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
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
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
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
Reformed Worship asked Robert Webber, a long-time friend, to write an editorial for this issue in which we explore ways churches are dealing with the intersection of worship, culture, and evangelism. In this issue you’ll find several different approaches from a variety of denominational traditions that we hope will stimulate discussion in your worship committees,...Read More
At Biola University, a fifty-minute chapel is offered every day, Monday through Friday, but is required three times a week (M, W, F). Students have also initiated their own, student-led, worship services (mostly praise) on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Two to three hundred students attend these guitar-based events. Here are some changes I’ve witnessed in...Read More
For the sake of spiritual depth, vibrancy, and variety, our priestly prayers should contain elements such as lament and adoration as well as confession and thanksgiving. But the main element is intercession, for that’s the liturgical function of these prayers. We petition God for both the church and the world.Read More
The Billy Graham Center center has a great archive of <a href=”http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/033.htm” target=_blank”>Background Information on the 1977 ‘Chicago Call’. Alden Swan at smallvoices.net has preserved the full text of the Chicago Call: An Appeal to Evangelicals. For further reading: Robert Webber’s Final Call.Read More
This article was printed in Reformed Worship in December of 2006. In the ancient church, pilgrims came to Jerusalem during Holy Week to follow the path that Jesus walked during his last days of suffering and to meditate on the final events of his earthly life. Gradually a tradition developed around the course of events...Read More
