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WORSHIP RENEWAL: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Worship renewal is the self-conscious change of form, content, style, or pattern of congregational worship. 

Two major renewal movements have shaped American worship this century. First is the international liturgical renewal movement, crystallized by Vatican II and closely paralleled by liturgical and semi-liturgical Protestants. This movement recovered the ancient pattern of a weekly communal service of Word and Table, setting it out in a new generation of service books based on a three-year lectionary and many ancient worship texts. 

Second is the contemporary worship movement, involving the pursuit of worship perceived as culturally current and forward-looking, especially in music, architecture, and language. This movement is exemplified by evangelical megachurches such as Willow Creek Community Church (in suburban Chicago), Calvary Chapel/Costa Mesa, the Anaheim Vineyard, and Saddleback Valley Community Church (all in Southern California). Willow Creek and Saddleback are especially keen to be accessible to those who are unfamiliar if not repelled by music, architecture, or discourse perceived as "churchy." 

This brief bibliography is an introductory sampling of works from the extensive but highly uneven literature on worship renewal. 

General and Historical Works
Methodist historian and Notre Dame professor J. White is the most reliable and accessible of worship scholars who try to address the full range of worship traditions. His Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transition (Westminster/JohnKnox, 1989), Introduction to Christian Worship (Abingdon, 1990), and A Brief History of Christian Worship (Abingdon, 1993) are well-organized introductory texts, though still with less than satisfying attention to free worship. (Here J. Skoglund's "Free Prayer" [Studia Liturgica 10 (1975) 151-66] is a good supplement.) White's essay, "The Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church" (The Reformed Journal 36 [June 1986] 11-16) is an incisive diagnosis of the common weaknesses of free worship among evangelicals. 

Enthusiastic but less scholarly is Wheaton Bible professor and late Episcopalian convert R. Webber. He promotes "convergence worship": a blending of the old and new, liturgical and free in worship. His basic work (of many) is Worship Old and New: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Introduction (rev. ed., Zondervan, 1994). However, like his eight-volume Complete Library of Christian Worship (Abbott Martyn, 1993), it tends towards undigested compilation, with materials not always situated usefully. 

Specialized works include H. Davies' Bread of Life and Cup of Joy: Newer Ecumenical Perspectives on the Eucharist (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1993), reviewing the Eucharist as memorial, thanksgiving, sacrifice, eschatalogical banquet, meal of unity, mystery, and prophetic proclamation; S. White's Christian Worship and Technological Change (Abingdon, 1994), uniquely illuminating technology's role in shaping worship; S. Ozment's Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution (Doubleday, 1991), a vivid portrayal of that most tumultuous and eventful generation in the western church; and C. Eire's War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin (Cambridge University Press, 1986), an analysis of the hyperpolarized changes of Reformation worship, especially Calvin's momentous embrace of an aural versus visual piety-a highly germane matter in our ever more visually-oriented culture. 

Liturgical Renewal
Those examining liturgical renewal will be well served by The Study of Liturgy (rev. ed., ed. C. Jones et. al. [Oxford University Press, 1992) and its extensive topical and bibliographic coverage. John Fenwick and B. Spinks give an international, ecumenical overview of liturgical change in Worship in Transition: The Liturgical Movement in the Twentieth Century (Continuum, 1995). The famous ecumenical consensus statement on worship, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (World Council of Churches, 1982) was a landmark achievement, but has not really lived up to its ecumenical promise subsequently. 

Contemporary Worship Renewal
First-person accounts of the development and rationale of evangelical megachurches are a good introduction to the contemporary worship movement. Willow Creek's story (including its "train wreck" years) is told by its senior pastor and his wife, B. and L. Hybels in Rediscovering Church (Zondervan, 1995). Likewise, R. Warren of Saddleback tells his story and philosophy of worship and ministry in his best-selling The Purpose Driven Church (Zondervan, 1995). Episcopalian C. Trueheart casts a sympathetic reporter's eye on megachurches in "Welcome to the Next Church" (The Atlantic Monthly 278:2 [August 1996] 37-58); likewise T. Stafford's reflections on trends in church architecture, "God Is in the Blueprints" (Christianity Today 42:10 [September 7, 1998] 76-82). 

There is no shortage of critics of contemporary worship. D.G. Hart's scathing essay, "Post-Modern Evangelical Worship" (Calvin Theological Journal 30 [1995] 451-59) is a well-taken if not particularly irenic indictment of how evangelical worship and postmodernism reject historical canons. Marva Dawn's seemingly unavoidable Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1995) is an assemblage of partly digested quotes reflecting a deep mistrust of contemporary culture--passionate but not persuasive unless you already share her view. The autobiographical accounts in R. Webber's Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail (Jarell, 1985) are a helpful mirror for recognizing the frequent lack of depth, historical rootedness, care, beauty, and objective worship (versus self-conscious, personality-based performance) in evangelical worship. The chapter by J. Skillen is especially thoughtful. 

