7th November, 2009

LENA JOHNSTONE

I have heard a number of times frustration and disappointment expressed at the end of a church service. Many times this has been expressed with a statement along the lines of “I didn't get anything out of worship today” or “Worship did nothing for me today”. A number of things concern me about these statements. If church is indeed about the body of Christ being encouraged and supported in living a life set apart for God and if the gathered community is a time to join in corporate worship then it is important that the gathered community is a place where all the people can worship God. Regardless of gender, age or denominational background.

IMAGE: © Andrew Penner (www.istockphoto.com) "Is it possible that an emphasis on worshipping in our gathered community both as a way of moving people into “the presence of God” and as a means to evangelise has taken our eyes off what worship is truly about? God."

Often what people are expressing at this point though, is that they didn't enjoy the music in the church, that it didn't engender an emotional response in them or that it didn't leave them feeling closer to God. Yet in a sense there is an issue that underlies this at an even deeper level. Who is worship for? All of the statements that I have heard have presumed that worship was at some level supposed to “do” something for, or to, them.

Literature on who worship is for is difficult to find. This is possibly because there is an assumption that because worship is to God that it also for God. It would seem though that this is not the theology that many Christians live out of. Their practice of worship and their expectations of worship imply a different theology altogether. Is worship in fact for God or is it also for us?

Who is to be worshipped?

The first three commandments make it clear that to worship anyone or anything but “The Lord your God” is unacceptable to God. (Deuteuronomy 20: 1-4, NIV) There are to be no other gods before Him. Jesus himself in response to Satan's offer of all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour should Jesus worship him, stated that “it is written: worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” (Matthew 4:10 ) The only one who is to be worshipped is God. This does not mean that others are not worshipped but there is only one worthy of worship, there is only one who should be worshipped.

Donald A. Carson writes in his 1993 book, Worship: Adoration and Action, “Should we not remind ourselves that worship is a transitive verb? We do not meet to worship (i.e. to experience worship) we aim to worship God. 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only' there is the heart of the matter”. In a sense, this statement of Carson's takes this understanding of who is to be worshipped a little further by suggesting that not only is God alone the one to be worshipped but that worship should in no way be an end in itself; rather worshipping God should be our aim and emphasis. While this may seem a subtle differentiation I wonder if it essentially points to where things have somehow become misaligned for many Christians? Is it possible that an emphasis on worshipping in our gathered community both as a way of moving people into “the presence of God” and as a means to evangelise has taken our eyes off what worship is truly about? God.

In order to really begin to understand who worship is for it is essential to have a definition of worship.

What is worship?
The word worship in English means to ascribe worth; basically attributing worth to the one who is already worthy. In worship we simply acknowledge this as John Piper explains in Desiring God: “Worship is essentially a way of honoring God. Of course that doesn't mean making Him honourable or increasing His honour. It means recognizing His honour and ascribing it to Him in all the ways appropriate to His character.”

In both the Old and New Testament, the words primarily used for worship, abodah and latreia respectively, both translate to service. Worship that does not cost us is not true worship. Ascribing honour and glory to God is a whole of life service rendered unto God. Paul speaks of this in Romans when he says that we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices as an act of spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). Worship therefore is not something that takes place only in the gathered community. It is a whole of life offering. This means that the gathered community becomes the place where we go to join with others in this.

Latreia is also closely related to the word liturgy, which means the “work of the people”. The word liturgy is used by many to describe the public worship of the church. The church has a long and varied history of at times excluding “the people” from public worship and at other times recognising their importance in this. Yet it would seem that at the heart of public worship, of the gathered people of God, is worship unto God from all of the people.

The focus of worship
So what then is to be the focus of our worship, of this litourgia, this work of the people? SJ Grenz, in his book Theology for the Community of God, writes: “The biblical writers instructed their readers about the focus of such worship. They encouraged the worshipping community to ascribe worth to God for who He is and for what He does.”

There have been, and are many, who focus on one or the other of these. Either who God is or what God does. Yet it would seem that both are essential. To worship God only for what He does or has done can very quickly become a worship based on God's performance as it were. We are called to give thanks and praise to Him for all He has given us (Revelation 4:11). In worship we acknowledge and give thanks for our salvation and the story of God that has enabled this.

