Worship
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What Language Shall I Borrow
$24.99Add to cartWhat language is most appropriate for worship? Should it lean to the colloquial, perhaps targeting those attending worship for the first time? Or should it be a language with deeper roots, the language of a community that already loves the God to whom worship is offered? Ronald Byars here argues that the communal worship speech that truly honors both the majesty and the intimacy of God is, in fact, biblical language. Far from limiting worship, biblical language encompasses a vast range of speech from poetry and prose to parable and narrative. Byars explains how this language pushes us beyond what we already think we know, requiring us to think about death and resurrection, beginnings and endings, and how to hold on to faith. It is the language of relationship, both in community and in worship. Written for both leaders of worship and individual worshipers, What Language Shall I Borrow? offers a richer understanding of communal praise.
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God Against Religion
$33.99Add to cartIn God against Religion Matthew Myer Boulton outlines a Christian theology that takes worship as its basic framework, conceiving worship as the occasion of not only an approach toward God in piety, but also separation from God in sin. Drawing on the thought of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and especially Karl Barth, Boulton rethinks the broadest themes of Christian theology through the lens of Christian worship. He offers three groundbreaking thoughts: that the catastrophe of “sin” is liturgy’s original and continual work, that the miracle of “reconciliation” is liturgy’s decisive transformation in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and that the glory of “redemption” is and will be liturgy’s end. The result is a fascinating proposal of a systematic, liturgical theology in the Reformed tradition. It will lead scholars, pastors, and anyone interested in thinking about Christian theology and Christian worship in fresh, critical, challenging directions.
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Baccalaureate : Guidelines For Inspirational Worship Services To Honor Grad
$8.95Add to cartPreface
Introduction
Time Line For Baccalaureate Preparations
Student Participation
Sample Informational Letter To Local Pastors
Sample Letter Of Invitation To Faculty And Administrators
Sample Informational Letter To Seniors
Sample Formal Invitation
Sample Press Release For Local Newspapers
Sample Public Service Announcements For Radio And Television
Order Of Worship With Explanations
About The Bulletins
Sample Bulletin
Music For Baccalaureate
Bouquet Of Thanks
Scripture Challenge
About The Meditations
Sample Meditation: Dispelling The Darkness
Sample Meditation: The Clean Slate
Sample Meditation: Light For Our World
Sample Meditation: Becoming A Follower
Gifts For The Seniors
Reception Guidelines
Funding For Baccalaureate
ReferencesAdditional Info
Graduation is a time of new beginnings. The old chapter has come to an end, and the time has come to turn the page. The Baccalaureate service offers loved ones a time to pray a blessing over graduates of high school and university and to send them on their way. It reminds them to seek guidance from the Lord as they start down a new path.This resource contains everything needed to get a Baccalaureate service up and running. It includes:
A time line for preparation (part of the FREE excerpt — click to download)
Sample letters and press releases to churches, schools, and local media
An order of worship (with music suggestions)
Sample bulletin
4 sample sermons
Reception guidelines
much more
Download FREE excerpt (includes FREE “Time Line For Baccalaureate Preparations”)The components of this resource book will ensure that your service is a success. Baccalaureate: Guidelines for Inspirational Worship Services to Honor Graduates is essential to reviving the Baccalaureate service tradition in your community. With this volume you’ll be covering your new graduates in prayer and blessings as they spread their wings and take flight.
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Chant Made Simple Second Edition
$19.95Add to cartThe purity and simplicity of Gregorian chant is what fed the musical and liturgical life of Christianity for more than a millennium before there were any Protestants. But after the reforms of the Vatican II concils in the 1960s, chant went into disuse.
Gregorian chant is back, and more popular than it has been in the last forty years. This handy book is for musicians of all denominations and levels of ability to sing chant, and to understand it more than ever before.
New for the second edition of this classic work are: an entirely new interior design that is easier to navigate and read, many additional chants, and historical and spiritual introductions to each of them.
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Message In The Music
$22.99Add to cartFew things influence Christians’ understanding of the faith more than the songs they sing in worship. Woods and Walrath help worship leaders plan authentic, scripturally sound, and relevant by exploring the content of dozens of praise songs.
