Planning Blended Worship: The Creative Mixture of Old and New

by Robert E. Webber

Planning Blended The Creative Mixture of Old and New is a guide to planning creative worship for congregations that follow the traditional fourfold pattern of worship (gathering, word, table, and dismissal), or those who prefer a free-church, evangelical style, but who are also interested in the core practices (space, texts, and so forth) that have characterized Christian worship throughout the centuries. Robert Webber designed this volume to show pastors, music directors, and other worship leaders the practical, structural, and theological steps for designing worship services characterized by biblical depth, historical awareness, and contemporary relevance. The author includes charts and forms at the end of each chapter that clearly show how music and other arts can be integrated with liturgical texts.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Fredy Orozco · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Introduction was great and really all you need to read from this book.

Basically worship services need to have Trinitarian content, Biblical structure, and style (which is what most people argue about) is largely culturally determined. So churches should have good doctrine, and base the structure of their worship services around the 4 parts listed in Acts 2:42.

The rest of the book was unnecessarily wordy and full of worship-major "lingo" and "Christianese" that made it annoying to read through.

[Priscilla Previl · Rating 4 out of 5]

My go-to for worship resources, Robert Webber sets the standard. This is a fantastically detailed book dealing with blended worship that goes beyond mere traditionalism or the pursuit of "cutting edge." This book deals with the middle (albeit a couple of decades ago), and with the focus on creating an atmosphere of interractive worship rather than entertainment or dry tradition.

The main goal is to get people worshipping, and to bring them to maturity in their faith.

Highly recommended for all pastoral staff and elders, worship leaders, and worshippers.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some ways, I found the approach in this book to be formulaic, as though I was reading a giant worship "to-do" list. On the other hand, I appreciated the great care that was taken, and understand the heart and philosophy behind such planning. I did find it to be thought-provoking and was enlightened with some new ideas in blending old and new in worship.

[Kendra Mikols · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every worship leader and pastor. The songs mentioned are a little out dated but it is not hard to replace them with more contemporary songs.