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Children In The Worshiping Community

Jesus' call to let the children come to him provides Christians with the joyful task of training and forming children in the Christian faith and encouraging them to offer whole-hearted worship. In so doing, children take their place as an essential part of the body of Christ, with as much to teach others as to learn themselves. The church that neglects children in planning and leading worship certainly deprives both its children of the opportunity for meaningful corporate worship and the church of their joyful and profound faith. This section outlines ways in which the church can take greater responsibility for the spiritual formation of children and can encourage them to participate more fully in worship.

1. Biblical Perspectives On Children In The Worshiping Community
2. Forming The Spirituality Of Children
3. The Place Of The Infant In The Worshiping Community
4. Why Children Should Worship
5. Practical Suggestions For Children In Worship
6. Teaching Children The Four Acts Of Worship: The Children’s Worship Center
7. Teaching Children To Worship With Adults
8. A History Of Children’s Hymnody
9. Teaching Hymns To Children
10. The Ministry Of Children’s Choirs
11. A Method Of Presenting The Bible To Children
12. Teaching Children To Worship With Adults
13. A Method Of Presenting The Bible To Children

Disabled Persons In The Worshiping Community

Though not intentionally, worship planners often fail to consider the needs of the disabled, hearing-impaired, and other physically challenged adults. This section attempts to redress this situation by presenting several thoughtful articles that consider disabilities in a scriptural light.

1. Theology Of Ministry To People With Disabilities
2. Planning For Disabled People
3. Involving People With Disabilities In Worship
4. Liturgies With Deaf Worshipers

The Worshiping Community And Its Cultural Context

The very expression of worship is shaped by the culture that shapes those who worship. Every person inherits styles of language and music, conventions of communication and greeting, and patterns of thinking and feeling from the culture in which he or she lives. These are inevitably reflected in countless ways in worship: The style of language of hymns and prayers, the ways worshipers greet each other or pass the peace, and the types of physical expression deemed appropriate are all shaped by culture. As Christianity moves into new cultural settings or as culture changes in settings where Christianity has had a long history, worship leaders and planners must consider how liturgical texts and actions can remain faithful to the Scriptures and be authentic expressions of worship from within culture. This challenging task, which is often described by the term inculturation, demands that liturgists be thoroughly knowledgeable about what is essential in Christian worship and what is authentic for a given culture. This section will introduce readers to the fascinating subject of liturgical inculturation and provide some basic guidelines for thinking about this important subject.

1. A History Of Cultural Adaptation In Christian Worship
2. Liturgical Adaptation In The Roman Catholic Church In The Twentieth Century
3. Liturgy And Culture: Four Paradigms
4. A Roman Catholic Approach To Liturgical Inculturation
5. Christian Cultural Engagement And Liturgical Inculturation

Cultural Diversity In The Worshiping Community

This section explores the changing cultural context of North America and calls for a new sensitivity toward its emerging ethnic and cultural traditions. The white Anglo-Saxon domination of American culture will likely continue to be replaced by a cultural mosaic that includes Hispanic, African, and Asian cultural traditions. These developments will have significant consequences for the future of the church; already many worshiping communities have become multicultural. An understanding of the Asian, African, Hispanic, Caribbean, and Native American traditions of Christian worship will help the churches prepare for the changes that will take place.

1. The Emergence Of A Multicultural Society
2. Worship And Multicultural Diversity
3. Towards Global Worship: Beyond The Headlines
4. Cartigny Statement On Worship And Culture: Biblical And Historical Foundations
5. Vox Populi: Developing Global Song In The Northern World
6. Caribbean Worship
7. Asian Worship
8. Worship In Evangelical Hispanic Churches
9. Music In Evangelical And Pentecostal Hispanic Churches
10. Independent African Worship
11. African-american Worship
12. Native American Worship