Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations

If you are a church leader and want to reach the upcoming generation, please read this book. I was quite rigid in my seeker church mentality until I read what Dan Kimball had to say. This book, as the title indicates, focuses on worship. If you want a broader look at how & why churches need to adapt, you might prefer to read Dan's other book: The Emerging Church.

The title of this book is about "worship", but it takes you way beyond just the normal worship type of things in most worship books. This book makes you think how the one and a half hour worship service fits within the life of the church which is what makes this book unique. But it also gives plenty of examples and advice, without stating a formula, for designing worship gatherings for emerging generations. Most churches are seeing emerging generations disappearing from their church, so this books gives hope and also is a great follow up to Kimball's first book, The Emerging Church.

This book helps us understand why emerging generations are disappearing and disconnecting from our churches and some practical ideas of what to do about it. It gives very practical and detailed examples of worship services from different churches around the country, so it isn't just one model or one specific approach.However, this book also totally challenges us to rethink what we even are supposed to do when we gather together as a church. It asks the questions about why do we preach the way we preach? Why do we use so much music lately and feel like a rock concert? Why do our church buildings feel like theaters instead of sacred spaces? The refreshing thing about this book is that it challenges us NOT to go more shallow or become seeker-sensitive to engage the hearts of emerging generations in their expressions of worship. But instead, says we should go all the more deeper in our teaching, use more Scripture, and be more unapologetically intense about our worship. It shares how to move beyond just preaching and singing to also be making our worship gatherings more interactive and participatory through ancient practices, painting art based on Scripture, creating prayer stations etc. So, if you are looking for a book about worship that is a lot different than any other book I have read about worship - and have your mind tweaked to rethink things about the church, then this is a book you will want to read.

Probably most people are buying this book because they are recognizing that emerging generations are disappearing from our churches and not connecting with most of our worship gatherings. But, you better be warned... it it doesn't just tell us to play hip pop worship songs as the answer, but forces us to rethink what we are doing in worship gatherings entirely. Maybe the problem and reason we are losing so many younger people from our churches, isn't just about music style - but it is about reapproaching worship gatherings and questioning all we have done and why we do it. It is a book that doesn't just give theory either, and like "The Emerging Church" book also did, gives very practical and different examples of what worship gatherings are like that are attracting emerging generations. Not a model, but a bunch of different ways churches are doing things.Another warning --- some senior pastors may feel uncomfortable reading this book! It challenges some of our thinking of what leadership in worship gatherings is like and also challenges the concept of video churches too for emerging generations.

I read a lot of books on the emerging church and postmodernism and all the Sweet,McLaren things which are great - but i think this is a rare type of book which actually walks through some ideas of what to do about it in my church. There is a lot of talking and guessing about culture today, but if you want to actually learn some ideas of what to do in your church to engage emerging generations, than this is a wonderful book to do so. We have tried a lot of things, but i wish i had this book before we began trying them. I also love that it gives examples from all around the country, so we can see what is happening in a variety of churches and not just in an isolated church or one person's experience.The detailed chapters of how to get started are exactly what we need, so i highly highly recommend this for anyone thinking of starting something new or changing what you are doing. If you are actually in ministry and serious about doing something and not just talking about it, then this book is great for you.