Rediscovering Worship - Group: Book Reviews

John Allen T. Bankson on Book Review: Recovering Mother Kirk

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:07:38 -0400

Reformed worship is, by definition, liturgical. Presbyterians, by definition, cannot be evangelicals. Presbyterianism is a churchly tradition, believing that such things as church membership, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and corporate worship are central, not ancillary, to the Christian faith.
These are the contentions of Westminster Seminary (California) Church History professor Darryl Hart in his book Recovering Mother Kirk: The Case for Liturgy in the Reformed Tradition. Hart presents the connection between Reformed theology, worship, and polity, and explains how Presbyterianism in the U.S. became enamored of revivalism (beginning with Whitefield), a courtship which, ultimately, left Presbyterians with worship that no longer flowed from either their theology or their polity. The fact that Hart’s main points, as outlined in the opening paragraph of this review, will raise eyebrows if not vehement denials from many Presbyterians today, only proves Hart’s thesis.

John Allen T. Bankson on Book Review: Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:31:40 -0400

As long as there are Christians on this planet, some of those Christians will be writing texts and/or tunes for congregational singing. This means at least every generation or so, churches must rethink the resources they have at their disposal for congregational singing. These days, many churches have dispensed with hymnals altogether in favor of projection screens or handouts, but there is much to be said for hymnals. A good, cohesive hymnal, displaying a unified philosophy of worship, can help guide church leaders and worship participants in meaningful congregational praise. Worshipers are longing for a sense of permanence, a sense that they belong to something bigger than themselves, something that has been around much, much longer than simply our time. Words on a screen are ephemeral. Handouts are disposable. A hymnal communicates something much more healthy about a congregations place in the communion of saints.

John Allen T. Bankson on Book Review: Exit Interviews: Revealing Stories of Why People are Leaving the Church

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:59:08 -0400

Originally written September 2002 I once saw an editorial on our denominational web site in which Rev. William Smith, a Presbyterian minister in Louisville, Mississippi, described the church growth movement as one whose strong suit is description and whose short suit is prescription. Exit Interviews is a work which, I believe, proves that opinion. For years we have been told what “unchurched” people like and don’t like, and we’ve been made to believe that if we don’t tailor everything we do to those likes and dislikes, the church will go the way of the Studebaker.

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