Emerging Worship
I just finished Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball. Really enjoyed it. I was required to read it a couple of years ago for school, but I didn’t finish it. Anyway, this post is not about the emerging church, it’s about a great book on worship. I really like Kimball’s focus on holistic ministry and multi-sensory worship. I love books that challenge me to think more creatively about worship and leadership. Kimball also has a lot of great things to say about intergenerational relationships and consumer Christianity.
- “Church is the people of God on a mission. (1 Corinthians 12:27; Acts 1:8)”
- “It is dangerous to elevate the [worship] gatherings over true spiritual formation.”
- “We only dishonor the people in a local church and risk creating backlash when we blindly use someone else’s model’.”
- “Biblically, it is important to cultivate intergenerational relationships among believers (Psalm 145:4).”
- “Never mistake motion for action.” - Ernest Hemingway
- “A core value of Vintage Faith church is that we can’t explain what happens with the church by the methodology we use. It can be explained only by the Holy Spirit’s involvement.”
- “Being organic is not being unorganized and chaotic. Anything organic and living is the opposite of random.”
- “Emerging worship expresses love and adoration for God through creativity mixed with theology and artistic expression.”
- “The desire is to avoid developing a dependency upon a person in the worship gathering (or a dependency on a certain personality or style of teaching).”
- “We need time to allow the Spirit to convict or encourage our hearts after the message-rather than rush out the door. We need times where we can intercede for others or get on our knees to confess our sins.”
- “May we never allow the creative design of worship gatherings to push Jesus to the sidelines.”
- “We have lost intergenerational relationships in church by keeping everyone in segmented into programmatic departments.”
- “A sign of unity in a church isn’t if they know the senior pastor, but if they have the same DNA. It isn’t about a person; it is about Jesus Christ.”
- “We have a holy responsibility to decide how money is spent as an act of worship.”

May 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
I think I’ve kind of made your blog a point of reference for finding out what’s new and good out there, whether it’s music or books. Thanks for the critique. BTW, your posts have become somewhat irregular. What’s up with that???
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Thanks for the compliment and the challenge…I need to get back on track with the blogging!
May 24th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Yeah this is a great book! I had to read it as well for Hitman-Harlan’s class but never finished it. I think I might have to finish it sometime soon!