Yet if worship becomes too much about what God is doing in the present then when we feel distant from God or when our lives are difficult we can find ourselves with no “reason” to worship. This essentially becomes an ego centric form of worship, to do with us. Then like the Israelites when God is not “doing” what we think He should be, we will look for something or someone else to worship (Exodus 32:1-4).

This strikes me as far from the Biblical perspective on worship. Worshipping God for what He has done is a core element to worship; even worshipping Him for what He is doing is appropriate. (Psalms 107: 8-9) Yet these acts ultimately point us back to the character of God. His reaching out to us, His plan for salvation is ultimately an indicator of His character. These acts cannot be separated from who He is. Worshipping God for who He is, not just for what He does, is crucial (Psalms 100:1-4). Who God is never changes (Hebrews 13:8). His character remains the same and is always worthy of worship (1 Chronicles 16:29). Equally, having an understanding of what God has given to us out of this great love also inspires worship. As Robert E. Webber writes in his 2004 essay ‘Blended Worship’: “Its (worship's) focus is on God and God's saving mission to the world accomplished in Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. Worship celebrates the missio dei.”

Lena Johnstone is a former lecturer within Tabor College's Year in The Son program.

REDISCOVERING WORSHIP - PART II

13th November, 2009

LENA JOHNSTONE

The expression of worship
It is important that in honouring God that we do so in ways that are appropriate to His character. In ways that please Him. Many in the church have used this to condemn different means of expressing worship, styles of music or orders of service. A concern that I have with many definitions of worship that I have come across, is that they very quickly become prescriptive. It is essential that our worship, including its forms, are in accordance with and honouring of, the nature of God, yet care must be taken not to be too quick to limit these expressions. Much has been written about the way the early church worshipped God in gathered community. Generally with the belief that if we knew how they worshipped then we would have something to base our worship on now. Yet very little agreement exists amongst authors as to how early church services operated. Even if we did know the rituals that made up their gathered services it may not be desirable to transfer these to our services now. These expressions of worship would have been determined by the culture of the time.

WORSHIP: The worship of the first Christian communities included the breaking of bread, fellowship, prayer, praise and the reading of the apostle's teaching. IMAGE: www.sxc.hu "For us Christians, worship is derived from Hebrew sources, radically controlled by the Christ event and edited by the church from generation to generation. Worship is also profoundly contemporary. It relates precisely to the here and now and flows into our culture in the priestly way while at the same time bringing to bear on us the prophetic demands of justice and peace."

Worship is profoundly related to both the past and the present. We did not invent it. Virtually all people have worshiped. For us Christians, worship is derived from Hebrew sources, radically controlled by the Christ event and edited by the church from generation to generation. Worship is also profoundly contemporary. It relates precisely to the here and now and flows into our culture in the priestly way while at the same time bringing to bear on us the prophetic demands of justice and peace.

It would seem, though, that there are some key elements to gathered worship in the first Christian communities. These included the reading of the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer and praise. So while the expression of these may change over time the inclusion of these elements may be deemed desirable or even essential to gathered worship today. It would seem that there is little Biblical support for being prescriptive in the expression of worship in anything other than the inclusion of some important elements.

However, there is another key element to worship. God desires our worship not, as J Horness writes, to meet the “needs of His heavenly ego”, but because it is an indication of the relationship He shares with the people He loves. So it's not just “acts” of worship that God desires but people whose hearts are longing for Him. (Isaiah 29:13). God has never been interested in people honouring Him only with their lips or “acts of service”. He has always longed for their hearts.

The first Christian communities' corporate worship was the expression of their conviction that the worship of God was the most important activity of life. Because of their deeper insight into the character of God as He had revealed himself in His son, Jesus Christ, they knew that elaborate ritual and external trappings meant little. It was the attitude of the heart which mattered. The prime purpose of the liturgy for them, then, was to give proper and adequate opportunity for corporate expression of truly spiritual worship.

Yet the “how to” can never be removed from the why. The fuel of worship is a true vision of the greatness of God: the fire that makes the fuel burn white hot is the quickening of the Holy Spirit, the furnace made alive and warm by the flame of truth is our renewed spirit, and the resulting heat of our affection is a powerful worship, pushing its way out in confessions, longings, acclamations, tears, sings, shouts, bowed heads, lifted hands and obedient lives.

