Seeker-oriented contemporary churches argue that worship does not need to present the whole gospel. The purpose of worship, they say, is to get people in the door. Then, after they have gained a hearing, they present the gospel in small-group settings. This argument may be good marketing, but it fails to understand the biblical purpose...Read More
One does not need to become liturgical to become more biblical in worship. Remembrance of God’s actions in history to save the world can be effectively done in a spontaneous way as well. When planning worship ask, “Does the service connect creation with God’s involvement in the history of Israel, with his incarnation, death, resurrection,...Read More
God’s vision for the world is remembered and anticipated in worship. Worship is all about how God, [who] with his own two hands—the incarnate Word and the Holy Spirit—has rescued the world. . . . The centerpiece of his saving action is the incarnation, death, and resurrection, where sin and death have been defeated and...Read More
Holy living . . . is to be a direct outcome of worship and an anticipation of life in God’s eschatological domain. . . . The ethical life of the church is an eschatological witness to the world of how people should be living and how the world will be under the reign of God....Read More
The purpose of the Genesis account of creation is doxology (right praise); it calls us to a posture of praise. Doxology is our response to God’s story. . . . Doxology is the way to momentarily experience the eternal kingdom of God’s perfection over all creation. -Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s...Read More
Pentecost Sunday ends the extraordinary season that began on the first Sunday of Advent. In approximately six months the church has been carried through all the saving events of God—his incarnation, manifestation to the world, life, death, resurrection, and ascension as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit. All these crucial events form faith...Read More
Worship should do God’s narrative and point to the future when creation, delivered from sin, will be restored to God’s original design. In this world there is always a witness to the restoration of the world, and you should be able to find it in the worship of the church. -Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship:...Read More
Biblical remembering makes the power and the saving effect of the event present to the worshiping community. . . . God loves our worship when we remember his saving deeds in Jesus Christ. Our worship tells that old, old, story. That’s the story God gave the world, and that story is the content of worship....Read More
Listen to individual sessions of the seminar, “Ever and Always a Teacher: Worship Ministry, Christian Formation, and Everyday Discipleship” by John Witvliet, held January 13-14, 2014 at IWS. Use the embedded player to listen on this page, or right-click on the track title to download and save it for later. Session 1: Teaching to Deepen...Read More
Listen to Session 8 of the seminar, “Ever and Always a Teacher: Worship Ministry, Christian Formation, and Everyday Discipleship” by John Witvliet, held January 13-14, 2014 at IWS. Use the embedded player to listen on this page, or right-click on the track title to download and save it for later. Session 8: Formal and Informal...Read More
Here is what biblical worship does: It remembers God’s work in the past, anticipates God’s rule over all creation, and actualizes both past and future in the present to transform persons, communities, and the world. -Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 43.Read More
When worship fails to proclaim, sing, and enact at the Table the Good News that God not only saves sinners but also narrates the whole world, it is not only worship that becomes corrupted by culture, it is also the gospel. Not only has worship lost its way, but the fullness of the gospel, the...Read More
Listen to part two from Session 7 of the seminar, “Ever and Always a Teacher: Worship Ministry, Christian Formation, and Everyday Discipleship” by John Witvliet, held January 13-14, 2014 at IWS. Use the embedded player to listen on this page, or right-click on the track title to download and save it for later. Session 7B:...Read More
