It is significant, I think, to note that both the liturgical and contemporary movements, out of opposite histories, recognized the need to prioritize worship as the first thing—or at least, one of the firsts among several equals—that the church must be about. Worship is a first, because it is a source from which the mission...Read More
This article originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of Worship Leader Magazine. Many of you know that I have been struggling with the issue of me-oriented worship. Those of you who have walked this path with me—some agreeing, others disagreeing—are probably saying “Oh no, not another article on the same subject!” Well, yes, but...Read More
Key questions this paper addresses: [1] What does it mean to be created in God’s image? What happened to God’s image in humans when they “fell?” What does God’s image have to do with my life in Christ? What is an “Image?” One of the most foundational and significant teachings of Scripture is that we...Read More
The bible is a story, actually the story, of our existence. This story has a beginning, middle, and ending, and along the way it answers the deepest and most pressing issues in our souls. It shows us who we are, why we exist, and where we are headed. It also shows us the character of...Read More
Dr. Andrew Hill on Multiple Intelligences (Learning Styles) including their relationship to corporate worship: Multiple Intelligences (Learning Styles)Read More
And Jesus said, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24; NIV) Surely this divine desire has...Read More
DO NOT read an academic book word for word, page for page, chapter for chapter. DO read a book like you would look at a picture, study its frames, and finally examine its details. Here’s how: 1. Get the big picture in sight. Read the back cover, the Contents page, the Introduction, the Conclusion. Spend...Read More
God has made all creatures for his glory. Without knowing it, the lilies of the field in their beauty glorify God with a glory greater than that of Solomon, the sparrow on the housetop glorifies God, and the universe in its vastness and remoteness is the theater of God’s glory. But God made men and...Read More
Dr. Webber was scheduled to speak at a conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Radical Orthodoxy, where Homiletics was to meet up with him for this interview. But he called a few days before the conference to say that he had had back surgery and wouldn’t be there. So we met with him in his...Read More
CM: We are aware that you probably didn’t start out to be an “expert” in the art of worship. What sequence led you to be so involved and active in the worship arena? RW: My Doctorate is in Historical Theology. As I studied the origins of Christian thought, I realized that all truth was first...Read More
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2003 edition of Worship Leader magazine. I have been greatly challenged by many of my readers who have taken me to task for my statement that “a romantic relationship with Jesus is a lie.” The most common concern articulated by these writers has to do with the Song...Read More
When I became a Christian in the Fall of ’69 — a lost freshman in college who, despite himself, couldn’t seem to make friends with anybody but Christians — what finally pushed me from non-faith to faith was the realization that I didn’t have the capacity within me to be the kind of person I...Read More
Jordon Cooper interviews Robert Webber, author of The Younger Evangelicals. 1) If I am a leader of pragmatic evangelical church who came from a pragmatic evangelical seminary who is now faced with what appears to be a very incompatible world, what advice for me? Where do I turn next? RW: I think you have to...Read More
How would you classify your worship service? It is “contemporary” or “traditional”? Are those terms too limited? Would the terms found in some recent youth ministry training materials be more helpful? In that case, would you classify your worship as “linear” or “organic”? Are you still at a loss for the right classification? Would these...Read More