had a very man-centered worship approach which was annoying.

Hughes: the weakest chapter on the free church.

Keller: interesting given I am a PCA guy but also completely side stepped the RPW issue which the title seemed to indicate was the point.

[Vincent Lemieux · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good and informing book. The first chapter, written by D.A Carson, is a short biblical\systematic theology of worship and it alone worth to buy the book. But the others chapters are really interesting too : you have leaders from different denominations (Aglican, free church, Presbyterian) who all seek to worship God according to the Bible and share about how it take forme on their particular context. I recommend the book to every pastors.

[victoria]

Worship by the Book reads like sitting in a conference and hearing four very different speakers speak freely on "worship." They often explicitly disagree with one another, and these disagreements especially sparked some very interesting conversations in my class. My main takeaway from this book is a tremendous respect for church leaders - leading a gathering of the church messy, complicated, weighty, and wonderful. I am so grateful for our shepherds.

[Ionut K · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great reading especially because the book has some insights on how worship used to be done in the old ages in the UK. It also contains some guidelines in order to decide if a type of service is God-centered or too cultural relevant along with examples of services and explanation of every part of the service. I recommend it to everyone who wants to have a clear and a Word-of-God centered view on worship. P.s. It's not only for church leaders.

[Brittany Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book slowly and interspersed with many other audiobooks. An Anglican, Non-Denominational, and a Presbyterian all discuss ways to Biblically plan a worship service. I appreciated things about each kind of service and they each had very good arguments for their way of doing things. The main thing that I came away with and was stressed by all three is that every part of the service should be intentional and God-focused rather than man-focused.

[Kenny Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extremely helpful on a biblical, theological and practical level. If you are interested in the topic of worship, lead worship at a local church, or simply want to understand what biblical worship is and various forms of practice in the modern church, you will benefit from this book. D.A. Carson's introductory essay is worth the price of the book!

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has 4 different viewpoints of a worship service. While interesting it isn’t always applicable to my church service. I gave it only 3 stars because of the redundancy of the sections. I would’ve enjoyed it more if they would’ve focused on only differences rather than the entire services. Still a worthy read for those in church, especially those leaders.

[Sam Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book!

I enjoyed the wide ranging wisdom from pastors from Anglican, Baptist, and Presbyterian backgrounds. It was also great to see the similarities of them all. One thing I noticed, however, is that no one made mention of The Holy Spirit's role in our worship... which I find interesting.

[Sangster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worship is one of the most important elements of the Christian life.
This book provides a pattern for Christian worship.
There are many helpful suggestions, not only for the clergy but also to the Laymen.