Helps pastors, worship leaders, and worship teams more carefully assess the quality of the music they choose for worship. -
Eucharist : Bodies Bread And Resurrection
$29.00Add to cartBieler and Schottroff bring together the best of contemporary scholarship on ritual theory and practice, Eucharistic origins, the Eucharist and eschatology, the Eucharist and world hunger, the global economy, and the dynamics of torture in a dramatic new vision of the transformative power of the Eucharist for our world. Reflection questions lead readers into the issues raised in each chapter.
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African American Christian Worship (Expanded)
$20.99Add to cartCosten again delights readers with a lively history and theology of the African American worship experience.
An update of the 1993 classic, with an expanded discussion of ritual practices in African communities and clarification of the ritual use of music in worship. -
Its So Christmas See
$29.95Add to cartThis anthology provides a wide range of dramatic and worship material for seasonal celebrations. There are numerous Thanksgiving resources, including a children’s Sunday school learning event, a children’s message, a brief responsive reading, a one-act drama, and a sermon. For Christmas there are six plays of various lengths for a variety of ages and cast sizes, as well as a “hanging of the greens” worship program and an engaging story that can either be read to young children or performed as a play.
* Come! See What God Has Done is designed to heighten children’s awareness of God’s many blessings. Six learning centers — each featuring posters, projects, a guided experience, follow-up activities, and a closing prayer — focus on such topics as families, nature, our religious heritage, and our bodies. Intended for kindergarten through sixth grade, this is an ideal activity for your church school and can be held during a single session.
* What Are You Thankful For? is a one-act drama portraying two families as they gather for Thanksgiving dinner. It utilizes a cast of fourteen characters with a wide range of ages, and guides audiences from self-centered complaints to a positive attitude of thankfulness.
* Thanksgiving for Our Day, a brief responsive reading, and Recalling Our Blessings, an interactive children’s lesson, are perfect for use in ecumenical Thanksgiving worship services.
* Is It Still Wonderful?, a sermon for Thanksgiving Day, reviews some common Thanksgiving clichi 1/2s and concludes that to demonstrate true thankfulness we need to become less jaded and rediscover a sense of awe and wonder.
* Welcome the Spirit of Christmas enables the entire congregation to participate in adorning the sanctuary with holiday decorations for the Advent and Christmas seasons. This “hanging of the greens” worship program includes complete instructions plus many additional ideas, making it easy to adapt the material to individual circumstances.
* The Christmas Stranger and The Christmas Stranger Returns are two full-length dramas depicting events in the lives of a typical American town’s leading citizens. Each play features a multi-generational cast of around 20 characters and has a running time of approximately 60 minutes. In The Christmas Stranger, an amiable handyman brings joy and laughter to the home of a prominent businessman who is consumed by his work and hates Christmas. With the stranger’s aid, the businessman’s family tries to break t
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Warrior Poets Of The 21st Century
$10.99Add to cartThis book is about worship. It s about how absolutely important worship is and how, perhaps, it is the highest calling and occupation of the believer. But it s not about excellence of musicianship in played and sung worship. It s not about personalities or individuals, or specially gifted folks, or style, or technique. It s not a how to book, or a work book, or a here s a service schedule that s bound to work type book. It s about how God calls us all to be His worshippers and how, perhaps, every single one of us can, through a deeper understanding of worship, make an impact and a difference in the society in which we live.
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Priority Of Praise And Worship
$12.95Add to cartDr. Ron Kenoly travels world-wide creating an environment for God’s presence. He is known for his praise & worship music around the globe. His music has become best-sellers in both the church and contemporary Christian markets. Among his popular music releases are included: Jesus Is Alive, the gold-selling Lift Him Up, God Is Able, Sing Out With One Voice and Dove Award-winning Welcome Home. Dr. Kenoly has stepped into a new season of ministry where his heart and vision are to mentor worship leaders, pastors and worshipers. Through this book, you will receive proven answers to common and uncommon issues from one of the world’s most anointed and experienced worship leading authorities. Each chapter is designed to take you to a higher level of excellence and effectiveness in your worship experience. Topics Include: . What Does God Receive from Our Church Services? . Balanced With the Word . Worship in Spirit and Truth
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Prayer And Worship
$17.99Add to cartWhen thinking about the Christian life, two things stand out: prayer and worship. These are experiences unique to the religious life, and they compose the heart of the devotional life. This guide, which focuses deeply on the Psalms, often considered the prayer book of the Bible, illuminates new ways to understand the life of prayer and worship, and how growing these two elements of faith life brings us closer and closer to God.
