The Purpose, Pattern, and Character of Worship (The Purpose, Pattern, and Character of Worship - eBook [ePub])

By: L. Edward Phillips

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Synopsis: Within the broad range of Christianity we find diverse understandings of what makes for "good worship." The Purpose, Pattern, and Character of Worship develops a typology of Christian worship to provide a method of assessing the decisions of congregations and leaders in forming and changing the orders of their worship.Among contemporary western Protestants, we identify at least six discrete characteristics of worship:-the Revival,-the Sunday School,-the Aesthetic Revival,-the Pentecostal/holiness movement,-the Prayer Meeting,-the twentieth-century Catholic Liturgical Renewal.These patterns define contemporary expression as:-Seeker Worship,-Creative Worship,-Traditional Worship,-Praise Worship,-House Church Worship,-Word and Table Worship.Absent an overall authority for the structure of worship (such as the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer), many Protestant congregations have developed a "conflation of patterns," which often creates incoherent worship. This book helps leaders define the purpose, character, and pattern of their community’s worship.