Reimagining Worship

Authors Anna de Lange, Trevor Lloyd, Tim Stratford & Ian Tarrant (eds)
Publisher Canterbury Press £21.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781848259133  2017

‘What does the ever-present God…desire from us as we worship?’ Is our worship ‘dynamic, on the move, going somewhere’? Do people ‘grow in their faith more through preaching, Bible reading or home groups’? ‘Does our welcome demonstrate a God who cares?’ Put together by a group of twenty, experienced Church of England leaders from the Group for the Renewal of Worship, Reimagining Worship is a comprehensive, practical handbook that methodically examines how worship works (or does not work) in today’s evolving churches. Four main sections correspond to liturgical patterns of Gathering, Word, Responding and Sending. Further subdivisions break up the text into manageable chunks, with boxed examples and suggestions to discuss or think about. This is not a book to read through but to work with. Groups of church leaders, PCCs, ministry or music groups might select relevant parts to discuss together. Probing questions, quoted above, encourage examination of what worship should look like and how to be creative and transformative within the local context. Readers, particularly those in training, should find this material helpful and challenging.

APRIL McINTYRE

Worship, Liturgy