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Worshiping Artist : Equipping You And Your Ministry Team To Lead Others In
$24.99Add to cartWhether you serve as a vocalist, instrumentalist, technician, dancer, actor, or in some other role, you know what a blessing it is to serve on your church’s worship team. But you also know that some days you’re more technically prepared than you are spiritually prepared for the ministry of leading others in worship. In the midst of rehearsals, setup, and myriad distractions, not to mention the busyness of daily life, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. How can you and your fellow team members be prepared to worship in spirit and truth as well as lead others in worship with integrity?
With thirty years of experience in worship leading, Rory Noland knows the issues-in both the private life of the worship team member and the public ministry of a worship team. In this readable book, he offers practical insights on how to * Grow as a private worshiper * Encounter the character of God during worship * Respond to the character of God during worship * Be transformed by the character of God * Learn from ancient worship leaders … and more.
So relevant you’ll think the author was eavesdropping on your last church service, The Worshiping Artist is ideal to read either by yourself or as a team.
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Spoken Worship : Living Words For Personal And Public Prayer
$17.99Add to cartThis collection of forty poems is designed to provide a new and moving expression of worship. The poems are intended not to be merely read in silence, but to be spoken aloud in a way that can provide a new and refreshing experience of worship in any setting-personal devotions, group and church settings, or one-on-one.
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Architecture Of Immanence
$32.99Add to cartBaroque, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek. These traditional architectural styles are easily recognizable both in public buildings and especially in houses of worship. Each has a particular influence on sacred space, and all tend to highlight the utter transcendence of God. In An Architecture of Immanence Mark Torgerson asserts that modern architecture has heavily influenced the construction of new sacred spaces, producing a new way of building that emphasizes God’s coming near to us. Torgerson begins by discussing a proper understanding of God’s transcendence and immanence and showing how church architecture has traditionally interpreted these key concepts. He then traces the theological roots of immanence’s priority from liberal theology and liturgical innovation to modern architecture. Next, Torgerson illustrates this new architecture of immanence through particular practitioners, focusing especially on the work of theologically savvy architect Edward Anders SAvik. Finally, he addresses the future of church architecture as congregations are buffeted by the twin forces of liturgical change and postmodernism. A celebration and exploration of the modern conception of sacred space, An Architecture of Immanence will interest architects, liturgists, and all Christians who seek to read the sacred spaces of the recent past.
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Traveling Calvarys Road
$21.95Add to cartThis anthology provides an abundance of services, dramas, monologues, and sermons for use from Ash Wednesday through Easter. Using such things as newspapers and candles, these services will leave a lasting impression. Easy to stage and perform, these programs use varying numbers of people, and flexible hymns. Copy privileges are granted.
Traveling Calvary’s Road includes:
Ash Wednesday Services:
Into The Wilderness by Anne W. Anderson
We Are But Ashes by William LuomaPalm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion Services:
Your King Comes by Janice Bennett Wyatt
Crown Him Lord of All! by William LuomaMaundy Thursday Services:
Like a Rose by Lynne Cragg
A Table, A Garden, And A Courtroom by Leonard V. KalkwarfGood Friday Services:
It Seems Like Just Yesterday! by Pamela D. Williams
Faces by Michelle Griep
Extinguished A Tenebrae Service by Anne W. AndersonEaster Sunrise Services:
Sing To The Lord A New Song by Howard Eshbaugh
He Is Risen Indeed! by William LuomaEaster Monologue
The Big Secret by Michelle Griep -
Africana Worship Book Year A
$27.00Add to cartWhat is worship? For the Africana community, worship is the time or place where God “shows up and shows out,” affirming that an active God embodies human lives through companionship and communion. This type of worship allows God to enter into worshipper’s lives with an openness to respond with swaying of the body, tapping feet, weeping eyes, and heartfelt emotion.