God's role in our worship
Worship is a response, a loving obedience inspired by who God is what He has done, is doing and will do. JB Torrance, in his 1996 book Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, puts this well: “Christian worship is therefore our participation through the Spirit in the Son's communion with the Father, in his vicarious life of worship and intercession. It is our response to our Father for all that he has done for us in Christ. It is our self offering in body, mind and Spirit, in response to the one true offering made for us in Christ, our response of gratitude to God's grace. Our sharing by grace in the heavenly intercession of Christ.”

I like Torrance's definition: though it might not tie down all the aspects of worship, it seems to capture the heart of what it is to worship, whether individually or corporately. It also points to another very important truth which is that God is not only our object, but also our source, of worship. Worship is a response to God that acknowledges His worth, yet we are incapable of such a response without God. Without Him we are incapable of worship.

While worship seems to be what we do, it is actually what God does. It looks like our praises, our prayers, our words, our bread and wine, but it is really God addressing us in our weak human words and giving us life in the messianic banquet. It looks as if God is our audience, but we are the audience and the object of God's grace, love and care. That is true at all times and all places, of course, but in our worship it is uniquely and profoundly so.

It is only Jesus who is capable of true and pure worship. Jesus does what we failed to do. He offers, according to Torrance, “the Father the worship and the praise we failed to offer, to glorify God by a life of perfect love and obedience and to be the one true servant of the Lord.” Thankfully it is also Jesus who enables our worship and takes what we offer and presents it to the Father as it should be.

If worship is to God, if worship is about who He is and what He has done then it would seem incredulous to suggest that worship is in any way for us. To suggest that worship is for the created ones as opposed to the Creator seems absurd. If true worship is about God, then it is for God and for God alone. How then do we find ourselves as the gathered people of God looking to receive something from worship? How have we come to believe by implication that worship is for us? I believe that there are a number of reasons that explain why this misalignment has occurred. I believe that this has occurred because of our nature as human beings, because of the culture we find ourselves in and because of the teachings and practices of many churches.

Lena Johnstone is a former lecturer within Tabor College's Year in The Son program.

REDISCOVERING WORSHIP - PART III

21st November, 2009

LENA JOHNSTONE

Influences on our understanding of worship

Culture: Our culture has changed, we have moved to a post-modern culture; a culture that is experience driven. Within this culture there are a number of generations who view the world in different ways. Overall our culture has moved to a place of judging via experience. Not just any experience though, but my experience. I believe that church needs to be a place where the “work of the people” takes place. Worship as a gathered community needs to give opportunity for each individual to come before God in worship.

However it is possible that in our desire to provide what our culture says is essential, to enable everyone to have an “experience” in church of God, that we have inadvertently made worship about us. That somehow in trying to provide an “experience” of God we have “sold” worship as being for us. There has become an expectation that if “I did not feel something or experience something in worship” then worship did not happen or was not good. “Worship can be rated according to our degree of enjoyment. It becomes part of the “entertainment industry”. Worship experiences become about us. Sally Morgenthaler writes in her 2004 essay ‘Emerging Worship', that: “The great Whatever on-call to make your life whatever you want it to be. If historic worship is first and foremost about God, then disenchanted worship is about human units in their individual padded seats. As a rental car commercial intones ‘it's all about you’. Worship of the disenchantment takes that phrase seriously.”

THE WAY WE WORSHIP: Church practices are just one of a number of influences on the way we worship. IMAGE: Petter Hermoza G. (www.sxc.hu) "There is no doubt that a gathered church has a responsibility before God to nurture, care for and encourage believers. It is also a place for those who love God to join together in worship. A worship that needs to be 'the work of the people', yet if care is not taken then even discussions about how best to do this can take us away from worship and into a place where God is no longer the focus but we, the believers are."

Our falleness: Anything that replaces God as the centre is something other than worship. According to Donald A. Carson, author of the 1993 book Worship: Adoration and Action, when God does become the centre then it is a sign that self is broken and you are entering into true worship. Yet what occurs when we come to worship seeking an experience, feelings, something other than God?

