Understanding, Preparing For, and Practicing Christian Worship

The worship service should be the most important task in our lives and preparing for it is essential. This book outlines many of the complications and problems encountered when preparing for worship, so I highly recommend this book for every evangelist and missionary worker. This is a great book to read and will inform you in many different ways on the Christian worship service and the details behind all its functions. Take the time to buy it and read it; you will love it.

The late Franklin M. Segler set the momentum for the unique parameters of this excellent resource in his first publication of this book in 1967. Since 1974 when this became my first choice for a basic text for Seminary classes at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), enthusiasm has increased among students and other faculty members who use it. This is no doubt caused by editorial changes - updates and additions by Randall Bradley. As a basic text for the first course in Christian worship, students are able to examine the meaning and means of expressing and experiencing worship in ways that enhance and support denominational and cultural differences in the ecumentical setting of ITC. Information is presented by the authors under three major headings with an excellent conclusion section and the kind of appendices that every clergy person requests during and following the basic course. The structure is a follows: Part 1: The Meaning of Worship; Part Two: The means of Expressing Worship; and Part Three: Conducting Worship. Appendices include examples of The Ordinary of the Mass (an excellent way to relate the Ordo to Protestant "Orders of Service"), Guidelines for Prayer leaders and Scripture Reader, the Wedding Ceremony and Wedding Policies, the Funeral Service and copyright guidelines, all of which are immediate and practical concerns of students who are most often serving as pastors in large and small congregations. For students of liturgy - practically and academically oriented - this unfolding of information connects one with the whole of liturgical history without bogging one down into ONE particular tradition. The broad usage of this resource is evidenced as the manager of the campus book is constantly re-ordering Segler/Bradley for the parishes of students and graduates in the USA and on the continent of Africa. A loud expression of thanks is extended to Professor Bradley who not only provides inclusive language throughout the text, but also contemporizes the worship settings and includes concerns from this technological age. These factors are noted especially in chapters on "worship and church renewal," "children in worship," "architecture, acoustics and worship," "drama" "applause in worship," numerous "rites of passage" and a biblical and historical endorsement of the Christian Church year. This is an excellent and much needed resource for congregations, especially as we continue to position ourselves in the twenty-first century, amidst labels and cries that attempt to separate "praise" from the worship of God with spiritual growth, dedication, and commitment to mission and ministry in the world!