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Wedding Of Worship
$13.49Add to cartWhether you are pre-married and planning a wedding, married and planning to renew your vows or single and preparing yourself for the moment in time that God presents you to your husband, Wedding of Worship will challenge your mind, refresh your spirit and above all bring you heart to heart with God. Ariel shares a new perspective from her own personal experience as to how the heart of the bride-to-be affects the entire wedding planning process. Wedding of Worship is an eye-opening work that speaks to honoring God during your ceremony, idolizations that can occur, the importance of selecting honorable wedding attendants and applying biblical principles during the planning process. Wedding of Worship is a necessary read for any Christian woman that truly seeks after God.
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Manuel Bonilla – (Spanish)
$12.99Add to cartCaminaremos de la mano del primer musico latinoamericano en cumplir sus bodas de oro con la musica, y disfrutaremos con el de un viaje lleno de ricos testimonios. El Padre de los adoradores, como le dicen hoy afamados cantantes, es una vez mas pionero. Este es el libro que toda persona que desea vivir una vida de adoracion debe leer.
Take a walk with the first Latin American musican to celebrate 50 years of music and enjoy a journey full of rich testimonies. The “Father of worshipers”, as he is called today by many famous singers, he is also a pioneer. This is a book that anyone who desires to live a life of worship should read.
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Prayers Of The People
$14.99Add to cartThis book of prayers is based on the three year common lectionary. All of the texts for each Sunday are listed and the suggested preaching text is highlighted. Most of the prayers which follow reference the text. They are helpful for the busy pastor who gets one of those “weeks that was” with little time to prepare a prayer along with a sermon. They are equally helpful for the lay person who wishes to deepen his/her devotional life. And they are helpful for the seminarian anticipating a first call.
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Shaping The Christian Life
$36.00Add to cartThis insightful study explores how worship practices can transform and renew the lives of those who worship. Emphasizing how religious affections provide us with orientation in the world, Hotz and Mathews show how worship can shape our religious affections so that we can live to the glory of God and in a harmonious relationship with God’s creation.
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Foundations Of Christian Worship
$48.00Add to cartProviding structure for thinking seriously about worship as a part of Christian faith and experience, Foundations of Christian Worship addresses the questions “What is Christian worship?” and “Why do Christians worship as they do?” Beginning with an overview of the theological, biblical, historical, and anthropological foundations of Christian worship, Susan J. White then turns to discussing its components-prayer, creeds, music, time, ritual, and art. Later, she delves into the nourishment of the Christian life and the major worship events throughout the human life cycle. Finally, she discusses contemporary challenges to Christian worship-such as ecumenism, pluralism, and the connotations of worship language-and concludes with case studies for further exploration. With helpful appendixes and a glossary of liturgical terms, Susan White’s Foundations of Christian Worship is an excellent primer for seminary students and ministers early in their careers.
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Himnario Selecciones – (Spanish)
$11.95Add to cartThis collection is an inexpensive, words-only edition of favorite hymns and songs from El Himnario, together with translations of other hymns that are familiar to Hispanic congregations.
The full-music edition of El Himnario was an ecumenical project sponsored by the Episcopal Church and several other mainline denominations. It is available for use by musicians who accompany worship.
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New Pastors Guide To Leading Worship
$17.99Add to cart14 Chapters
Additional Info
This practical book is for new pastors as they move into the role of worship leader and planner. When faced with the weekly rhythm of planning and leading worship, new pastors sometimes find themselves overwhelmed with the tasks. Barbara Day Miller centers on pastors and their identity as worship leader, on guidelines for leadership, and on the “why” and “how” of the worship service. She also explores the pastor’s role in guiding the planning of the worship service and the connecting of the congregation with the historical practices of the church. Brief narratives from other church leaders provide encouragement and useful guidelines for grounding worship-leading in the historic model of the liturgy. -
Lectionary Worship Aids Series 7 Cycle C
$26.95Add to cart“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
This all-new edition of a perennial CSS favorite is a valuable resource for busy pastors, worship planners, worship service planners, and worship resource planners. It’s an easy-to-use reference offering several prayers relating to the assigned scriptural passages for every Sunday and major observance in Cycle C of the Revised Common Lectionary. For each First, Second, and Gospel reading there’s a call to worship, a collect, a prayer of confession, and suggested hymns — plenty of inspiring material for the creation of fresh, meaningful worship services. Supplemental resources include numerous prayers for general use, worship material for Mother’s Day, and a brief service for hunting season that highlights the connection between responsible hunting and God’s creation. In addition, there are alternate verses for use with several familiar hymns plus hymns from the Brethren tradition. This complete collection offers a wide selection of practical aids for creating sincerely reverent, thematically unified worship experiences in which hymns, prayers, and scripture all work together to illuminate the powerful connection between God’s Word and the daily lives of the people in the pews.