I believe that something less than the worship Jesus spoke of to the Samaritan woman, something less than worship in Spirit and truth occurs.(John 4: 23) None of us are capable of coming before God with a totally pure heart; this is why we need Jesus as our intercessor. There is always something of us, of self, that gets in the road. That said, our aim, our desire, should be to come before God for who He is and what He has done. When we come with anything other than this we come back to self-centeredness via another route. When we get too focused on the expression or the form that worship takes then we can also come back to this place and potentially risk self centeredness.

There is no doubt that a gathered church has a responsibility before God to nurture, care for and encourage believers. It is also a place for those who love God to join together in worship. A worship that needs to be “the work of the people”, yet if care is not taken then even discussions about how best to do this can take us away from worship and into a place where God is no longer the focus but we, the believers are.

Church teaching and practice: We teach in church not just by what we say but also by what we do. While our theology should not be formed by our experiences, it is. Even more so for those who do not already have a strong theology of worship, or for those who are new to the faith. For these, their theology will be shaped by what is done and said inadvertently about worship, as much as by direct teaching. The words of the songs we sing, referring to some elements of the service as worship and not others and numerous other practices begin to shape believers understanding of worship.

Robert E. Webber writes in his 1992 book, Worship Is A Verb, that: “Another way in which secularisation has permeated the church is in our music. Many of our contemporary popular songs are not directed to God, nor do they glory in the cross of Christ. Rather they concentrate on personal experience and self realisation." The words of songs that are focused on me, though they may have a place in a service, can inadvertently lead people to believe that worship is for them. As can many of the other practices and things spoken from the front by musicians or those “leading worship”. All of this will make finding a balance between participatory worship, litourgia, and desiring to get something out of worship difficult. How do we as a church enable the gathered community to participate in worship, without inadvertently teaching that worship is for them, the gathered community? How do we keep the focus on God?

To settle for pastor-driven worship experiences where the gathered communities are just onlookers seems to me to be unacceptable in the light of an understanding of worship as litourgia. Paul Westermeyer writes in the 1989 book, The Practical Life of the Church Musician, that worship "belongs to the people": "It is not the sole property of the clergy, the musician or any other church leader. The Reformation taught us that worship is not the precinct of the priests. We Protestants forget that and deny it every time we shut the people out and turn worship into entertainment by clergy or musicians before silent congregations. Worship belongs to the whole people of God, not to any individual or group."

Yet it is equally unacceptable to have an attitude toward worship which turns something God centred into yet another “me” experience. To demand that “the people” receive something for themselves from worship. Therefore as a church we need to be extremely careful about what we are teaching the congregation by what we do, we must make sure that what we do aligns with our theology. We need to recognise that what we do shapes the theology of many in the congregation. This is a huge responsibility.

Expectations of worship - should we expect something?
The question remains if worship is to God and for God, can we expect anything from it? I believe the answer is yes, we do receive from worship but I don't believe that what most people come to worship seeking is what should actually be expected from worship. Dr Barry Liesch, in exploring what people expect to get out of gathered community, found a number of responses but was concerned that “meeting with God” was not one of these:

"In worship we draw near to God, the One who has called us to worship," he writes in People in the Presence of God. "That's what's missing from the responses of these worshippers; the expectation that they assemble to meet with God. When we lose sight of that central purpose of worship, we begin to misdirect our efforts. We start to think in terms of getting something out of worship-good feelings or good teaching-or we make worship into a means to some other end.”

First and foremost we can expect that as we draw near to God in worship that He will draw near to us. (James 4: 8) Worship springs out of relationship and renews and deepens relationship between us and God. God desires worship as noted earlier because it is a sign of this relationship. Yet even this is not why we worship. We do need a visitation of God, as John Wimber notes, we need His presence and His work among us but “We don't worship for that, though...it is a by-product.”

It would seem that when we enter into worship we often do receive something from it. The problem arises when this becomes our motivation for worship. It is not that we need to come to worship without expectation. It is problematic though when this expectation becomes our motivation for worship.

Worship changes us, as Moses was changed as He met with God (Exodus 34: 29), so are we when we choose to worship almighty God. “True worship will stimulate is us a desire to be changed, and as we draw close to the Lord in worship and see His person more clearly we will be changed", writes Dr Liesch. According to Jeff Patton - author of God at the Crossroads: The Four Movements of Transformational Worship, only two things are necessary for worship: “God's willingness to show up and my/our willingness to develop a capacity to be touched by God on God's terms for Gods purpose. I can't demand this. I can however make myself open and perhaps help others to be open to this possibility, this experience.” When we are open to this then we are indeed changed by coming before God in worship.

