Twenty-five (25) of the most Influential Worship Resources

Chronological Worship Literature List

Author Title Publisher Date
Walter The Message of the Psalms Augsburg Press 1984
Brueggemann
David Peterson Engaging with God IVP 1992
Don Hustad Jubilate II Hope Publishing 1993
James White A Brief History of Christian Worship Abingdon 1993
Susan White Christian Worship and Technological Abingdon 1994
Change
Marva Dawn Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down Eerdmans 1995
James Torrance Worship, Community, and the Triune IVP 1996
God of Grace
Kathy Black Worship Across Cultures Abingdon 1998
LaMar Boschman Future Worship Renew Books 1999
Thomas Long Beyond the Worship Wars: An Alban Institute 2001
alternative approach to worship
Barry Leisch The New Worship Baker Books 2001
D.A. Carson Worship by the Book Zondervan 2002
Harold Best Unceasing Worship IVP 2003
Dan Kimball Emerging Church Zondervan 2004
Allen Ross Recalling the Hope of Glory: Christian Kregel 2006
Worship from the Garden to the New
Creation
Bob Kauflin Worship Matters: Helping others Crossway Books 2008
engage with the greatness of God
Robert Webber Ancient Future Worship Baker Academic 2008
Bryan Chapell Christ-Centered Worship Baker Academic 2009
James K.A. Smith Desiring the Kingdom Baker Academic 2009
Constance Cherry The Worship Architect Baker Academic 2010
Robin Perry Worshipping Trinity Cascade Books 2012
Bruce Benson Liturgy as a Way of Life Baker Academic 2013
James Krabill ed Worship and Mission for the Global William Carey Library 2013
Church
Mike Cosper Rhythms of Grace Crossway Books 2013
Daniel Block For the Glory of God Baker Academic 2014
 Background and Selection

This section must afford a measure of leeway in order to understand the background

and selection process used to create this list. Although the intent of the question is to identify

the most influential worship resources the question itself was open to interpretation. In facing

the question one must first ask, “Who is being influenced?” The answer to that question

became increasingly difficult to answer the more I wrestled with it. The relative influence of an

of the resources on this list seemed directly proportionate to the “agreeableness” of the person

or group engaged. The thoughts most agreeable to the Reformed Church for example, are far

less likely to be agreeable in some charismatic or vineyard style churches. At best, influence is

measured on a sliding scale.

Knowing the challenges of determining “most influential” I chose a list that combined

works that I believe would be acceptable on an ecumenical scale but also chose works that

have been profoundly influential on a personal scale. There are two resources on the list that

deserve greater attention for their content and their prophetic voice: Susan White and LaMar

Boschman. These two texts examine the dark relationship between worship and technology

that only a few have delved into since. I have included them on this list due to influence they

have exerted on a personal level, but also due to the potential to stir a greater conversation in

the wider world of Christian worship.

Worship in Crisis

In 1972 pastor Henry Horn, who served as a chaplain on the campus at Harvard

University, published an informative and prophetic work, Worship in Crisis. (Fortress Press) As a

chaplain, Horn was directly connected to the youth of the campus. He reports a great
disassociation between the youth movement and the church. This rift centered around the

worship practices of the church. Worship, it was said, was out dated, irrelevant, and needed

change in order to engage the youth of that era. Viewing the issue as a matter of age is an

understatement, the issue was cultural at heart. The campus church approached the issue by

changing some of the antiquated language in the songs and psalms but the youth remained

disconnected. A major worship overhaul was required and overhaul is what happened. From

Horn’s perspective, the changes did not impact worship form, the changes profoundly impacted

worship itself. In his opinion, the people who knew the least about Christian worship drove all

the changes.

This examination begins from here. If Horn is correct, worship form did not change,

worship changed. A generation of worshippers jumped off one ship and landed in another. The

writings of the next three decades address a variety of holes and gaps that were found in this

other ship. The categories this paper will address include: personal worship, corporate worship,

culture, theology, and doxology. In many ways, the writers address issues of change. Having

thrown out the proverbial baby with the bath water, these writers not only seek to repair gaps

and restore broken pieces but to train the next generation to do a better job when they feel the

itch to change. And if history has demonstrated anything, they will have the itch to change.