These are not words to be admired. They are words to be prayed. This is all about talking to God. Just as importantly, it’s about listening to God talking back…. I hope that people use times of silence, both in worship and in life, to allow the opportunity for God to speak. There is, of course, no controlling God. We cannot pull on a chain and ensure a reply. That would be magic. But we can at least work on the assumption that prayer is a conversation — not a harangue, part medical report and part Santa wish list. We can also work on the assumption that this is the Lord of the universe we are speaking to, awe-inspiring and majestic, yet somehow marvelously secure as a God who encourages us to speak on an intimate basis.
(from the Introduction) -
Services For Special Days
$18.95Add to cartLooking for worship material specifically tailored for holidays and other special, out-of-the-ordinary occasions? If so, then you’ll draw on this compendium of services for fresh ideas throughout the year. Each of these 13 services actively involves the congregation through the singing of several hymns, as well as scripture and dramatic readings which can be performed either with or without costumes. Because these flexible services can be presented with as few or as many participants as desired, they are ideal for both large and small congregations. Many of these versatile pieces can even be used without a pastor, so this is an excellent resource to have on hand for pastoral vacations or other occasions when the laity is in charge of worship. Best of all, this collection couldn’t be more convenient to use — every service comes with brief instructions and a sample form for your worship bulletin.
Services are included for:
* New Year’s Day
* Valentine’s Day
* Ash Wednesday
* Lent
* Palm/Passion Sunday
* Maundy Thursday
* Good Friday
* Easter
* Pentecost Sunday
* Trinity Sunday
* Reformation Sunday/All Saints’ Day
* Thanksgiving
* Christmas Eve -
Where 20 Or 30 Are Gathered
$29.00Add to cartWhile worship is the primary purpose of all churches, worship in the small church is distinctive. Whether a house church, a new church plant, a rural church along a country road, or a city church whose neighborhood demographics have shifted, these small faith communities present unique opportunities and challenges for worship leaders.
Peter Bush and Christine O’Reilly draw on their passion and experience equipping lay people to plan and lead worship to answer the question, what makes for effective worship leadership in family-size congregations, where fewer than 50 people gather Sunday by Sunday to worship? Addressing the needs of small churches in rural, suburban, and urban contexts, the authors discuss the characteristics of family-size congregations, the variety of ways they are organized, the joys and challenges of worship and preaching in small congregations, and best worship practices in small congregations. The challenges of the multi-point or yoked pastoral charge and of congregations without clergy receive special consideration.
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More Services For The Advent Wreath Cycle C
$17.95Add to cartThe Advent wreath is a powerful symbol that draws our attention to the coming of Christ — past, present, and future. But while it’s a traditional element of Advent worship, the Advent wreath is often vaguely linked to the rest of the service, especially for those who follow the lectionary. Building on his successful volume Services For The Advent Wreath, Robert Jarboe offers a wide selection of adaptable resources that firmly place the Advent candles in the context of the day’s scripture readings. There are complete orders of service based on each Cycle C lectionary text for every Sunday in Advent, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Each service is conveniently formatted, with reproducible sheets that can be given to participants as well as bulletin inserts with congregational readings. It’s everything you need to make this important symbol a centerpiece of the worship celebration — all in one place!
Each service includes:
* litanies
* scripture readings
* prayers
* an original musical introit -
Christmas Journey : Advent Christmas Resources
$14.95Add to cartThis complete set of seasonal material offers everything you need for an exciting Advent and Christmas program. With dramatic monologues, sermons, children’s messages and worship liturgies, a Sunday school program, and a pair of Christmas Eve candlelight services, there’s something for everyone, whatever your congregation’s size or worship style.
