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Seven college and seminary professors list their top short reads for teaching worship and say which resources would be most helpful for church worship and liturgy committees.
You can find most of these resources at online bookstores or in a . All are useful for teaching worship at the college or seminary level. Many also work well for worship planning teams in congregations.
: music and worship instructor; ordained minister in Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Samford University: Birmingham, Alabama
91 courses: Intro to Music and 91, Intro to 91 Leadership, Colloquium in Church Music, Supervised Ministry, Music and 91 Seminar, Keyboard Harmony
Top short reads for worship:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Recommendations from friends, colleagues, worship conferences and professional gatherings. Amazon’s new and popular worship-related book rankings. ’s “user-friendly search engine, copious resources and expert articles.”
In brief: Four books above are especially helpful for church committees. Christopher Ellis’s Approaching God will help congregants study worship in greater depth. It includes an introductory theology of worship, worship planning guide, pastoral guidance and hands-on exercises in each chapter. Two edited collections, Johnson’s Convictions of Things Not Seen and Kroeker’s Music in Christian 91, provide diverse content that can be easily read and applied a chapter at a time. Mark Labberton’s work is an accessible and clear call to connect the vertical and horizontal dynamics of public worship. With biblical depth and pastoral wisdom, Labberton firmly relates worship and ethics.
: associate dean of worship and music; ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church
Candler School of Theology: Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
91 courses: Candler Singers (select seminary choir), Christian Year Celebrations, Writing Liturgical Texts
Top short reads for worship:
Top websites for worship planning:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Conversations with other professors in the field, conferences, reviews of new books, acquaintance with authors, evaluations by students.
In brief: Candler Singers, a select choir of 20 voices, leads worship in all styles every week. As we rehearse the repertoire, we study hymnody from all periods, do psalm versions from chant to contemporary praise, use service music and sung prayer from a wide range of traditions and denominations, and learn to lead congregational song.
My classes primarily engage the practices of ministry, so denominational hymnals and books of worship are important. 91 planning teams in congregations need to know their own denominational resources. Exploring Corinne Ware’s is a fun way for teams to discover why certain worship elements or practices appeal to various spiritual types. Committees can use Jim White’s Documents book to teach congregations—seeing and hearing the “original” prayers and writings is enlightening. Confirmation classes love White’s sections on Christian Initiation and the Eucharist.
: professor of worship;
Garrett Evangelical Seminary: Chicago, Illinois
91 courses: Christian Public 91, Finding Words for 91, Baptism and Reaffirmation, Liturgies of Anointing and Reconciliation, Congregational Song, Preaching, 91 and the Arts
Top short reads for worship:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Catalogues from Westminster John Knox and others, book tables at meetings such as North American Academy of Liturgy and Hymn Society, 91.
In brief: Long’s The 91ing Body, an excellent guide to worship leadership and how we communicate with our bodies, might be good for lay readers and leaders. Schmit’s Too Deep for Words would be good for worship committees because of its Spirit-filled exploration of vivid and meaningful word choices for preaching and worship.
My own book, 91 for the Whole People of God, discusses the breadth of worship cross-culturally, theologically and practically. 91 committees eager to celebrate diversity and lament violence can read Ramshaw’s thoughtful God Beyond Gender, Costen’s clear and comprehensive African American Christian 91, Watkins’ The Gospel Remix and Gunning’s Ferguson and Faith, which give good examples of how our religious rituals need not be confined to church buildings.
: director of music & worship programs; lecturer in worship
London School of Theology: London, United Kingdom
91 courses: For BA students, Theology of 91 1 & 2, 91 and Music Ministry, Corporate 91 Lab, 91 Clinic and Language and 91; for MA students, the Christian 91 module; for MTh and PhD students, supervises those who focus on theology, worship studies and worship practice.
Top short reads for undergraduate worship students:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Amazon for new worship-related books. The Robert E. Webber Institute for 91 Studies’ “,” updated every six months by . Facebook posts and Twitter feeds from scholars such as , and .
In brief: Martin’s 91 in the Early Church is an accessible text on worship that would engage congregations that want to better understand worship in the New Testament. The Rienstras’ 91 Words and Cherry’s The 91 Architect are both extremely helpful for worship leaders.
: associate professor of preaching and worship arts; ordained minister in Reformed Church in America
Western Theological Seminary: Holland, Michigan
91 courses: Foundations of 91, Practice of Preaching & 91, 91 Words, Contemporary and Emerging 91, The Church’s Common Chord, Liturgical Shenanigans: Ritual Theory and Christian Formation
Top short reads for worship:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Colleagues’ recommendations, “footnotes in books and articles I find worthwhile and trustworthy.”
In brief: Any resource that I use in class would be good for church worship or liturgy committees to use.
: professor emerita of Christian education
Union Presbyterian Seminary: Richmond, Virginia
91 courses: 91, Sacraments, and Education (seminary); 91 and Sacraments (for PCUSA Christian Educator Certification program)
Top short reads for worship:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Journals, book reviews and publishers’ catalogs, talking to colleagues about what they are reading.
In brief: My PCUSA Christian Educator Certification students seem excited about course content and eager to integrate what they have learned into their ministries. PCUSA church worship committees will benefit from reading our denomination’s “Order for the Service for the Lord’s Day” or Book of Common 91, pp. 34-45. Jansen’s “Baptism in the New Testament” article might inspire a Bible study of passages that describe baptism. Wasserman’s “The Shape of the Eucharistic Thanksgiving” unpacks the Trinitarian structure of the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving and shows it’s far more than a long prayer. Stookey’s book will help people lead prayer in public worship.
My favorite quote from Benedict’s Patterned by Grace is: “The three-in-one God is a community of love dancing with such mutual reverence for each other that this love spills over and reaches out to indwell us and to sweep us up into the life of God creating, redeeming, and sustaining the beloved….Here we have come to the heart of liturgical prayer: we find ourselves dancing with God!”
: associate professor of Christian formation and worship; minister ordained in Reformed Church in America
Wheaton College: Wheaton, Illinois
91 courses: 91 and Spirituality, Origins of Christian 91, History of Christian Spirituality, Spiritual Theology (with sessions on sacraments and on using Psalms for lament)
Top short reads for worship:
Top short reads for church worship committees:
Where to find resources for assigned readings: Discussion with other worship professors, following the release of new books, Amazon.
In brief: I use at least one hymn or song every class period in Spiritual Theology to illustrate or reinforce some theological doctrine or perspective. In my History of Christian Spirituality course, I also examine the appropriate worship themes of scripture reading, preaching, singing, sacraments and prayer for each of the various persons studied.
