Hungry for Worship Book Review Essay

Years later in this process of growth, I was blessed with a summer internship at a larger congregation in Dallas, Texas. Although I grew from my relationships and from the mentorship I received, I also observed that the bulk of the ministry meetings focused on changing and adapting our church’s corporate worship to be more and more “seeker sensitive.” The thought was that corporate worship was something malleable that could be altered into something more like the culture of the surrounding neighborhood, so people would want to come. “After all,” so the thinking went, “scripture provided only a rough guideline as to what the church is to do when coming together and there is little-to-no reason to keep intact what past generations did or passed down.” In essence, we sought to form our corporate worship for the purpose of evangelism. I believed that the important thing to focus on is love of God, love of neighbor, and piety. Something in the line of reasoning that insisted on changing the community worship ritual to reflect the world didn’t feel right to me, yet I could not articulate what it was. Several months later I visited an Eastern Orthodox Church as part of a course on Christian spiritual development and after a didactic

The voice of vocation is mostly discerned through the heart; therefore, one must consciously be aware of the matters that occupy the heart. In John Neafsey’s “A Sacred Voice Is Calling,” Neafsey asserts “The voice of vocation is the voice of God” (Neafsey, 6). By hearing the voice of God, we’re able to reach the destiny God predestined us for in life and especially in our vocations. In order to hear the voice of God, you have to be able to discern between the many voices you hear every day, the voice of your conscience, and God’s voice. You do so by: consistently managing the matters of the heart- monitoring what you allow to physically and mentally enter into your heart, learning to discern between those things by familiarizing yourself with

I chose to do my religious ethnographic study at my home church, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, May 8, 2016. Tabernacle is an 112-year-old historic Black Baptist church located on the lower Northside of Youngstown surrounded by a mixed income housing development, homeless shelter, Youngstown State University, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. I would say the average age of a Tabernacle member is 55 years old. About 70% of the members at this church are “middle-class” families. Until about five years ago, its membership was almost exclusively middle class. There has seen an influx of membership in working class individuals and students since the arrival of Tabernacle’s young, vibrant pastor, Rev. Christopher McKee, Jr., three years ago. The church is attentive to the needs of this demographic but remains true to its historic Black Baptist church roots. The church previously struggled with this conundrum until it came to the reality that an exclusivist mindset around worship is detrimental to the body of Christ when it did not have a pastor for over three years. The church was dying because no one was welcome to it and it did not have a leader. Though it was difficult, this reassessment was beneficial in making Tabernacle more relevant and welcoming to the community it is blessed to serve.

The where, how, and why of the Great Commission Worshiper is examined and expounded. They first define what a Great Commission Worshiper is, then how to develop this person, and finally how to reproduce Great Commission Worshipers. This is all accomplished through a mix of testimonies, both personal to the authors and those of other people, and biblical examples.

In the Introduction section of the book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Israel Galindo states that a congregation is a “corporate relationship organization” (3) and is not an organization. He points out that the hidden life of a congregation would depict the “nature” of a congregation. This further identifies the relationships and faith of the congregation. According to him, the universal principles are followed by the congregations so that “systemic relationships” can work. The leaders learn the roles that they have within the people who are the congregation. The journal will focus on Dr. Fowler’s question “what is the purpose of this gathering we call the church?”

Looking past church’s names and denominations, that usually separate churchgoers on any given Sunday, everyone was on one accord, as all hearts and minds were focused on the one thing each had in common---their love for God and his children.

One organization that is becoming increasingly popular, is the new youth church. These churches are made up primarily of young adults; those that attend gain a sense of belonging by their family-like structures and “cell groups”. They also dabble with the postmodern and nontraditional ways of worship, to attract outsiders, and they have a strong emphasis on missionary work.

But, as so many people resoundingly reject the hypocrisy, hate, homophobia, and misogyny of the Christian church, they also often leave behind the spiritually nurturing aspects of religious life and find themselves adrift in a post-church world.

Denominations have such an impact on people within their sect that they actually set the rules the people live by. Such as is it okay to drink or is it not okay. Some argue that denominations have no part in one’s relationship with Jesus Christ. While one’s relationship with Jesus Christ is exactly that—a relationship between an individual and Jesus Christ, one’s denomination helps promote and lead you in your relationship with Jesus

I charge you to strive diligently for unity and peace (Ephesians 4:3). This church should have a peaceful aroma in it. It should be holy ground, instead of a battleground. But do not expect a church free of problems and free of disagreements. Robust dialogue and earnest disagreements are natural features of a covenant relationship. Yet ensure that your dialogue and disagreements

Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate how the Sacramental Life or Incarnational Tradition help me focus on my life as a harmonious unit and to illustrate how my life is impacted by my view of worship. In addition, I will give a theological analysis on how focusing on life as a harmonious unit is essential to the myself, the individuals I administer spiritual counseling to and my ministry constituents.

In Patricia Herzog’s article Youth Group Cliques: How Religious Goals Can Disguise Discriminatory Group Dynamics, she states that that “Christianity places an emphasis on unity in Christ” (Herzog 218). She uses 1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” and 1 Corinthians 12: 24b-25 “But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other” to support this idea of unity and inclusion with all people connected to the body of Christ. Although unity may be the goal for most youth groups as well, Herzog believes that “group dynamics are often shaped by more than their theological underpinnings and demonstrate social influences as well” (Herzog 218). This creates an in group and the out group, and generally the out group are students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds that do not get the same respect as the students from the in group and are not as easily accepted.

I hope you all have had a wonderful week so far! Thank you all so much for Sunday! I had so munch great feedback from Savior! Great job! You nailed it! I am so thankful to be able to worship our King with you all of you each and everyday, I can not wait for Easter Sunday!!

The only possible way to unite the divisions is through the Holy Spirit, which is the soul of the Church. There should be a restoration of the communion between and among the people of God that the Holy Spirit provides. The Holy Spirit, according to an article that I?ve read by Dick Tripp is at work of our spiritual growth and transformation in building the Church. The restoration of the communion would happen if all the people empowered by the Holy Spirit would see in each other the Church in its extensiveness. Having stated this, I began to ask myself, ?How should we see the Church in ourselves??