An Unlikely Cast (Alan E. Siewert) is a set of dramatic monologues that reveal the inner thoughts and feelings of five characters who were deeply involved in the unfolding divine drama of the nativity: Joseph, Mary, John the Baptist, the innkeeper, and a shepherd. The monologues can be used in midweek Advent services, special programs, or Sunday morning worship. Staging and costuming suggestions are included, to help you bring these exciting accounts to life.
The Colors Of Christmas (H. Michael Nehls) is a creative series of six sermons and children’s messages in which each week features a different color. The sermons use the color idea to stress such Christian themes as royalty, sacrifice, and holiness, while the children’s messages utilize the inventive device of passing out ribbon swatches of the color of the day; as the youngsters receive the various ribbons, they can collect a “ribbon rainbow.”
Is This The Road To Bethlehem? (Judy Gattis Smith) is an Advent worship liturgy in which children are the main participants. The centerpiece is an “action/sermon” featuring six brief readings using illustrative wooden figures. All the elements of a typical worship service are present — but in a manner that focuses on the interests and expressions of children, allowing them to experience worship rather than just listen and watch.
Producing Christmas (Jennifer Hockenberry Dragseth) is a humorous children’s play which casts the Christmas story as the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster. Everyone wants to be a part of the big movie — and they all have ideas about how to make it a hit, only to finally learn why the coming of the Christ child is truly the “greatest story ever told.” With participants ranging in age from junior high to preschoolers, this flexible piece is perfect for a brief Sunday school program.
A Christmas Journey and Christmas Letters (Rod Tkach) are imaginative Christmas Eve services weaving together carols, prayers, scripture readings, and several brief meditations. In A Christmas Journey, the reflections guide worshipers on a journey from being home alone to the ultimate destination of the
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Wonder Of Worship
$22.99Add to cartWorship is ground zero for spiritual warfare and affects every part of the believer’s life. The Wonder of Worship defines true, acceptable worship, its real purpose, and the three things necessary for worship to occur. Starting with the basics of what it means to worship God in spirit and truth, The Wonder of Worship discusses the relationship of the Christian’s private worship and public worship experiences. In the process it explores the practical side of worship, worship preparation, and even the format for public worship. Ultimately, worship that is pleasing to God does not depend on the contemporary believer’s worship practices or preferences. It all comes down to the Person of worship. Jesus is the One who makes true worship a wonder to enjoy, now and in eternity. He is the Wonder of Worship.
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Wonder Of Worship
$14.99Add to cartWorship is ground zero for spiritual warfare and affects every part of the believer’s life. The Wonder of Worship defines true, acceptable worship, its real purpose, and the three things necessary for worship to occur. Starting with the basics of what it means to worship God in spirit and truth, The Wonder of Worship discusses the relationship of the Christian’s private worship and public worship experiences. In the process it explores the practical side of worship, worship preparation, and even the format for public worship. Ultimately, worship that is pleasing to God does not depend on the contemporary believer’s worship practices or preferences. It all comes down to the Person of worship. Jesus is the One who makes true worship a wonder to enjoy, now and in eternity. He is the Wonder of Worship.
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With One Voice (Reprinted)
$21.00Add to cartEvery Sunday morning people all over the world look up at a screen, open a hymnal, or simply take a breath … and sing. Why? Are people just participating in the service or is there something more behind church music? With One Voice examines the theology of song in worship and looks at how music is used to relate to God. Whatever the style, song has the power to bring believers into the company of the Savior himself and allows them to participate in the very redemption of all creation. Between these pages, worship leaders, church musicians, and all churchgoers will discover not just the history of song in worship but why believers continue to sing in worship today.
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Designing Worship Together
$29.00Add to cartThis book draws on more than two decades of collaborative worship planning by pastor Howard Vanderwell and musician Norma deWaal Malefyt of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, offering thoughtful, field-tested processes and tools for planning, implementing, and evaluating life-enriching weekly worship.
The authors enter into the trenches of weekly congregational life with this book, offering helpful insights into the process of how worship services are planned and led. DeWaal Malefyt and Vanderwell’s approach to worship arises from the biblical narrative, using the language of the Christian tradition and emphasizing that worship tells the story of God’s efforts through history to show us the path to union with God.