Personal Worship

The prevailing culture has long been shifting the focus of attention from social groups to

individual persons. Who can forget the release of the personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut or the

United States Army recruiting an army of one. It is easy to assume that I matter, or that I am

important, or worse yet that all of this is about me. David Peterson’s work, Engaging with God,
examines the nature of Christian worship and concludes that personal living is more essential

than cult practice. He draws this conclusion by examining and contrasting worship in the Old

Testament to worship in the New. He identifies three important components from the Old

Testament: service (holy living), sacrifice (purity is prerequisite to presence), and shalom (the

peace of God). Holy living and personal purity are necessary for relationship with God. In the

New Testament, Christ is the sacrifice and those who accept that sacrifice in faith are granted

the righteousness that is Christ’s. When Peterson connects the components of the Old

Testament to the New he determines that our purity is covered in Christ but holy living is still a

requirement.

The Old Testament can be challenging to believers on this other worship boat (thinking

back on Horn’s generation of worshippers who literally jumped ship to adopt entirely new ideas

about worship). Daniel Block, an Old Testament scholar, draws the same conclusion as

Peterson. In Block’s study of worship, he categorizes worship by component and examines the

relationship between the Old and New Testaments. The New Testament does not eliminate the

Old entirely regardless of the number of Christians who believe that the New totally overrides

the Old. According to Block, where the New Testament is silent, the Old Testament is our

source. The call to be holy rings as true today as it did to the people of Israel over three-

thousand years ago.

Holy living is a call to a personal lifestyle of worship. Writers like Carson and Boschman

stress that the quality of the corporate worship life hinges on the quality of the individual

worship life. The individual life of worship is often measured in terms of righteousness. Jerome

Creach defines a righteous person as one who fulfills obligations in a relationship. There is a
moral dimension to the righteous life. He states that “righteous action is the result of an

orientation to the righteousness of God.” (Jerome Creach, The Destiny of the Righteous in the

Psalms. Chalise Press, 2008) The righteous life is measured in the following: they quickly

confess sin to God; they respond to forgiveness with praise, joy, and thanks; they go to God

with their needs; and they love the Torah, as Peterson also discovered, Torah leads to shalom.

When the requirement for righteousness is taken into full view, it is clear the lifestyle

worship is a fulltime issue. In other words, the worship life of the believer never ceases.

Unceasing is the language of Harold Best who suggests that human being are never capable of

not worshipping. The convoluted speech is a salute to Best who said, “We cannot not worship.”

Best suggests that this unceasing outpouring of worship is engrained in our design because we

are created in the image of God, who himself is an unceasing outpourer of worship (a topic also

covered by Robin Perry, Worshipping Trinity). Bruce Benson applies the same idea of imago

design when he states that God is the master artist and human beings are his works of art

(Benson’s translation of Eph. 2:10). He continues to say that since we are created in the image

of God, we too are artists and create art as well. Art can be created impromptu (out of nothing)

or improvisation (drawing from a source) and Benson suggests that Christian artistry is better

understood as improvisation. Rather than make our own way in worship (which is the solution

of the Harvard students in Horn’s chapel) we must draw our inspiration from a source. What

better source for Christian living than the Christ we are named after.

Corporate Worship

If Christ is the best source of inspiration for personal worship he is most certainly the

best source of inspiration for corporate worship as well. Bryan Chapell’s book, Christ-Centered
Worship, summarizes this thought exactly. Christ is both the subject and object of the

corporate worship service. D.A Carson suggests that great care must be taken in the planning of

the corporate worship service. Our service tells a story, affirms truth, and communicates

something to those gathered. Carson offers a rubric of criteria to measure the elements and

content of worship. He identifies six characteristics that essential to the Christian gathering:

God centered, Christ centered, Word centered, Holy lifestyle, wholly devoted worshippers, and

reverence. The list itself covers the necessities of worship, there is nothing on the list that can

be left out. For this reason, Carson suggests great care in the planning process.

