Performance In Preaching Engaging Worship

This volume, which launches the Engaging Worship series from Fuller Theological Seminary's Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, offers a unique study of sermon delivery. While many books offer advice on how to prepare, write, and preach a sermon, this volume is distinctive in approaching the subject from the perspective of performance. The authors, who teach at a variety of seminaries and divinity schools across the nation, examine how the sermon can bring God's word to life for the congregation. In that sense, they consider the idea of performance from a wide range of theological, artistic, and musical viewpoints. These thoughtful essays will engage clergy and students with new ways of looking at the art of preaching.

Historic changes are occurring in the convergence of worship styles throughout the Christian church. Christians across the theological spectrum are seeking to learn from their own tradition's roots and from the liturgical expressions of believers in other times and places. Here worship expert Clayton Schmit examines worship in church settings around the globe and provides a practical manual for shaping liturgies that are informed by and relevant to contemporary missional contexts. The book broadens current ecumenical worship conversations, reveals insights drawn from the church at worship in the world, and argues for a common understanding of a theology of worship.

There is no such thing as a worship war. We arent fighting over worship; were fighting over preferences. For decades, centuries really, churches have been fighting preference wars over worship methodologies. Whether it was singing psalms or hymns, using screens or hymnals, playing organs or guitars, or using a choir or praise team, if there has been a method to fight over, weve gone to battle. Unfortunately, the only things weve gained from our warring are church splits, declining rolls, and frustrated members. Is that what we most desire from our worship? What would happen in our churches if we went to war for worship or in worship instead of going to war over worship? What if we got so serious about worship that we put our preferences aside and focused on engaging God? Worship is not about songs and sermons anyway. Worship is about a privileged conversation with God! Discover how you and your church can get serious about worship as you delve into the heart of worship. Study who is involved in worship, what you can expect from worship, and how you can get the most out of worship. If we want to see God do great things in our churches and bring awakening to our nation, we must get serious about worship. Lets stop fighting over methodologies and return to the core of worship. Take some time to explore the privilege of worship.

Preaching from Inside the Story is a book that seeks to carve out an understanding of narrative preaching in an age where there is little agreement about its nature and practice. Capitalizing on the works of Craddock and Lowry, it seeks to find an expanded palette upon which the preacher may engage the larger canvas of narrative preaching. This book will engage the mind by introducing neuroscientific understandings of creativity; build upon the foundations of the philosophy of stories by engaging Aristotle's foundational understanding of narrative; and renew the Lowry Loop by expanding this seminal work and how it should be understood in our current culture. Preaching from Inside the Story breaks new ground by encouraging preachers to move inside stories and tell them from the inside out providing a positive effect, thereby affording non-narrative preachers to connect with storytelling principles. Ultimately, it is filled with examples of how to do narrative in a very practical way. However, in showing these practical examples, the reader is involved in a deep analysis of those narrative sermons and how they fit into an overall narrative understanding of preaching. In the final analysis, it invites the reader to take a fresh journey into narrative preaching.

In this companion volume to A Space for Grace, Johan Cilliers delves into some of the most profound theological underpinnings of preaching. Drawing on his extraordinary depth and breadth of scholarship, Cilliers examines the aesthetic, qualitative, and relational dimensions of sermonic time. Faithful preaching, he argues, is an art of speaking the now of grace, which is inextricably linked to past and future, but is simultaneously a dynamic event filled with the revelatory presence of God. Along with helpful reflections on pieces of visual art, Cilliers provides numerous sample sermons, as well as several detailed sermon analyses.

Paradoxes have become characteristic of the world we live in - poverty and privilege, empire and oppression, migration and enclaveseeking, war and peace, justice and injustice, reconciliation and revenge. During the 2016 Societas Homiletica annual conference held in South Africa, these paradoxes served as a rediscovery of the calling of preachers to deliver the promise that lies within life's contradictions. A divine promise brought forth by the grace of God and the gospel of Christ - embodied in and through us by the Spirit of Christ. This promise may take many forms and calls for discernment and often interrupts the status quos in surprising, shocking ways. It is a promise that interrupts, in order to comfort.

Digital Homiletics demystifies the art of online preaching, helping readers understand both the why and the how of engaging listeners via digital formats. Sunggu Yang lays a concise and accessible theological foundation and then shares ten methods for effective digital preaching. Readers will encounter concrete tips and advice for sharing God's word online, whatever the dimensions of their electronic ministry. Yang profiles each of the ten methods in Digital Homiletics with an eye toward general description, homiletic theory, practical tips, final remarks, and innovative attention to "Details of the Style." Who is involved? Why might preachers employ this technique? Where should it be practiced, and when? What content is best suited to each method? The answers to these questions will help readers' tailor their online delivery. Throughout, Yang helps us recognize the distinctive nature of the homiletical task when preaching to an online audience.

Preaching for the Contemporary Service is a guide to releasing the energy and creativity of the contemporary worship service within the sermon. Is the traditional sermon still relevant in contemporary worship settings or is it hopelessly out of place? Joseph Webb shows how improvisational preaching taps into the spontaneity of today's worship to engage audiences with the good news of Jesus Christ.To read a sample from the book click here"Joe Webb grieves that much contemporary worship yawns at traditional preaching and pleads for a new kind of improvisational preaching that does justice to the biblical story and connects emotionally with today's listeners. Carefully explaining both strengths and dangers of improvisation, he draws on insights from theater and movie-making with much practical advice for planning improvisation. A lively and stimulating book to be taken seriously by any who would preach in contemporary services." --Michael J. Quicke, Professor of Preaching, Northern Seminary, and author of 360-Degree Preaching "Joseph Webb has devoted his lifetime to the craft and mission of preaching. He brings fresh and cutting-edge insight with the wisdom of a sage and the foresight of a prophet to a whole new emerging generation of communicators." --Gene Appel, Lead Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church "Bull's-eye! Joe Webb's theory of improvisational preaching hits the target for effective communication in the digital age. And here's why I love it: Lots of people will tell me what to do; Joe shows me how!" --Tommy Kiedis, Teaching Pastor, Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Director of Leadership Development, Reformed Theological Seminary “This book shows us how to improvise our preaching without compromising the Scripture, a welcome help to those of us working to revitalize the worship of the church.”--Kenton C. Anderson, ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University Joseph M. Webb is Dean of the School of Communication & Media and Professor of Global Media and Communications at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He has taught seminary courses in homiletics, and speech and communication classes at colleges and universities. He is the author of Preaching Without Notes, also published by Abingdon Press.