Worship By The Book

Introduction
Models and theories of corporate worship are currently a hot topic in the evangelical world. Everyone seems to have their own opinion about just exactly what worship should be or do, and it those differing opinions are not limited to different denominations. Often within a denomination (or a church even) there is a wide variation in what is considered appropriate worship. D.A. Carson has given the evangelical world a mighty asset for the subject of worship in his book, Worship by the Book. Here, Carson, along with Mark Ashton, R. Kent Hughes, and Timothy J. Keller explore exactly what the Bible has to say about worship and look at how three different faith traditions interpret biblical worship within their own contexts.
Though the contributing authors each come from a different faith tradition, it is interesting to see that they have much more in common in their understanding of corporate worship than differences. Their commonality is seen in the fact that each is dedicated more to the worship of a Holy God than the satisfaction of their denominational standards. Ashton points out that Thomas Cranmer’s conviction concerning worship was that it should be biblical, accessible, and balanced (70). It is obvious that each of the contributors to this book view worship in the same spirit as Ashton and Cranmer. Worship by the Book shows that worship services must focus primarily on the worship of God, but that worship done correctly will also be edifying and evangelistic.

Summary
A book such as this one is not easily summarized for it does not flow in a definite pattern. Because it is essentially a collection of four essays by four different authors, it is difficult to do either or all justice by examining the book as a collective whole. The first chapter, written by D.A. Carson, is an attempt to construct an abbreviated theology of worship. In this chapter Carson constructs a theology and a definition of worship that is the foundation for the remainder of the book. His definition includes, “Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so” (26). Though he expands this thought in detail, it is fair to say that the first chapter is the path toward and explanation of a definition of worship.
The remaining three chapters are written by pastors of various denominations and represent their convictions about worship. In the second chapter, Mark Ashton with C.J. Davis explains the Anglican perspective on worship based upon Thomas Cranmer’s convictions and writings in the Book of Common Prayer. Ashton holds that the Anglican Church found its identity in years past not only in the Bible, but through the Book of Common Prayer that helped ministers to grasp Scripture and to balance the interpretation of Scripture with prayers and edifications for believers. This liturgical guide also ensured that Anglican churches covered the entire canon of Scripture. Ashton laments that the lack of dedication to Cranmer’s book has caused an identity crisis in the Anglican Church (65). This crisis stems from the fact that the church has chosen not to use Scripture as the basis for recent liturgical guides and have therefore lost their focus in worship. True worship that binds the church together, says Ashton according to Cranmer, is biblical, accessible, and balanced (70).
R. Kent Hughes addresses a very different worship perspective in his essay on the worship in the free church. The challenge for the free church is not to maintain its identity with its denomination, but it is still much the same as that of the Anglican church. Worship must still be about God and His word, but in the free church it is essential to encourage worship of God beyond the Sunday morning service. Hughes believes that worshippers must be taught to live lifestyles of worship rather than depending only corporate worship experience (142). Thus he says, “I have come to see that while all of life is worship, gathered worship with the body of Christ is at the heart of a life of worship (142).” The free church, with its lack of liturgy has to work to remain “God-focused” in the light of increasingly human-focused worship services within the evangelical free churches (149). Further he reminds leaders of the free church that corporate worship must be Word-centered if it is to glorify God (159), but as important as being focused on preaching the Word of God is for the listener to focus intently on listening to God’s Word (163).
Timothy J. Keller, coming from a Presbyterian perspective faces yet another set of problems but with much the same solution as the other authors. Worship, he agrees, must focus on God and his Word if it is to be effective and acceptable. Keller, however, grapples with the proper style for a worship service in New York City. To find his balance, Keller turns to the reformation and to John Calvin. Calvin believed in glorifying God in the context of gathered worship but refused to “pit the glory of God against the edification of the participants” (203). Keller believes that worship that truly brings glory to God’s name will by its very nature edify the believers present during the worship event. Worship, says Keller, exists to bring people “face to face with God” (210). He emphasizes that because worship is such an important occurrence it must be done with excellence and practice (211). His points are best summarized in the statement, “Christian worship is both a cause and an effect of our being a very distinct community” (219).

