PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

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HOW <strong>TO</strong> READ THIS BOOK I am not writing this book to change your worship style. Your people resist change, and even lay leaders will resist change if they are not fully persuaded. So let's proceed with the assumption you will not change your worship format. Why should you not change? Worship is not legitimate unless it comes from the heart. When you change your form of worship for convenience or to be more successful, it's not from the heart. Like Esau you've sold your birthright for a mess of pottage. As you read this book, think of walking into an art gallery to study six beautiful masterpiece paintings, each picture reflecting the skill and feelings of the master painter who poured his soul onto canvas. Study these six worship expressions as you would study six paintings. Try to see what is there. Don't just try to disprove their validity, rather examine the scriptures to see where each conforms to biblical mandates. Just as you would examine an oil painting to interpret its mixture of colors and shadows, its presentation of personality and moods, its reflection of culture and tradition; try to see the world through the eyes of worshippers who express themselves differently than you. Now, return to your worship style and do it better. Don't change for the sake of someone else's model. Do better what God has called you to do. Do more worship biblically, do what your congregation called you to do. Learn from others, and improve yourself, and revitalize your church. Remember, when you look over the fence at someone else's greener worship grass, they may be looking admiringly at the benefits of grazing in your worship pasture. Improvement, like beauty, may be in the eyes of the beholder. These six worship styles are different from each other, and each is different from other churches in their neighborhood. And even within each worship style, such as a liturgical church, not all liturgical churches worship the exact same way. Since churches are the composite expression of many people, and people are constantly growing, learning and changing; so their worship expression is constantly growing, expanding and changing. Each church that reflects a worship expression is probably different than it was a few years ago. Each church probably changed to meet the needs of its worshippers, as its worshippers change it. What changes? They changed the tones of worship, the order of service, the type of music, even the style of preaching to better communicate with growing people who are represented in our churches. Many Americans have changed their place of worship, not like the Europeans who tend to remain in one building generation after generation. And by internal desires, we redecorate our sanctuaries, changing the color of paint, carpets and lighting in the rooms in which we worship. We change the flowers with the seasons and the music to express the tradition of our holidays. The styles of worship in this book have a lot to say about the American Church scene. Jack Hayford, pastor of The Church on The Way, Van Nuys, California, says we are experiencing more than a change in worship, it's a reformation of worship. 1 He claims the first reformation
under Martin Luther was a reformation of doctrine, doing away with Roman Catholic doctrine. Now he maintains there must be a reformation of worship, doing away with European or Roman Catholic liturgy. Hayford wants a reformation in worship to reflect his form of worship, i.e. the renewal worship service with emphasis on charismatic expression. I agree with Hayford's view that we are experiencing a reformation of worship, but I maintain that just as there were several expressions of theological systems in the Protestant Reformation, i.e. Lutheranism, Calvinism, Armenianism and eventually Wesleyism; so today there are several contemporary expressions in today's worship reformation, i.e. Bible expositional, Body Life, Renewal, etc. Reformation is a change, and people are threatened when they experience loss of the old. They are threatened by a transition into the uncertainties of the new. Therefore, let this book drive you back to the Word of God to re-discover your foundation. Anchor yourself in the Rock of Ages. When you put this book down, be more confident of your worship expression than ever before. This book is not written just as an academic expression, nor is it a response to a contemporary problem in the church. It is the result of a life-long pilgrimage. May you take this pilgrimage with me, but may you be exempted from the length of time it has taken me to reach this point in my life. May this be a quick read and may you be an instant learner. May the insights of this book give you more confidence in ministry than ever before. 1 Jack Hayford, Worship His Majesty (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), p. 88. This theme of a reformation of worship, in addition to a reformation of doctrine, is a constant theme of this book. Hayford would like to see a worship form like the Renewal Church (see Chapter Seven) in all churches.
Page 1 and 2: PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS By E
Page 3 and 4: INTRODUCTION Since this is a book a
Page 5: True worship involves change and it
Page 9 and 10: these names represented a sect, an
Page 11 and 12: A similar variety of consumer optio
Page 13 and 14: SIX WORSHIP STYLES 1. The Evangelis
Page 15 and 16: The pastors told me they had not ch
Page 17 and 18: The Liturgical Church eagerly carri
Page 19 and 20: The average Christian knows about a
Page 21 and 22: So, let's learn what we need to kno
Page 23 and 24: young people from my church were co
Page 25 and 26: Dallas taught me to preach differen
Page 27 and 28: would not preach boring Pentecostal
Page 29 and 30: The third question I ask my student
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH TO DETERMINE
Page 33 and 34: that no man could count, from every
Page 35 and 36: outwardly committed to the process
Page 37 and 38: 2. Church Planting. At the beginnin
Page 39 and 40: METHODOLOGY APPLIED TO WORSHIP How
Page 41 and 42: CHAPTER FOUR WORSHIP WARS The churc
Page 43 and 44: The pastor liked the Bible Expositi
Page 45 and 46: Whether people disagree because of
Page 47 and 48: that help them cope with their prob
Page 49 and 50: society is apparently retreating fr
Page 51 and 52: 4. New worship forms have robbed th
Page 53 and 54: The ultimate question that some wou
Page 55 and 56: elationship with God we've been tal
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in evangelism are effective in maki
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soul-winning and reaching every ava
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have not been trained. Others fail
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While some expository preachers ten
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CHAPTER SEVEN THE RENEWAL CHURCH Ev
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demonstrated in that miracles are o
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most human needs can be met in a va
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musical instruments including piano
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ut the time is getting late. I thin
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pastor to emerge as a leader. Also,
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Church. This includes ministries su
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CHAPTER NINE THE LITURGICAL CHURCH
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the sanctuary and challenged the pe
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individuals. Those gifted in this m
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strengths of this worship style int
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CHAPTER TEN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHUR
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This view of the church and ministr
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THE STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF
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He has given them to accomplish wha
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The critical group usually attacks
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Therefore, the question becomes one
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However, this does not mean that ex
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experience. Those attending The Bib
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What are some changes in worship me
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3. Recognize the strengths of the c
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THE FUTURE OF WORSHIP 1. A thirst f
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This involves kneeling at the altar
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Churches will use more video filmed
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The New Testament is different unli
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ADMINISTRATION, GIFT OF APPENDIX ON
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areas. 4. Bridging - growth of the
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fellowship of a local church. Those
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RENEWAL CHURCH A unique worship sty
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of the relationship between worship
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The Use of Proskuneo in the New Tes
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APPENDIX THREE CHRISTIAN LEADERS ON
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Worship is the exercise of the mind
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Dawn, Marva. Reaching Out Without D
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Morgenthaller, Sally. Worship Evang
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Sermons on worship from various 19t
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PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

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