The Worship Cycle was designed by God to bring about transformation in us and in our world. Because love is at the center of who God is, the ultimate passion and vision quest of a true disciple of Christ...is to know the vast treasures of God's heart and kingdom through Jesus.Why is it so hard for us to spend more than a few minutes seeking God in prayer? Are we easily discouraged from perseverance in prayer and worship because we don't love Him, or are there other factors involved? Discover the reasons behind our discouragement and learn about Christ's transformation of his church. While we cannot grasp all that is going on in the infinite mind of Christ, one thing seems clear: Jesus is working and patiently transforming His church into a beautiful, mature bride. God clearly and boldly gives us the criteria necessary for acceptable and rewarding worship. With a large part of God's transformation efforts directed toward you, you can learn to worship simply and to pray with perseverance. By drawing from brilliant lessons of teachers like Jesus and Moses, you'll find out how God can heal your heart, transform your mind, and equip you with the primary elements of personal biblical worship. The Worship Cycle weaves teaching from both the Old and New Testaments to integrate and summarize the pattern of worship God has carefully revealed. In this thought-provoking and encouraging book, you'll learn to master The Worship Cycle, ultimately drawing closer to the secret place in God's heart.

“What is at stake is authenticity. . . . Sooner or later Christians tire of public meetings that are profoundly inauthentic, regardless of how well (or poorly) arranged, directed, performed. We long to meet, corporately, with the living and majestic God and to offer him the praise that is his due.”—D. A. CarsonWorship is a hot topic, but the ways that Christians from different traditions view it vary greatly. What is worship? More important, what does it look like in action, both in our corporate gatherings and in our daily lives? These concerns—the blending of principle and practice—are what Worship by the Book addresses.Cutting through cultural clichés, D. A. Carson, Mark Ashton, Kent Hughes, and Timothy Keller explore, respectively:· Worship Under the Word· Following in Cranmer’s Footsteps· Free Church Worship: The Challenge of Freedom· Reformed Worship in the Global City “This is not a comprehensive theology of worship,” writes Carson. “Still less is it a sociological analysis of current trends or a minister’s manual chockfull of ‘how to’ instructions.” Rather, this book offers pastors, other congregational leaders, and seminary students a thought-provoking biblical theology of worship, followed by a look at how three very different traditions of churchmanship might move from this theological base to a better understanding of corporate worship. Running the gamut from biblical theology to historical assessment all the way to sample service sheets, Worship by the Book shows how local churches in diverse traditions can foster corporate worship that is God-honoring, Word-revering, heartfelt, and historically and culturally informed.

A necessary task of missionaries in recent decades has been to help local Christians "inculturate" or "contextualize" their faith, although the criteria for doing so often came from outside the context in which new believers developed their understanding of Christianity. Highlighting the voices of non-Western scholars, this work recognizes the importance of ritual and ceremony in the life of communities that seek to worship God in ways that reflect culturally appropriate responses to Scripture. The contributors -- some of missiology's leading lights -- discuss rituals, beliefs, and practices of diverse peoples, supporting the conclusion that orthodox Christianity is hybrid Christianity.

Are you soul-weary? Do you struggle to make time for God in the midst of a packed schedule? Or do you sometimes stay so busy doing things for God that you can't relax and just "be"? Jesus faced amazing pressure and overwhelming demands throughout his ministry, but he did not experience the burnout so common today among Christian ministers and laypersons. You can learn the rhythm of living that Jesus demonstrates — the Cycle of Grace — throughout the Gospels. Use this workbook and accompanying video about the Cycle of Grace either individually or in a small group. The Cycle of Grace examines 4 components of a grace-filled life: Acceptance Sustenance Significance Fruitfulness Trevor Hudson, a dynamic pastor, author, and speaker, introduces each part of the Cycle of Grace in a short video segment (available on YouTube). The video segments are titled as follows: Cycle of Grace 1: Acceptance Cycle of Grace 2: Sustenance Cycle of Grace 3: Significance Cycle of Grace 4: Fruitfulness Cycle of Grace 5: A Grace-filled Way to Live In the workbook Jerry Haas provides practical exercises for individuals and groups, complete with suggestions for journaling and preparing for group sessions. This 6-week study will help you know that God loves you nurture your spiritual life understand who you are called to be in the world learn how to restore balance to your life The workbook includes a Leader's Guide and several useful appendixes. A must-have resource for clergy and lay leaders, The Cycle of Grace is also an excellent text for seminary and college classes preparing students for ministry.

Many scholars and church leaders believe that music and worship style are essential in stimulating diversity in congregations. Gerardo Marti draws on interviews with more than 170 congregational leaders and parishioners, as well as his experiences participating in worship services in a wide variety of Protestant, multiracial Southern Californian churches, to present this insightful study of the role of music in creating congregational diversity. Worship across the Racial Divide offers a surprising conclusion: that there is no single style of worship or music that determines the likelihood of achieving a multiracial church. Far more important are the complex of practices of the worshipping community in the production and absorption of music. Multiracial churches successfully diversify by stimulating unobtrusive means of interracial and interethnic relations; in fact, preparation for music apart from worship gatherings proves to be just as important as its performance during services. Marti shows that aside from and even in spite of the varying beliefs of attendees and church leaders, diversity happens because music and worship create practical spaces where cross-racial bonds are formed. This groundbreaking book sheds light on how race affects worship in multiracial churches. It will allow a new understanding of the dynamics of such churches, and provide crucial aid to church leaders for avoiding the pitfalls that inadvertently widen the racial divide.

Evangelicals, Simon Chan argues, are confused about the meaning and purpose of the church in part because they have an inadequate understanding of Christian worship. He calls evangelicals to develop a theology of worship that is grounded in a theology of the church. He guides the reader through worship practices and their significance for theology, spirituality and the renewal of evangelicalism in the postmodern era.

"What I particularly appreciated as I read through these texts is that each one is an engaging meditation that combines sound theology with poetic skill. I think they would be an enrichment to any worshiping community and certainly food for personal reflection and prayer." The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Before Michael Hudson was ordained, he was a successful songwriter in the Contemporary Christian field with 75 hymns to his credit. As his journey led him to become a liberal Anglican, he turned his considerable skill at matching text and tune to writing hymn texts. He began a spiritual discipline of writing a text for each of the gospels of the three-year cycle of Scripture readings. The result is a collection of 153 beautiful, evocative, and very singable poetic hymn texts. Each text can be sung to at least one familiar hymn tune, making the material easily accessible to congregations. A hymn tune index and a thematic index provide additional planning possibilities. Based on the Episcopal lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer, hymn tunes are suggested for each text and are indexed metrically so that substitutions may be made when necessary. Songs may be reproduced for congregational use.