The Art of Worship is about transitioning our understanding and practice of worship to one of design or curation. According to Mark Pierson, a pioneer in worship, worship needs to be seen as an art form rather than a linear task of filling in the gaps on an order of service. Many practical examples are used to illustrate ways in which worship in regular services as well as in specially designed spaces inside and outside the church building can be designed and delivered for spiritual formation and mission.

Curation: the act of imagining and overseeing an exhibition or art experience. Worship Curation: the act of imagining and overseeing a worship experience. Worship curator Jonny Baker introduces this original approach to the design and sharing of worship. Rather than simply presiding over liturgy or leading a worship team, Baker and a new generation of leaders are negotiating between institutions and artists, crafting beauty for God out of whatever they’ve got on hand, helping people to make connections between their own lives and stories and the life and story of God. Curating Worship is presented in two parts. The first considers the kind of thinking, skills and disciplines involved in good curation. The second part features in-depth interviews that tease out the ideas, theories and processes behind the creative approaches of people who are curating worship experiences around the world.

If we are willing to shift our approach to church, we will better connect with increasingly heterogeneous cultures. This shifting requires curation. Church leaders must learn to be curators! Churches in modernity were set up to facilitate a particular kind of experience with God. Church was its own (protected) culture. In the wake of postmodernity, facilitated by new forms of (digital) communication, we are entering a new epoch in the history of the church. Curators manage the tasks of connection, preservation, and transformation, in their care for cultural artifacts and communities. When someone serves as a curator, they make connections between different elements in the culture, preserving the best of cultural traditions, and promoting fresh ways of thinking and being in the world. What might this work of curation mean for us? In Curating Church, readers learn how curation can reorient and sharpen the ways and work of the church. Curation can inform how we connect with cultures beyond the church, preserve what is best in the rich history of Christian thought and expression, and nurture spaces where contemporary persons may be transformed by the gospel. This book helps readers to understand with new richness the church and the world, and it equips them to become active in making those connections—as curators—with and for others.

Contemporary worship continues to gain strength as the form of worship of choice for many churches across the country. The Art of Worship is a complete resource to which a musician or pastor can turn when asked to lead contemporary music. It provides in-depth instruction to every aspect of contemporary worship leadership--from assembling the team to choosing the music to conducting rehearsals. Author Greg Scheer takes a balanced, holistic approach, embracing the contemporary style without denying older traditions and encouraging excellence without ignoring the realities of the local church context. Worship team leaders, musicians, and pastors looking for a quality, comprehensive resource need look no further.

Originally published: London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2010.

Worship is a dynamic, living encounter that should never be static. In the Church of England, although Common Worship provides texts for every season and occasion, the church constantly needs to refresh its worship, just as it reshapes its presence in local communities. In this comprehensive volume, a wide range of experienced liturgists, musicians and pastoral practitioners consider the principles that will determine the character and quality, as well as the content, of our worship in the future. It explores how new forms can meet new needs while remaining faithful to the church’s essential understanding of worship. Over twenty chapters consider how emerging forms of worship can be: - Relational, accessible and inclusive - Rooted in Scripture, the Creeds, and Spirit-filled - Sacramental, symbolic and multi-sensory - Transformative, pastoral and prophetic The contributors are all members of the Group for the Renewal of Worship, a broadly evangelical group within the Church of England and including senior clergy, musicians, theological college tutors in liturgy and former members of the Liturgical Commission.

Why are we artists? How does God experience art? What is the artist’s calling in relation to God, the church, and the world? Drawing from his experiences performing Mozart, playing “dive bars", and leading worship and the arts in the church, author Manuel Luz seeks to answer the questions that artists often ask. Laced with humorous and sometimes poignant anecdotes, Imagine That is a thought-provoking journey through the convergence of art and faith. Luz has been a working musician, writer, pastor, and even amateur cartoonist for more than 40 years, and in Imagine That he lays out his case for a uniquely Christian approach to the vocation of artist, using theologically rich and artist-friendly language. In the end, Imagine That affirms and equips Christian artists for the special kind of ministry that only they can do.

Black British Gospel Music is a dynamic and multifaceted musical practice, a diasporic river rooted in the experiences of Black British Christian communities. This book examines gospel music in Britain in both historical and contemporary perspectives, demonstrating the importance of this this vital genre to scholars across disciplines. Drawing on a plurality of voices, the book examines the diverse streams that contribute to and flow out of this significant genre. Gospel can be heard resonating within a diverse array of Christian worship spaces; as a form of community music-making in school halls; and as a foundation for ‘secular’ British popular music, including R&B, hip hop and grime.

Paxson Jeancake's 'The Art of Worship' invites readers to explore the intersection of gospel, art, and worship. Each and every Lord's Day, there is the potential for moments of spiritual illumination and transformation to occur in the lives of God's people. In the midst of corporate worship -- through the artistic media of story, imagery, and expression -- people's eyes can be opened to the beautiful, paradoxical truth of the gospel. Gospel-centered worship, however, does not happen in a vacuum. It is crafted and facilitated by human leadership, informed by biblical inquiry and theological conclusions, and fleshed out in the context of a local culture and community. This book explores all of these various facets of worship to help worship leaders, worship planners, pastors, and laypeople experience and plan gospel-centered worship that is contextual and creative, for the glory of God and the edification of his people.