Introduction to Christian Worship, Third Edition traces the development of the major forms of Christian worship, and includes discussion of the newest service books of the principal churches of North America and the British Isles. This staple of liturgical history is used widely in Protestant seminaries and is read by clergy and laity alike as an accurate, informative, and accessible introduction to all aspects of Christian worship. This revision keeps pace with the latest scholarship and includes more maps, tables, woodcuts, and photographs.

James White’s classic Christian worship text, revised and updated. The book students of worship have read and re-read is now revised and updated for the first time in more than twenty years. Author Ed Phillips, one of White’s graduate students, is joined by practitioners and teachers from emerging generations, who contribute timely and well-researched material from their own areas of expertise. This new content brings the original up to date, filling significant gaps since the original publication on topics like technology, arts, embodiment in and of worship, pluralism and multiculturalism, denominational changes, and changes in the spaces and forms of worship, including worship in the age of pandemics. This new edition will take its place on the shelf of every student, pastor, and leader of Christian worship.

Introduction to Christian Worship

Introduction to Christian Worship is a balanced and comprehensive survey of worship in the various Christian churches. It is gradually being realized that one of the most useful means of studying any religion is by examining its worshiping life where a religion's faith and practices are most dynamically expressed. This book can be used as a general introduction to Christianity as well as for a more specialized study of a crucial part of the Christian way of life. Clergy and lay people will derive fresh insights into the meaning and practice of Christian worship.

Christian Worship (revised and expanded in this third edition) is the complete reference handbook on the meaning, expression, and conducting of worship, from its foundational elements to the very latest contemporary issues. Taking into account cultural and denominational differences, this broad resource clearly directs all church members in the number one priority of worshipping God. Among the subjects addressed are: Banners and Symbolism (Do they have a place in worship?); Children in Worship; Copyright Laws (Does your church comply?); Drama; and Elements of Worship (What are the specific roles of music, prayer, Scripture reading, baptism, preaching, and the Lord’s Supper?).

Using biblical and historical data, this book first describes the biblical and theological basis for worship in the Free Church tradition, then shows how this tradition is expressed in worship at special occasions as well as in traditional services. The People Are Holy describes the characteristics of early church worship, then traces how those qualities and practices are realized in the Free Churches. In addition to analyzing all parts of the Sunday worship services, the book includes a consideration of key special services such as baptisms, communions, weddings, installations, healing services, and funerals. In order to demonstrate how preaching functions, the book contains four sermons on key concerns for the Free Church. This book will help members of Free Churches understand why they do what they do when they come together as a faith community. It will help pastors reflect on the theological and biblical basis of how they conduct worship. This is not a "how-to" book. Based on the faith stance of Free Churches in general, it describes what would be the reasonable application of those principles in worshipping communities. Christians not of a Free Church persuasion can discover in this book what inspires so many Americans and marks the way they worship. Book jacket.