Ever since Cain and Abel, God's people have been asking, "What is the proper way to worship God?" In five compelling chapters, Scott Aniol explains that corporate worship theology and practice must be founded in the Word of God. There we discover that corporate worship's goal is communion with God through regular, weekly covenant renewal, wherein the entire congregation engages in dialogue with God in a meeting structured around the gospel, toward the goal of spiritual fellowship with God through Christ by the Spirit.

This volume brings together an ecumenical team of scholars to present key theological concepts related to worship to help readers articulate their own theology of worship. Contributors explore the history of theology's impact on worship practices across the Christian tradition, highlighting themes such as creation, pneumatology, sanctification, and mission. The book includes introductions by N. T. Wright and Nicholas Wolterstorff. A forthcoming volume will address the historical foundations of worship.

Nothing is more essential than knowing how to worship the God who created us. This book focuses readers on the essentials of God-honoring worship, combining biblical foundations with practical application in a way that works in the real world. The author, a pastor and noted songwriter, skillfully instructs pastors, musicians, and church leaders so that they can root their congregational worship in unchanging scriptural principles, not divisive cultural trends. Bob Kauflin covers a variety of topics such as the devastating effects of worshiping the wrong things, how to base our worship on God's self-revelation rather than our assumptions, the fuel of worship, the community of worship, and the ways that eternity's worship should affect our earthly worship. Appropriate for Christians from varied backgrounds and for various denominations, this book will bring a vital perspective to what readers think they understand about praising God.

Identifying and evaluating the characteristics of the Reformed tradition in worship, this book surveys the history of worship in the Reformed tradition from the sixteenth century to the present time. "Worship" in this book indicates a focus on the regular Lord's Day worship, services of preaching and Holy Communion, with some reference to weekday worship. The changing balance of function in public worship, whether evangelistic, educational, or expressive is explored, as well as the "felt" self concerns of the local congregation and the shared heritage with the church catholic. The author believes that worship is but one aspect of the life of religious service and must be seen in relation to the total ministry of a religious community. He attempts to interpret the Reformed tradition as expressing the prophetic, personalist religion of revelation. Non-theological factors-political, sociological, cultural-are also viewed as essential ingredients in the equation. The structure of the book is chronological, beginning with the formation of the Reformation liturgies and tracing these patterns through the phases of Puritanism, evangelicalism, rationalism, and romanticism. Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Anabaptism are compared and explored, but the central theme is the worship of the Reformed churches of the Continent, and the major denominations of the English-speaking world seen ecumenically. The author shows that through the changing forms of its corporate praise, the Reformed tradition has been distinctively Biblical and personal. The worship of these churches has been an expression of a highly verbal, emotionally disciplined, intellectually critical mentality. "The Reformed," he claims, "have always laid chief weight on what is now most crucial, the actualization of fully responsible personal existence before God." This understanding of the history of Reformed worship points up the factors and dimensions to be considered today.

TRANSFORM EVERY AREA OF YOURLIFE THROUGH WORSHIP.Worship is more than music. It is the impetus for everything we do as Christians. It is expressed through every action of our lives and helps us become more Christlike. When we learn to worship God through our life, we become better Christians, ministers, musicians, parents, and mechanics.

Worship is the right, fitting, and delightful response of moral beings—angelic and human—to God the Creator, Redeemer, and Consummator, for who he is as one eternal God in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and for what he has done in creation and redemption, and for what he will do in the coming consummation, to whom be all praise ...