Critical Evaluation
My overall evaluation of Carson’s book is very strong. He has compiled a book on worship that is not only scholarly, but is very comprehensive as it covers worship from three different denominational perspectives. The book’s strongest contribution is the denominational variety from which its contributors make their observations and suggestions. Churches can gain a lot by understanding how other denominations perceive and go about worship of God.
I believe, however, that the book would have had more value had Carson, or some other contributor, made an effort in a final chapter to compare the worship styles and recommendations discussed by Ashton, Hughes, and Keller. The book does a great job explaining what worship is and looks like from three different perspectives, but it does not say what a reader is supposed to do with the information that she receives from this book. The book needs a section that gives suggestions and insight into how to apply the ideas discussed by each of the contributors into the Twenty First Century church.
Beyond a chapter to tie up loose ends, Carson could have done more in the opening chapter to make it more accessible and worthwhile. His definition of worship (26) is far too cumbersome. Further, he suggests in his closing paragraph that it is necessary “to explain that genuine worship is nothing more than loving God with heart and soul and mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves, but also show what a statement like that means in the concrete decisions of life” 63, but he does nothing to tell how this can be done. If Carson is going to suggest discussion and explanation about the true nature of worship, he has a responsibility to his reader to explain what that means.
In the end, the book carries great weight, not because it is a theological treatise, but because it is practical and thorough enough for the scholar yet easy for the average church attendee to understand. Its greatest value is probably not for the seminary classroom, but rather for the local church setting where lay members and ministers alike can benefit by examining their own worship services and styles in light of the worship of others. Worship is easily misconstrued and misunderstood when it is viewed within a vacuum, but Worship by the Book gives its readers the opportunity to experience some of what worship is in other church settings without missing the experience of worship in their home church.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Worship by the Book is a wonderful contribution to the study and lifestyle of worship within the evangelical church. Worship is about more than music; for the believer, a lifestyle of worship is demanded by God. Carson and the other contributors to the book do a great job to show that, at its core, worship is about man’s response to God as God intends it and not about man’s interpretation of what God desires. Corporate worship in the New Testament is a two-fold experience of God’s glory and believer’s edification, and neither can or should be divorced from the other. True worship finds its definition and meaning in God’s Word and within that Word it is apparent that true worship is biblical, balanced, and accessible by all.

Elders in Congregational Life

The recent surge in reformed theology among evangelicals has also led to an increased interest in a plurality of elders as leaders of the church. This relationship may simply be from the fact that many reformed writers have come from a presbyterian background that emphasizes the plural elder model, or from the community emphasis that accompanies reformed teaching. Regardless of the reason for the interest, it remains that the plural elder model is becoming increasingly popular, even in some Baptist churches.




Phil Newton, in Elders in Congregational Life argues that the plural elder model, though not the norm in Baptist life, has always existed in Baptist life. Quoting current and former Baptist leaders such as John Piper,Mark Dever,Benjamin Keach and W.B. Johnson as well as ancient and modern confessions of faith, Newton convincingly shows that plural elders have always been present in a minority among Baptists. Building on that foundation, the author aims to show that the minority opinion was the correct representation of the New Testament church.




Here is precisely the wisdom of the New Testament pattern of plural eldership. No one man possesses all the gifts necessary for leading a congregation...The pastor is first among equals in authoiry --first by virtue of the church's call and his training and gifts, but equal in that he is not a "Lone Ranger" figure in church leadership.




The major weakness of the book is the belief that elders (and only elder leadrship) can safeguard against pride in the ministry in a greater way than deacon-led congregations.




Often the church staff or pastor or deacon chairman receives undue attention by the congregation. That approach to church leadership has long crippled churches. But the goal of elder plurality dismantles crippling power structures, redirection attention to the glory of Christ. Plurality thus humbles the natural pride involved in leadership, and gives a conctant reminder that the church exists for the glory of Christ, not the aggrandizement of one man, or a few men.




Elders are given the authority to rule (just as deacons are in other settings), and the temptations that come with leadership in the church exist regardless of the title given to the office. It is naive, at best, to suggest that a body of elders is immune from the temptations inherent within leadership.