To aid the process, Constance Cherry offers a blueprint to aid in the design of corporate

gatherings. Cherry’s text includes resources to address the pragmatic issues of worship

planning. The plan itself, draws from the work of worship scholar Robert Webber. Webber

suggests the following flow as an expression of the gospel and a reflection of the practice of the

early church. His model consists of four movements or phases as Cherry called them: Gathering,

Word, Table, Sending. In the gathering, God calls the faithful into worship. In the movement of

the Word, God offers instruction for living, at the Table God feeds us, and the service concludes

with God sending us into the world. Webber’s model emulates main themes in the worship of

the early church, however, Webber’s commitment to the model betrays his faith in tradition as

a source of truth.

Webber’s is not the only model or design for corporate worship gatherings. Bryan

Chapell also provides a design that he believes captures a better picture of Christ in corporate

worship. Chapell’s design flows as follows: Adoration, Confession, Assurance of Pardon,

Thanksgiving, Petition, Instruction, Communion, Charge (blessing). Both Chapell and Webber
believe that their design best re-enacts the gospel. The gospel is essential to the Christian

gathering as it connects three of the six essentials presented by Carson: God, Christ, and the

Word. Timothy Keller summarizes John Calvin’s theology of corporate worship in three criteria:

simplicity in voice, transcendence in goal, and gospel re-enactment in order. (in Carson,

Worship by the Book) Chapell and Webber are proclaiming the same Christ but tell different

gospel stories.

The gospel story is essential to imagination. The gospel is the source material (Benson)

by which the believer can imagine God’s interaction in his or her contemporary world. The

gospel comes from the memory of the church. Horn claims that memory is essential to

imagination, human beings draw from the memory and project into the future. This

relationship might also be phrased as drawing from habit allows a person to project into the

future. Habits are empowered by memory and both find their home in liturgy. The liturgical

practice of the church tells the gospel story and provides the substance for the church to

imagine itself into the world (mission). (Smith, Imagining the Kingdom. Baker Academic, 2009)

Culture

The connection between the church and the world are typically places of challenge. The

challenge is perhaps under-stated in the Scriptural call to “be in the world but not of it.” One of

the concerns of Harvard students in Horn’s chapel was the perceived barriers between the

Western church and the many cultures that exist across the globe. The field of ethnomusicology

and its Christian counterpart, ethnodoxology, have been devoted to bridging the gaps between

cultures. Music is a cultural artifact that creates boundaries is often a means of identifying who

is in (emic) and who is out (etic) of a particular social group. In the last few decades the
Christian church has made a mantra out of multi-cultural worship. To be fair, the desire is

rooted in hospitality to strangers, but the reality is often far less compassionate.

Two texts on this list target the issues of culture, especially those practices that are

ethnically bound. Kathy Black and James Krabill take very similar paths to enculturate the

uncultured. Black’s early work sought to minister to those who had a heart for different

cultures but lacked exposure. She offers descriptions of over twenty American sub-cultures to

expand the Western understanding of worship. In the same vein and a decade later, Krabill

examines over twenty different cultures but his sample is representative of the global church.

Both works expand the church’s understanding of mission and world.

Three works on this list however, target a different type of interaction between mission

and world. Marva Dawn addresses the interaction between the mission of the church (reaching

out) and changes in technology (dumbing down). In particular, Dawn is concerned with the

uncritical acceptance of technology in an overly trusting church. She points to research that

suggests the growth of media in the United States is making people dumber. This is a significant

concern for her especially given the speed at which these worship tools were implemented.

Thinking back to Horn’s original concern, in Dawn’s perspective, it appears that the church has

jumped into another ship without thinking, a ship captained by technology.

Susan White has a very similar concern with regard to the uncritical acceptance of

technological change. White points out the ubiquitous nature of technology and states the fact

that this relationship is nothing new. She offers a report on the historical impact of technology

on the worship practices of the church. The printing press and communication, the clock and

prayer hours, the funeral home and burial rites, and even fermentation and Welches grape
juice. To conclude that the relationship has always been benevolent would be too swift a

judgement. The printing press aides in communication of the gospel but is also discourages the

need to memorize scripture. The clock regulated the prayer hours but did the same for factory

work hours. In the aftermath, most people work forty hours a week and pray less. And for many

churches, the length of the service must be sixty (60) minutes or less, certainly nothing more.