Builders and Boomers do well with polished worship and didactic preaching, but Busters resist preresolved forms that do not give them great individual freedom and control. Tim Celek and D. Zander's Inside of the Soul of a New Generation (Zondervan, 1996), and A. Siewert's Worship Team Handbook (InterVarsity, 1998) provide a starting point for what will need to be a very extended journey into the next generations of worship. 

Language in Worship
Considering the vast amount of spoken and read discourse in every worship setting, it is deplorable how little attention is given to general matters of language and worship. For a comprehensive, illustrated survey of the whole English language, including language in worship, see D. Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Cambridge University Press, 1995). John Huxtable provides a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of worship discourse in "Prayer-Fixed, Free and Extemporary" (in The Renewal of Worship, ed. R. Jasper [Oxford University Press, 1965] 58-66). Lance Morrow's essay "The Hazards of Homemade Vows" (Time [June 27, 1983] 78) is a reflection on received language in the wedding service but with profound implications for worship in general. 

It falls to our generation to sort out issues of gendered language in worship. The now-abandoned plans for a full revision of the New International Version has occasioned two reasoned volumes: D.A. Carson's The Inclusive Language Debate: A Plea for Realism (Baker, 1998) and M.L. Strauss' Distorting Scripture?: The Challenge of Bible Translation and Gender Accuracy (InterVarsity, 1998); see also the June 1998 Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (41:2, 239-86). Movement away from masculine language is encouraged by works such as R. Duck's Finding Words for Worship (Westminster/John Knox, 1995) and G. Ramshaw's Liturgical Language: Keeping It Metaphoric, Making It Inclusive (Liturgical, 1996). A recommitment to traditional language is encouraged by J. Cooper's Our Father in Heaven (Baker, 1998), M. Kassian's The Feminist Gospel (Crossway, 1992), and C.S. Lewis' essay, "Priestesses in the Church?" (in God in the Dock, ed. W. Hooper [Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1970] 234-39). For much more material contact the complementarian Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (www.cbmw.org) and egalitarian counterpart Christians for Biblical Equality (www.cbeinternational.org). 

Sociocultural Considerations
Every renewal effort needs to consider its sociocultural setting; there is no acultural worship or renewal. Still indispensable is H.R. Niebuhr's Christ and Culture (Harper & Row, 1951), the classic typology of relationships between Christ and aspects of culture. Countless writers examine the religiocultural landscape of contemporary America; it must suffice simply to name a few leading ones: R. Bellah, W.C. Roof, R.S. Warner, R. Balmer, J.D. Hunter, and R. Wuthnow. 

Of help to those in (or reacting against) mostly white settings is P. McIntosh's essay, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" (Peace and Freedom [July/August 1989] 10-12; also in Experiencing Race, Class and Gender in the United States, ed. V. Cyrus [Mayfield, 1992]). McIntosh discusses an extended list of unearned privileges, starting with, "I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time." 

The literature on worship among American minorities remains thin. Available are M.W. Costen's African American Christian Worship (Abingdon, 1993), ¡Alabadle! Hispanic Christian Worship (ed. J. González [Abingdon, 1996]), and essays in People on the Way: Asian North Americans Discovering Christ, Culture, and Community (ed. D. Ng [Judson, 1996]). Manuel Ortiz provides some help towards developing truly multicultural (and not just multiracial) worship in One New People (InterVarsity, 1996). 

The Rest
Renewal "how-to" books are in steady supply and can be mined for useful insights. Examples include C. Dornan and T. H. Troeger's Trouble at the Table: Gathering the Tribes for Worship (Abingdon, 1992), which emphasizes group dynamics; E. Towns' ambitiously titled Putting an End to Worship Wars (Broadman & Holman, 1997); and P. Basden's The Worship Maze: Finding a Style to Fit Your Church (InterVarsity, 1999), which survey current worship styles and call for purposefulness and balance in choosing between them; B Liesch's very practical The New Worship: Straight Talk on Music and the Church (Baker, 1996); and S. Morgenthaler's Worship Evangelism: Inviting Unbelievers into the Presence of God (Zondervan, 1995), which tries to marry contemporary and traditional forms of worship for evangelistic effect, but with unclear results. 

The leading scholarly journals on worship renewal are Worship (Collegeville, MN) and Studia Liturgica. More praxis-oriented are The Hymn, Liturgy (Washington, D.C.), Reformed Worship, Worship Leader, and numerous articles in Leadership. 

For web-based materials, Arizona worship pastor K.A. Gentes' Worship Resource Center offers hundreds of links and other resources at http://www.praise.net/worship. 

The work of worship renewal is needed in every setting, though it is never completed this side of heaven. May the above resources help you in this vital task. 

By Russell Yee, Ph.D., Pastor, New Life Christian Fellowship (American Baptist), Castro Valley, California.