Spiritual formation is the key to the survival of our faith.
There is an urgent need today for church services that are substantive and purposeful. Stigmatized by scandal, the church in North America and throughout Europe has been branded as useless and irrelevant. To stem the tide of nominal Christianity, we need to get serious about making disciples who can make other disciples.
Rory Noland is a worship leader who has led in contexts ranging from megachurches to small retreat settings such as the Transforming Center with Ruth Haley Barton. Combining discipleship and worship—what Noland calls transforming worship—he offers a vision for worship as spiritual formation. We need to reclaim our worship services as a formative space, and through that we will become the light of Christ in a dark world.
Spis treści
Foreword by Ruth Haley Barton
Introduction: What Is Transforming Worship?
Part 1: Biblical, Historical, and Theological Foundations of Transforming Worship
1. It All Started at Sinai
2. Updating the Ancient Formula for Sunday Services
3. How to Edify Believers and Evangelize Unbelievers
4. Reclaiming Sunday Morning as the Church’s Primary, Formative Event
5. Recovering a Sense of the Sacred in Modern Worship
Part 2: Distinctive Elements of Transforming Worship
6. Let Us Pray!
7. Engaging the Preached and Unpreached Word of God
8. Corporate Confession: The Gift of an Unfettered Conscience
9. Lord’s Supper as Spiritual Nourishment
10. Living in Your Baptism
Epilogue: We Get To Do This!
Appendix 1: Responsive Scripture Reading
Appendix 2: Reader’s Theater Scripture Reading
Appendix 3: Corporate Prayer of Confession
Appendix 4: Checklist for Transforming Worship
Notes
O autorze
Ruth Haley Barton is a teacher, spiritual director, retreat leader and author. She is cofounder and president of The Transforming Center (www.thetransformingcenter.org), a ministry dedicated to caring for the souls of pastors. Ruth has ministered in several congregations, including Willow Creek Community Church. Her other books include Sacred Rhythms and Invitation to Solitude and Silence (both Inter Varsity Press). This book was previously published by Waterbrook under the title The Truths That Free Us.