All people are made in God's image yet it is in worship that we are often profoundly changed into His likeness as spoken of in second Corinthians (3:18). We in fact become like what we worship. It is in recognition of Who He is and what He has done that we can begin to choose the set apart life that He calls us to.

The place of “feelings” in worship
Does all of this mean that we should feel nothing when we come before God? No, not at all. Feelings play an important role in worship - whether this be experiencing feelings of great love and joy as you come to worship or a sense of sorrow and conviction as you come before your God. Yet we must be careful not to think that we have not worshipped if on any given Sunday we “feel nothing”. John Piper believes that worship of God is an end in itself: “We do not eat the feast of worship as a means to anything else. Happiness in God is the end to all our seeking," he writes in Desiring God. This is not the same as making worship an end in itself but rather worship of God is this end. There is a fine line between taking joy in worshipping God and expecting that worship will give you these feelings of joy. God desires our hearts, our love; He wants us to desire Him.

Piper explains: "Worship is a way of reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth. This is the ideal. For surely God is more glorified when we delight in His magnificence than when we are so unmoved by it that we scarcely feel anything and only wish we could. Yet he is also glorified by the spark of anticipated gladness that gives rise to the sorrow we feel when our hearts are lukewarm."

When we worship God, when we choose to draw near to Him and acknowledge His great worth we are often changed and we often “feel” but these are not to be our motivations, we come because He is glorious and worthy of our worship. As Carson notes in Worship: Adoration and Action: “If you seek experiences of worship you will not find them, if you worship the living God, you will experience something of what is reflected in the Psalms."

REDISCOVERING WORSHIP - PART IV

27th November, 2009

LENA JOHNSTONE

Worship as singing only

In looking at how worship 'should' happen in the gathered community there is, as already discussed, the danger that the 'how' will become the focus of worship rather than the why. That said it is important that the gathered community is a place where all are enabled to worship regardless of age, gender or denominational background. If worship is indeed to be God-centric then the focus of worship in the gathered community needs to be that which pleases God, that which draw people's hearts toward Him. (Isaiah 29: 13) The issue is much less about the form this takes.

As I stated earlier, I believe that when many state that “they got nothing out of worship” what they in fact mean is that they got nothing out of singing. In the churches that I have been a part of, the singing in church has usually been referred to as the “worship”. Unfortunately this has tended to lead people to believe that the rest of what happens in church and for that matter the rest of the week is something other than worship.

SINGING AS WORSHIP: Singing should be seen as just one of the many ways in which we worship God. IMAGE: © George Clerk (www.sxc.hu) "There is a long Scriptural and church history of worship to God being expressed through music and song. This is problematic though when only this is seen as worship as this understanding implies that if you didn't feel enabled by the music or singing to worship you haven't worshipped."

The worship may then be further restricted to what only happens in a part of the service: we have worship and then we have the sermon. The implications are unambiguous. Or worse, it refers to only a part of that designated hour, when we are actively voicing something corporately.

There is a long Scriptural and church history of worship to God being expressed through music and song. This is problematic though when only this is seen as worship as this understanding implies that if you didn't feel enabled by the music or singing to worship you haven't worshipped. Given the diverse tastes in music, ages and backgrounds in most churches in any given service, there is little chance of everyone being enabled to worship through song. However, if we have an understanding of worship being attributing worth to God, of this being about costly acts of service, of this being the “work of the people” then so much more of the gathered community can be recognised as the worship it is.

It is important then that the language used in church lines up with a theology that acknowledges what worship is about. That the practice also lines up with this.

As noted earlier there is little about the form of worship that can Sripturally be considered prescriptive though, the key elements of worship in the early church included the reading of the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer and praise. It would seem that in order to be more inclusive in worship, in order to allow worship to be more participatory, then initially it is important that the gathered community sees each of the aspects of the service as worship. This means not only teaching that encourages this but also practice that reinforces the teaching.