White does not oppose the incorporation of technology. She encourages greater conversation

before, during, and after incorporating technology in the life of the worshipper.

Boschman suggests that the worship wars were sovereignly motivated by God to

prepare the church to minister to a digital culture. Keeping in line with White and Dawn,

Boschman asks what church over the internet might look like.

Theology

One might begin to wonder if there is any room for individuality in Christian worship?

Dan Kimball suggests that each church employs a liturgy that is unique to that church and the

culture that church is embedded in. The main purpose of worship, according to Kimball, is to

promote a greater love for God. Love for God grows as God reveals himself to the believer and

draws the worshipper into relationship with the holy Trinity. God is Trinity and every experience

of God is Trinitarian. (Robin Perry, Worshipping Trinity. Cascade Books, 2012) The call into

worship is an important aspect of worship. One does not simply choose to worship God – the

call comes from God. (Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory. Kregel, 2006) The response of worship

is also empowered by God. The holy Spirit is the active agent in worship. Torrance describes

worship as participation in the Son’s communion with the Father, through the Spirit. The Spirit
testifies to Christ, convicts the believer of sin, and empower the believer to respond in faith,

praise, and commitment.

There is a strong connection between the life of the individual worshipper and the

corporate gathered worshipper. Mike Cosper describes the interaction as gathered and

scattered. He offers the following formula to promote a theological understanding of the flow

of the worship relationship. He calls the formula worship 1-2-3 which begins with the

affirmation of one God and one way to enjoy relationship with that God. Second, he describes

the two contexts of worship. Believers worship in both gathered and scattered contexts. As

Harold Best suggested, we never stop worshipping, gathered believers continue worshipping

that was taking place while scattered. Three refers to the audiences or goals of worship. God,

other believers, and those who do not yet believe are all audiences of our worship.

Doxology

The doxology section is perhaps the smallest in this paper but it is not without purpose.

Two truths are important to note: music is not synonymous with worship and music is not the

answer to every liturgical problem. Thomas Long states, “Not everything that moves us in

worship is God.” At the same time, he is also quick to remind Christians that music carries with

it deep emotional connections to memory. Where there is music, there will be motion. Worship

is not music, but music is often of greater concern when planning worship in SBC churches than

theology. (Charles Lewis, Near and Far: Christian Worship of the Transcendent and Immanent

God of Wonders. Diss. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015) Stephen Cady in his

dissertation suggests two typical responses to issues in the worship of the church. First is

renewal of ancient practices and use of the Psalms in music. Second is a focus on relevance that
usually means adopting new music and contemporary music styles. (Stephen Cady, Creative

Encounter: toward a theology of magnitude for worship with United Methodist Youth. Diss.

Princeton Theological Seminary, 2014)

One of the important changes brought up by Horn is the radical changes in worship

music during the sixties and seventies. In response to similar changes, Don Hustad suggested

that a rubric, measure or goals be adopted for selecting worship music in the church. He

proposes the following five goals: Worship (adoration), Proclamation, Education, Pastoral Care,

Fellowship. Hustad’s goals cover a lot of ground and open up tremendous opportunity to

incorporate a wide variety of music into the church. Carson’s six essentials would help add

support to Hustad’s goals and verify that the planner does not fall victim to the fallacy that the

ends justifies the means.

Barry Leisch offers suggestions to incorporate the music of tradition and contemporary

artists. Bob Kauflin offers a general overview of the role and responsibility of the worship

leader.

Main Shifts and New Holes

One major shift is an increased understanding of the worshipping individual. A second

shift is renewal of ancient practice. Major gaps in worship literature include the impact of

Learning styles on corporate worship, and a continuing conversation about technology and

worship practice (in particular – individually packaged communion elements, gluten free

options at communion, electronic giving – sacrifice of convenience)