Articles for tag: Liturgy

November 1, 2022

Crucial Questions for Church Leaders

By Tyler McKenzie I grew up a preacher’s kid in the rural outskirts of a small city. Every time we walked into a restaurant, my dad visited at least two tables to check-in on people we knew from church. Often, someone would pick up our check. The community honored him. Back then, people looked to clergy for care and accepted their moral exhortation. Gone are those days! Barna president David Kinnaman reported on the clergy credibility crisis in his 2017 book Good Faith. “The public’s respect for pastors, priests, and other faith leaders has significantly declined,” Kinnaman wrote. “Today only

December 8, 2015

Mark A. Taylor

Worship Worship & Prayer

The Greatest Impact

By Mark A. Taylor How should we worship? Maybe we can take some comfort in the fact that throughout church history, Christians have answered that question in wildly differing ways. As both Paul Blowers and Tom Lawson point out this month, lavish artistic expressions of worship centuries ago eventually gave way to abandonment and even destruction of them by Protestant reformers. The motivation for each approach was the desire to please and praise God. Across Christendom today, we find everything from formal liturgy in classic settings to simple, quiet contemplative gatherings in smaller groups to exuberant, loud, guitar-driven, drum-syncopated megachurch

October 13, 2014

Christian Standard

Culture & Public Square

Can We Let Artists Be Artists?

By Dan Drage The Christian church doesn”t inspire me. Unless one counts reaction against something to be inspiration. No, overall I find the Christian church quite dull and unimaginative.Â If you”re reading this far, I trust you”ll respect me enough to hear me out. I”m an artist. Perhaps that says it all right there. And this is precisely what I”d like to talk about. Being an artist may account for my distaste with the Christian church. I am a part of the Restoration Movement. I have been for 33 years, since I was 3 years old. One could argue that

April 8, 2012

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Style Conscious

By Nathan Smith A few years back, I led worship on a regular basis at a midsized suburban church that was made up primarily of white, middle-class Americans. I often would speak with the pastor, a good friend, about the church”s “brand” and where he felt God was leading it. The worship gatherings were musically and aesthetically appealing, but I couldn”t get over the fact that we were “selling” a product completely disconnected from the worshipping body. The services were being designed for visitor Q rather than the Christian church member. (A bit of a disclaimer here, I do believe

January 21, 2007

Dan Gilliam

Worship & Prayer Worship

A Liturgy, a Labyrinth, and a Gregorian Chant

LifeBridge Christian Church’s “Sanctum” offers a Saturday-night quiet service shaped by Scripture, Spirit, and silence. Worshipers reflect, pray, and move through stations—including a walking labyrinth—seeking God in stillness.

January 18, 2006

Mark A. Taylor

Worship & Prayer Worship

Is “Traditional” a Dirty Word?

Tradition can steady a church—but it can also become a rut. Mark A. Taylor explores “traditional” and “contemporary” worship, urging humility, grace, and openness to the Holy Spirit.

October 9, 2005

Ken Read

Worship & Prayer Worship

Is This the End of the Worship Fad?

Ken Read reflects on the irony of highly produced Sunday worship “shows,” the burnout they can create, and why many believers are longing for deeper practices like prayer, community, Scripture, and service.