By acknowledging that worship is more than the singing, worship becomes more inclusive of those who, for whatever reason, struggle with entering into worship through music. It also enables those who participate in leading communion, reading Scripture, giving testimony to understand that each of these is act of worship.
The important things about all expressions of worship is their focus. As Sally Morgenthaler writes, “In the practical realm realignment means reinstating creator referenced, God focused expressions.” Anything in the service can be worship and anything in the service can be empty ritual. True worship is God focused; it acknowledges who He is and what He has done.

Worship is to God and it is about God

It is a recognition of who He is and what He has done. Worship is also therefore for God. Unfortunately, due to factors such as our fallen nature, culture and the practices and teaching of some churches, many in the gathered community have come to believe that at some level worship is for them. This can only be changed as churches begin to teach both by what they say and by their practices that worship is for God and for God alone. It is only as we place God back at the center of our worship that this incorrect understanding of worship can be challenged and replaced. This does not mean that we need to come to worship without expectation simply that this expectation must not become our motivation and we also need to know what it is that we can expect.

Worship in the gathered community needs to be expressed in ways that allow worship to truly be “the work of the people”. It needs to be expressed in ways that enable all of the people to worship, regardless of age, gender and denominational background.'

To be enabled through the Son and by The Spirit to worship the God of all creation is indeed an honor. It profoundly changes us and enables us to live the “set apart” life that we are called to. Ultimately it is the only appropriate response to the God of our Salvation.

But God made men and women in his own image to be priests of creation and to express on behalf of all creatures the praises of God, so that through human lips the heavens might declare the glory of God. When, we who know we are God's creatures, worship God together, we gather up the worship of all creation. Our chief end is to glorify God, and creation realises its own creaturely glory in glorifying God through human lips.

Bibliography:
Basden.PA. (Ed) (2004). 'Exploring the Worship Spectrm: 6 views'. Grand Rapids. Michigan, Zondervan.

Best.T.F .(Ed.) (2004) 'Worship: Understanding, Practice, Ecumenical Implications  Today'. Geneva: WCC Publications.

Carson.D.A. (1993). 'Worship: Adoration and Action'. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book  House.

Grenz.S.J. (1994). 'Theology for the community of God'. Grand Rapids. Michigan, William.B.Eerdmans.

Hestenes.M. (1999). 'First steps in Practical Theology'. UNISA

Horness. J. (2004). 'Contemorary Music Driven Worship'. on Engle.P.E and Basden.P.A.  (Eds.). 'Exploring the Worship Spectrum:6 Views' (pp. 97-117) Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan

Liesch. B. (1998). 'People in the presence of God: models and directions for worship'.  Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ministry Resources Library.

Morgentahler. S. (2004). 'Introduction'. In Kimball. D. 'Emerging Worship'. Zondervan. Grand Rapids. Michigan

Morgenthaler. S. (2004). 'Emerging Worship'. In Engle P.E. and Basden P.A. (Eds.) 'Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views' (pp. 215-231) Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan

Patton.J. (2005). 'God at the Crossroads: The Four Movements of Transformational  Worship'. Nashville: Abingdon Press

Piper.J. (2003) 'Desiring God'. Oregon: Multnomah publishers.

Rayburn.R.G. (1980). 'O Come let us Worship: Corporate worship in the Evangelical  Church'. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book House

Sweet.L. (2000). 'Experience God in worship: perspectives on the future of worship in the church from today's most prominent leaders'. Loveland Co Publishing Group, Loveland Co.

Torrance.J.B. (1996). 'Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace'. Great  Britian, Paternoster Press.

Wainwright.G. (1980). 'Doxology: The praise of God in Worship, Doctrine and life'. New York, Oxford University Press.

Webber. R.E. (1992). 'Worship is a verb'. Nashville, Tennesee, Abbott Martyn..

Webber.R.E. (2004). 'Blended Worship'. In Engle.P.E and Basden.P.A. (Eds.). 'Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views' (pp. 173-192) Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan

Westermyer.P. (1989). 'The Practical Life of the Church Musician'. Christian Century 13-29: 812.

Williams.D. (2004). 'Charismatic Worship'. In Engle.P.E and Basden.P.A. (Eds.)  'Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views' (pp. 137-153) Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan.

Wright. T. (2006). 'Simply Christian'. London. SPCK.

Lena Johnstone is a former lecturer within Tabor College's Year in The Son program.

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