Designing Worship Together is also deeply connected to the experience of local congregations. DeWaal Malefyt and Vanderwell understand that the way in which God’s saving deeds are proclaimed will differ from church to church, from place to place, and from culture to culture and they present a process for designing worship services that is equally applicable in a wide diversity of congregations.
Foreword writer Robert Webber writes of Designing Worship Together, “In a day when worship, born out of an antihistorical attitude focuses on the self-what I need, what I want, what I do-it is refreshing to find a book that focuses on God yet is deeply concerned about the people engaged in worship.”
While many books are available about the theology of worship, worship styles, and issues of music, there are few resources on the value of careful worship planning. DeWaal Malefyt and Vanderwell offer the practical nuts-and-bolts that worship planners need, but this book is far more than a how-to for worship planners. In addition to describing best practices for worship planners, they clarify the role of vital worship in the life of a healthy congregation; identify the biblical assumptions underlying Christian worship; highlight the importance of team work in worship planning; name the issues and barriers worship planners must overcome; and suggest a variety of models for worship planning and evaluation.
This invaluable resource also features more than a dozen field-tested tools and a selected bibliography for worship planners to use as they continue to develop their ministries.
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More Services For The Advent Wreath Cycle B
$14.95Add to cartThe Advent wreath is a powerful symbol that draws the attention of worshipers to the coming of Christ — past, present, and future. But it can be a challenge to link this traditional element of Advent worship to the rest of the service, especially for those who follow the lectionary. Building on his successful volume Services For The Advent Wreath, Robert Jarboe offers a wide selection of adaptable resources for any size congregation that firmly place the Advent candles in the context of the day’s scripture readings. There are complete orders of service based on each Cycle B lectionary text for every Sunday in Advent, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Each service is conveniently formatted, with reproducible sheets that can be given to participants as well as bulletin inserts with congregational readings. It’s everything you need to make this important symbol a centerpiece of the worship celebration — all in one place!
Each service includes:
* litanies
* scripture readings
* prayers
* an original musical introit -
Lectionary Worship Aids Series 7 Cycle B
$23.95Add to cartYour word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)
Coming up with fresh, meaningful worship material each Sunday that illuminates scripture and preaching themes is a pressure-filled responsibility. That’s why busy pastors and worship leaders will love this all-new edition of a perennial CSS favorite. It’s an easy-to-use reference offering several prayers relating to the assigned scriptural passages for every Sunday and major observance in Cycle B of the Revised Common Lectionary. For each First Lesson, Second Lesson, and Gospel text there’s a call to worship, a collect, a prayer of confession, and suggested hymns. Supplemental material includes alternate verses for several familiar hymns, as well as an anointing service, a communion and feetwashing service, and a lamentation service for the anniversary of 9/11. This complete collection offers a wide selection of practical aids for creating sincerely reverent, thematically unified worship experiences in which hymns, prayers, and scripture all work together to dance in and around God’s Word.
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Prayz In The Garden
$13.49Add to cartPrayz in the Garden is not just a book. It is a call. This book was possible because my ex-wife was given a vision of me when I was dying from a drug overdose. I was literally prayed back to life-truly an Elijah story. Prayz in the Garden is a place: where we give back that hour in the garden where we can water the Lord where dreams come true where the cost has been counted where we belong as holy priests where there are divine prayers and agony in worship where deep spiritual healing and cleansing are found where there is unified freedom in diversity Best of all, it is a place in which we had always believed as children and as adults we have hoped. It is He who placed eternity in our hearts and gave light to all who came into the world. In the garden we shall find the heart and call of God. In deep union at the master’s table we shall find purpose, for it is only at His table that it can be found. It is a lamentation in which the Father is bestowing upon us. Your Shepherd in Christ, Li’l Drummer Boy
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More Profound Alleluia
$23.99Add to cartTwo questions lie at the heart of this rich, suggestive book: What are the theological implications of worship? and What are the liturgical implications of theology? Convinced that worship and theology are integrally related, the authors of A More Profound Alleluia show in practical terms how liturgy and doctrine fruitfully illuminate each other.
Each chapter pairs an element of the worship service with related Christian teachings, clearly demonstrating how the great doctrines of the faith find their natural expression in the drama of worship and how the liturgy in turn finds its corollary in doctrine. The interrelation of theology and worship is illustrated with anecdotes from congregational life, resources drawn from church history, and themes from novels and films. Each chapter also includes two hymn texts that exemplify orthodox doctrine communicated through song.
