Worship at the Next Level explores why and how we worship as individuals and communities. Its diverse voices offer an interdisciplinary approach for worship leaders, pastors, musicians, and those involved in contemporary worship planning in churches, colleges, and youth groups. A key emphasis on understanding theology, culture, and leadership helps provide a well-rounded approach for anyone with a passion for worship.

This book addresses the vital role of public Christian worship in adolescent spiritual formation and shows how important youth ministry and worship ministry are to each other. Despite numerous research projects, books, articles, and resources that have been published about teenagers and about worship in recent years, the relationship between the two has been addressed only peripherally if not altogether overlooked. Drawing on his extensive experience in worship ministry and youth ministry, Eric Mathis offers insights into the worship practices of teenagers, corrects common misperceptions about worship, and critically examines four prominent worship models in current practice. Mathis invites youth pastors, worship leaders, ministerial students, and congregations to elevate the voices of young people in the worshiping community and enhance worship for all ages. The book includes a foreword by Kenda Creasy Dean.

The church is not exempt from cultural divisions, and battle lines are drawn today over issues related to culture and worship. This collection of articles by faculty members at Princeton explore the multicultural challenges facing the contemporary church about worship and include discussions of cultural perspectives, liturgical elements, youth and worship, and theological fidelity amidst differing cultural traditions.

Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church.

Many people would be surprised to hear that a playful attitude towards God and the world lies at the heart of Christian faith. Traditionally Christians have focused on the serious responsibilities of service, sacrifice, and commitment. But the prophets say that the future kingdom is full of people laughing and playing, which has implications for Christians who are called to live out the future kingdom in the present. Play is not trivial or secondary to work and service—only a playful way of living does justice to the seriousness of life! Play is the essential and ultimate form of relationship with God, which is why Jesus told people to learn from children. Indeed, a playful attitude is an important part of all significant relationships. This book explores grace, faith, love, worship, redemption, and the kingdom from the perspective of a playful attitude. It describes how to create a “play ethic” to match the “work ethic” and discusses play as a virtue, Aquinas’s warning against the sin of not playing enough, and Bonhoeffer’s claim that in a world of pain it is only the Christian who can truly play.

This volume brings Pentecostal intuitions to bear on the task of reconceptualizing the process of ethical methodology in a pluralistic world, applying a Pentecostal sensibility to the study of social ethics.