That withstanding, however, this book is a valuable read for anyone interested in the subject of plural elders. Also, this book should serve as a warning to pastors with too much authority. Newton writes, churches that have a pastor as an authority above others have a disproportionately high number of moral failures at the top level of leadership. Whether you agree with Newton's survey of the Scriptures, everyone should be concerned about the lack of accountability that is often present within the church.

Newton gives some great hands on tips to apply the teachings of his book and to institute plural elders in the church. Even if you do not plan to lead toward plural eldership in your church, you should plan to institute accountability for those serving in leadership within the church as a failsafe for the church and her leaders.

Comeback Churches

Ed Stetzer has written a winner in Comeback Churches. Many "how to" books exist to direct pastors and churches how to grow. Stetzer has not written one of those, instead he has written a book that focuses on research of over 300 churches that were either plateaued or in decline and made a turn around. The most exciting news about the information contained in this book for the average pastor, is that the majority of the churches were small to medium sized churches.

The findings of Stetzer and Dodson's research were, not surprisingly, biblical more than pragmatic. For instance, churches that grew were churches that gave a renewed emphasis to prayer, preaching, evangelism, and lay involvement. Pragmatic issues, such as marketing, were not absent from many of the Comeback Churches, but they did reflect the primary reasons for growth in the churches of various denominations included in this study.

One major concern I had with the book was the author's statement, What expression of a New Testament Church would be most appropriate in this context? It is my hope that the intention of that question was to determine the worship style or structure of church, not to suggest that there are multiple expressions of the church in the New Testament. The New Testament is clear that the church in that time was defined by belief in Christ, Believer's Baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

Regardless of that one concern, I was benefitted greatly by reading this book.

The Big Idea

Today we spend more time studying information than in the past, leaving us with less time for action.

For a lover of books and reading, this is a statement that I heaped scorn upon, but then I realized that Ferguson is right. He carries his thesis one step further:

The church of Jesus is now experiencing that problem. We have become a technopoly, known more for our bestselling books, our blogs, our TV ministries, and our radio broadcasts than for our action...

I am not on the band wagon with The Big Idea in the same way I know some others to be, however, we would be remiss to ignore many of the things Ferguson has to say in his book. Of course, most of his ideas aren't new, they have been repackaged and resold, but that does not mean they are bad. As the church, we must be careful to be more than purveyors of knowledge and information, we must be the hands and feet of Christ. Further, Ferguson points out that transmitting information does not mean that the information is being received and applied.

His suggestion is that the church focus more on teaching less to experience greater reform and action...

focus less on information and more on action.

This book will probably not blow you away, but you will be challenged by some of the things Ferguson has to say. Negatively, the book is a bit to commercialistic for me. The church is more than an advertising campaign and slick programs and productions...it is the church of the living God. I would dare say that Ferguson agrees with that statement, but I'm not sure that the book portrays that very well.

Theology of the Reformers

Theology of the Reformers by Timothy George is not a new book, but it is a necessary book, for in it, George does not merely trace the biographical information of the personalities involved in the great reformation, but rather he examines the theology behind each man that led him to react as he did toward the established church. It has often been said that history repeats itself, and if that is true, then George's book is timely as a reminder that the reformation should not merely be a time in history, but should be a continual activity of the church of Christ in this world.

As George himself says:

While we must not forfeit the hard won victories of the reformers in the interest of a facile ecumenism, we celebrate and participate in the quest for Christian unity precisely because we take seriously the Reformation concept of the church-ecclesia semper reformanda, not merely a church once and for all reformed, but rather a church always to be reformed, a church ever in need of further reformation on the basis of the Word of God.

If one thing alone were to distinguish the reformers, it would be the Word of God. It is unfortunate that their major disagreements (some which led to violence), were over minute details and not the necessary tenets of the faith. However, the devotion to Scripture from Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Menno Simons is a high standard that we should all strive to meet.

George has written a text that any serious student of the reformation should not be without. Pastors should read Theology of the Reformers, because pastors led the reformation and the church is always in need of evaluation and reformation.