Endorsements from Church Leaders

• Recently I once more had the opportunity and privilege to give leadership to one of the worship seminars for the IWS. And, again, I was struck by two things. First, the quality of community—more specifically a community that is very much shaped by their shared experience of the Christian liturgy. Second, a vibrant and generative conversation—thoughtful women and men from across the Christian spectrum who are keen to provide grace-filled leadership for the life and worship of the church. I came away from this experience deeply encouraged and glad to have once more had the opportunity to be part of this extraordinary teaching-learning community.

   

• IWS swims in the convergence of several important streams in the Body of Christ. Holding together the Scripture, Sacrament, and Spirit, the courses and seminars offered train pastors and worship leaders to be rooted and reflective leaders. My experience teaching a seminar here introduced me to a caliber of student that knows how to blend inter-disciplinary learning with ministry praxis. Moreover, the leadership of this institution have shepherd’s hearts, caring for students and preparing them well for leadership in the local church.

   

• “One rarely encounters a group that is so open to learn and thirsty for any information that one can offer. The discourse of the seminar discussion was on a high level offering the opportunity to learn from each other as well as from the professor—just as it should be. I am rarely given this much time to share these ideas and process them in such depth. Thanks for this opportunity, IWS alums and friends.”

   

• IWS is exactly what Bob Webber would have hoped for—a school that is grounded in tradition, serious about theological engagement, and passionate about worshiping the triune God. At IWS, ancient-future evangelicals learn to put the riches of the Christian tradition to work in their own churches. Rarely have I met a gathering of musicians and worship leaders more eager to come to grips with the implications of the church’s theological heritage. This is a place where fellowship, worship, and teaching merge into a harmonious offering of praise and thanksgiving.

   

• “The D.W.S. program has revolutionized my perspective on worship. Through the lens of this new understanding, I can make sense of what I see happening in today’s churches and anticipate what is yet to come. Dr. Webber’s keen assessment of the postmodern mind and its spiritual hunger resonates with my ‘Generation X’ students. This is the kind of training we need if we are to craft relevant worship experiences in the twenty-first century.”

   

• “It was a delightful privilege to return and lead the recent seminar at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies. The contextual worship was thoroughly refreshing and the encounter with eager students, alumni and faculty was once again a marvelously enriching experience. The readiness of persons to learn, digest and dialog concerning interrelated theological ideas, particularly as they relate to worship, is a clear sign of an excellent theological environment. The responses and comments of the participants in my seminar were exceedingly heartwarming. The school continues to be a model of what Bob Webber hoped to develop in his dream for an institution focused on a holistic approach to Christian life and worship.”

   

• “My recent time with the IWS Worship Seminar was delightful and enriching. The community fostered within the learning environment, worship times, and shared meals was exceptional. Students and faculty were deeply engaged and represented a significant array of interests and backgrounds. IWS’s practice of hospitality was life-giving and contagious– a wonderful and innovative model for theological education.”

   

• “The personal impact of Bob Webber on the worshiping church is remarkable in and of itself. But his influence goes way beyond what he personally researched, thought, said, imagined, taught, and lived out. In establishing the Institute for Worship Studies, he not only assured the ecclesiastical community of a continuing place for his own pedagogical wisdom, but generously welcomed the best kind of theologically sound ecumenism possible. IWS both includes and transcends Bob’s best work in its desire to serve the body of Christ in Christ’s name and to assure its students that whatever any leading scholars might teach or encourage, there is always room for the Holy Spirit to breath something new, contrasting, protesting, or reforming into existence. It is in this sense that while the institute bears Bob’s name, as well it should, it goes further and celebrates what it means to lose one’s personal identity in a Christ-centered flow of quality ideas, creativity, worship, praise, glory, and grace.”

   

• “The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies is a unique, beautiful model for theological education and spiritual formation. At the Institute, as the church fathers emphasized, all study begins and ends within the beauty of worship. Not only so, but the Institute provides an innovative curriculum and accessible delivery model that students will find highly attractive.”

   

• “The Institute of Worship Studies embodies the adventurous spirit of Robert Webber, taking delight in discovering the pre-Constantinian principles and practices of worship that have been forgotten by so many and showing their relevance to a post-Christendom world.”

   

• “What a privilege and joy to be at IWS! When students lean into the content and the community like they do at IWS, the learning experience is transformative. I highly commend it for faculty and student alike.”

   

• “I am grateful for opportunity to participate in the learning community at IWS. I find it to be a place of great concern for the flourishing of the church, a deep desire to learn and grow, and a counter-cultural passion for learning from and about worship practices in a variety of times and places and denominational contexts. I find students and seminar participants to be so willing and eager to learn about every facet of worship ministry–theological, historical, sociological, and psychological–in both theoretical and practical ways.”

   

• “There are so many memories that keep resonating from my recent time teaching alumni from the Institute for Worship Studies. I have spoken at and attended many conferences, but never have I encountered better singing (especially in harmony) or more ‘joy of the Lord’ than from the IWS community. I also was impressed with how the faculty and staff of IWS are recovering an ancient definition of ‘liturgy’ as ‘the elder sibling of drama.’ Thanks to all my faculty colleagues and students at IWS.”