A More Profound Alleluia will be a valuable text for courses in theology or worship, will help worship leaders to plan services with greater theological depth, and will enhance worship for Christian believers generally.
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In Spirit And In Truth
$47.00Add to cartMelva Wilson Costen examines various genres of music used in African American worship and current practices and emerging trends in music ministry in African American churches. In addition, she explores the use of global songs by African American congregations and provides suggestions to worship planners for listening for the Holy Spirit as they prepare for worship.
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Visualizing The Parables
$7.95Add to cartIf you want an intriguing resource that can help you bring a fresh, contemporary perspective to some of Jesus’ most enduring stories, then Visualizing The Parables is just what you’re looking for. Originally conceived as a Lenten series, this set of brief plays updates five familiar parables, placing them in a modern context that suggests new ways of understanding these familiar texts. Written in an easy, conversational style and easily adapted to your individual circumstances, these scenes are simple to produce and can be used in a variety of settings. In addition to worship services, they are also excellent for classroom use or as openers for church council or congregational meetings — and they’re a great way of involving your church members (especially youth) in programs or worship.
Parables dramatized include:
* The Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-12)
* The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
* The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
* The Rich Man (Mark 10:17-27)
* The Great Banquet (Luke 14:16-24) -
Worship : His Love Endures Forever
$12.99Add to cartWhy do we worship?
Do we do it simply because it’s part of a church service, or does it spring from a heart of genuine praise?
The Bible gives us a clear picture of what worship is–and isn’t–about. In eight studies Sundee Tucker Frazier helps you dig into the Bible, learning how to worship with your whole life and taking you to the heart of the matter–the character of the God who loves you.
This LifeGuide Bible Study features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, together with leader’s notes and a “Now or Later” section in each study.
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Healing Liturgies For The Seasons Of Life
$65.00Add to cartAre you looking for a new way to renew your worship, respond to the needs of the church and community, connect with people in their passage of life-both chronological and crisis? This book offers a rich resource to you, both as a tool for worship and also devotionally as you face the deepest questions of life. Here you will find one way that the church can renew and rediscover its healing ministry. Abigail Evans, a leading specialist in bioethics and health ministries, explores how God’s gift of healing is available during all seasons of a person’s life and how the power of hope and healing are affirmed and redirected through liturgical services, sacraments, and rites. This distinctive resource features specific healing liturgies for injury, illness, death, separation, retirement, and a host of other major life events, from a wide variety of religious traditions.
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Exploring The Worship Spectrum
$24.99Add to cartA presentation and discussion of differing worship styles This book helps readers appreciate the richness of worship practiced in the six most prevalent models used in North American churches today: formal liturgical, traditional hymnbased, contemporary musicdriven, charismatic, blended, and emerging. Each model is presented by an advocate of that point of view and then is critiqued by authors from the other perspectives. The lively discussions sort through the tensions of past vs. present, Bible vs. culture, and permitted vs. forbidden. Churches often choose a style of worship for Sunday services that reflects the vision of the founders, matches a particular target audience they want to reach, or is most true to their understanding of the Bible. Thus there is great diversity in worship today_diversity that has often led to tension and even divisions between believers. This book is designed to help readers understand and evaluate different styles of worship, including strengths, weaknesses, blind spots, inconsistencies, and commonalities. This new volume in the Counterpoints: Church Life series is intended to be a forum for healthy dialogue among church members. Discussion and reflection questions for each chapter facilitate group use of this book. EDITOR: Paul Basden
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Wonderful Words Of Life
$31.99Add to cartAlthough the use of hymns in many evangelical congregations seems to be declining, Richard Mouw (in the introduction) predicts a resurgence of hymnody in the future. Other notable contributors examining the various historical and theological dimensions of hymns in American Protestantism include Mark Noll, Susan Wise Bauer, Kevin Kee, and Jeffrey VanderWilt. The essays probe the influence of Isaac Watts, the practical implications of hymns for living the Christian life, and the character of hymns as bearers of good (or bad) theology. Wonderful Words of Life provides an engaging treatment of an often neglected field of study, which bridges the gap between Christian belief and practice.
