Planning Worship

God in three persons: service plans for a four-week series on the Trinity

My children still can’t believe that I am unable to discern the three-dimensional image in a magic-eye picture.

March 1, 2006 | 1 min read

The Last Thirty Years

A colleague was asked point-blank at a workshop recently, “Have changes in worship in the last generation been good or bad?” The short answer may be yes. A longer answer was given at a day-long seminar at the Calvin Symposium on Worship 2006.

March 1, 2006 | 1 min read
The "In Between" Words: How to keep fellow worshipers tuned in

As worshipers move from one element of the service to the next, they need help to understand what they are doing and why. Verbal transitions help them stick with the worship dialogue between God and gathered people.

January 20, 2006 | 10 min read

From Passive to Participative Worship

How engaged are the worshipers in your congregation? Do they tend to function as observers or active participants?

January 1, 2006 | 50 min listen
Baptism: A Sacrament for the Whole Congregation

This session drew upon biblical passages and confessional and liturgical texts from the Reformed tradition to demonstrate how Christian baptism is a communal, not an individual, sacrament.

January 1, 2006 | 37 min listen
Realism and Worship: An interview with John G. Stackhouse Jr.

Worship that shapes us and helps us articulate our actual relationship with God needs to be as real as possible: true to the impossible ideals of the Gospel that both judge our present and promise us a glorious future, and true to the actual needs, opportunities, failures and successes of our life between worship services.

August 24, 2005 | 4 min read

Imaginative Options for Prelude, Offertory, Postlude

A transcribed address on the purpose, place and importance of a prelude, offertory, and postlude in a worship service

June 17, 2005 | 33 min read
Contemporary Worship Music Matures

Theologically serious song writers are acknowledging Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in contemporary songs that unite head and heart. A feature story exploring how contemporary music is maturing theologically.

June 10, 2005 | 9 min read