   

• “There is an indelible quality to the character of IWS. As it was in the beginning so has it remained: a remarkable combination of God-honoring worship, spirit-enriching fellowship, and mind-expanding learning. I treasure the opportunity to have taught there for 14 ½ years and I valued the chance to return for a recent worship seminar . It was a privilege to be able to share two days with those who have lived and helped make the history of contemporary worship, some in national roles and some in faithful service in churches little known outside of God’s awareness of the same.”

   

• “IWS, founded by Dr. Robert Webber, to meet an unmet need of enriching worship and deepening spirituality, has grown dramatically in numbers and influence since its founding. I am impressed with its faculty, students, and growing influence for good.”

   

• “For the student who wants to understand deeply the biblical foundations of worship in a context that is historically tuned, culturally aware and sensitive to the needs of those who are—or long to be—in worship ministry, IWS is unique. A warm, welcoming place that combines distance learning with onsite intensives, IWS makes pursuing an advance degree attainable, even for those already involved in fulltime ministry, and delivers the kind of education that is only possible with a world-class faculty. I love visiting and teaching there. To see the dreams of my dear friend and IWS founder Robert Webber become incarnate reality is such a joy.”

   

• “Recently, it was my privilege to teach, as well as to preach, at the Robert E. Webber Institute of Worship Studies in Jackonsonville, FL. I was singularly impressed with both the rich scholarship and the profound worship manifest there…indeed, I could hardly tell the difference!

  “Charles Wesley appealed to 18th century Methodists: ‘Let us unite the two so long divided: Knowledge and Vital Piety!’ Many have responded to Wesley’s challenge, most with limited success. In my estimation, none have taken it quite so seriously and realized it as successfully as IWS.

  “To be part of this worshipping academic community is to witness first hand ‘the human mind being taught to worship and the human heart being taught to think!’ What a delight for my wife and I to be committed partners with this vital ministry to The Church of Jesus Christ!”

   

• “Bob Webber was an inspired and prescient observer of religion in North America, just as he was also one of its most informed and faithful Christians. Yet for all his remarkable lectures, insightful commentary, and invaluable books, Bob probably left the Church no greater gift than in the establishment of the Institute for Worship Studies which bears his name. What began in 1999 has matured and expanded to become a leading center for the advanced education and training of men and women seeking to work within the fields of Christian liturgy, music, art, and literature. Because of my own work as an observer and commentator on 21st century Christianity in North America, I am acutely aware that Christians yearn more now than ever before to understand, experience, and increase their faith through authentic worship and the incarnate joy of music and art, liturgy and drama. The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies exists for the sole purpose of preparing ordained and lay Christian leaders alike to address this growing need with professional competence and to the glory of God. It is a privilege to be able to add my name to the list of those who gratefully support the Institute’s work and expanding reputation for excellence in the field of worship studies.”

   

• “IWS is a pioneer in convergence worship seeking to realize liturgically the Ancient-Future Church. I must say that, having attended some of their services recently, it has succeeded remarkably. The liturgy is enacted with theological integrity, and with evangelical and spiritual vibrancy. If anyone is looking for a place where convergence liturgy is done well, I urge them to visit IWS. Truly, Robert Webber’s vision lives on!”

   

• “I sincerely believe that the work that the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies is doing will have a significant impact upon the leadership of the church universal in a number of areas:

  “First in worship renewal, by training up leaders who understand the Biblical foundations and mandates of worship, and are conversant with current technological and artistic media. Second in worship discipleship, as this training takes place in a semi-monastic environment that values and encourages mentor/student exploration and discourse under the guidance of an expert faculty. Third in worship ecumenicism, as students and faculty bring their diverse theological heritages and worship experiences to team based learning practica.

  “My experience is that an IWS graduate will be an asset to any church’s worship ministry, and, indeed, will serve as a leader in any congregation.”

   

• “You are giving respect to practitioners as serious theologians. I saw in every single class practitioners, without apology, being invited to do hard theological reflection on their experience and being honored as persons who do so. That’s a big deal. You are sitting on the top of a revolution in theological education.…

  “There is an open and inviting dialogue in the classrooms. I saw exemplary team teaching. This is a high virtue and hard-won achievement. I heard church musicians thinking theologically and feeling free to do so without fear that some theologian was going to shame them that they didn’t have the right answer, didn’t say it the right way, or hadn’t read the right German theologian. You have created a free space where pastors and musicians can talk to one another in healthy, freeing, creative ways, which is, sadly, so rare in the church. I was deeply moved by seeing it happen.”

   

• “At the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies, my academic work as a historical theologian, my life-long passion for exploring the diversity of Christian spiritual practices, and even my engineering training are being woven together in ways that I never dreamed could be useful in God’s redemptive mission.

  “Each term, as we wrestle together with deep, mystical, and yet very practical aspects of the Christian life, God meets us in transformative ways that are challenging and healing. With each group of students, I feel challenged to continue deepening and widening my research in Christian identity formation. With each class, I am amazed and delighted to see how God takes our classroom discussions to bless us to be blessings for each other and for our home church communities. For a historical theologian who is concerned with the practical application of her work, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”

   

• “The D.W.S. program provides the theological and biblical foundation that so many worship leaders and ministers of music are missing. Students are given spiritual resources they have hungered for but not known where to look: the rich historical reflections on worship by the Church, the deep biblical affirmations about the God we worship and how this God calls us to worship, and an understanding of how culture has and continues to influence worship and how it is expressed and interpreted. In addition, students become part of a learning community with connections to others church leaders that are encouraging and will last a lifetime.”