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Basic overviews of worship:
Dyrness, William A. A Primer on Christian Worship: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, Where We Can
Go. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.
Page | 1 White, James F. A Brief History of Christian Worship. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993.
White, James F. Introduction to Christian Worship. 3rd ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000.
To gain pastoral perspective on the current situation:
Authentic Worship in a Changing Culture. Grand Rapids: CRC Publications, 1997.
Benedict, Daniel and Craig Kennet Miller. Contemporary Worship for the 21st Century: Worship or
Evangelism? Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1995.
Plantinga, Jr., Cornelius and Sue A. Rozeboom. Discerning the Spirits: A Guide to Thinking about
Christian Worship Today. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.
Redman, Robb. The Great Worship Awakening: Singing a New Song in the Postmodern Church. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
Spinks, Bryan D. The Worship Mall: Contemporary Responses to Contemporary Culture. New York:
Church Publishing, 2010.
Some essays in Witvliet, John D. Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows Into Christian Practice.
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.
York, Terry W. America’s Worship Wars. Hendrickson Publishers, 2003.
To gain insight on pastoral strategies:
Basden, Paul. The Worship Maze: Finding a Style to Fit Your Church. Downers Grove: InterVarsity
Press, 1999.
Langford, Andy. Transitions in Worship: Moving from Traditional to Contemporary. Nashville:
Abingdon, 1999.
Long, Thomas G. Beyond the Worship Wars: Building Vital and Faithful Worship. The Alban Institute,
2001.
Phillips, L. Edward and Sara Webb Phillips. In Spirit & Truth: United Methodist Worship for the Emerging
Church. Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2000.
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To gain ways to assess a congregation’s worship:
Page | 2
Clark, Linda J., Joanne Swenson, and Mark Stamm. How We Seek God Together: Exploring Worship
Style. The Alban Institute, 2001.
Kapp, Deborah J. Worship Frames: How We Shape and Interpret Our Experience of God. The Alban
Institute, 2008.
Ruth, Lester. A Rose By Any Other Name: Attempts at Classifying North American Protestant
Worship.” In The Conviction of Things Not Seen: Currents in Protestant Christianity in the Twenty-First
Century. Edited by Todd E. Johnson. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2002. Reprinted in American
Theological Inquiry 2, 1 (2009): 85-104.
To see the diversity in worship today:
Basden, Paul A., ed. Exploring the Worship Spectrum: Six Views. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.
Black, Kathy. Worship Across Culture: A Handbook. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998.
Chaves, Mark. Congregations in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Chaves, Mark and Shawna Anderson. “Continuity and Change in American Religion, 1972-2008.” In
Social Trends in American Life: Findings form the General Social Survey since 1972. Ed. Peter V.
Marsden. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Ruth, Lester. A Rose By Any Other Name: Attempts at Classifying North American Protestant
Worship.” In The Conviction of Things Not Seen: Currents in Protestant Christianity in the Twenty-First
Century. Edited by Todd E. Johnson. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2002. Reprinted in American
Theological Inquiry 2, 1 (2009): 85-104.
To develop a theology of worship:
Dawn, Marva J. How Shall We Worship? Biblical Guidelines for the Worship Wars. Wheaton: Tyndale
House Publishers, 2003.
Horton, Michael. A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship. Grand Rapids:
Baker Books, 2002.
Peterson, David. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Reprint. Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press, 2002.
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Torrance, James. Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace. Carlisle: Paternoster, 1996.
Webber, Robert E. Worship Is a Verb: Eight Principles for Transforming Worship. Peabody:
Hendrickson Publishers, 1996.
Page | 3 Some essays in Witvliet, John D. Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows Into Christian Practice.
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.
Wright, N. T. For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1997.
To get various assessments of contemporary worship music, including changes in the music over time
and also theological assessment:
Ingalls, Monique M. “A New Day of Worship: Transnational Connections, Musical Meaning, and the
1990s ‘British Invasion’ of North American Evangelical Worship Music.” In The Oxford Handbook of
Music and World Christianities. Edited by Suzel Reily and Jonathan Dueck. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, forthcoming.
Miller, Mandi and Kenneth T. Strongman. “The Emotional Effects of Music on Religious Experience: A
Study of the Pentecostal-Charismatic Style of Music and Worship.” Psychology of Music 30, 1 (April 1,
2002): 8-27.
Nekola, Anna E. “US Evangelicals and the Redefinition of Worship Music.” In Mediating Faiths: Religion
and Socio-Cultural Change in the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Michael Bailey and Guy Redden.
Surrey and Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Co., 2011.
Parry, Robin. Worshipping Trinity: Coming Back to the Heart of Worship. Eugene: Cascade Books,
2012.
Scheer, Greg. “Praise & Worship, from Jesus People to Gen X.” In New Songs of Celebration Reader.
Edited by C. Michael Hawn. GIA Music, 2014.
Sigler, R. Matthew. “Not Your Mother’s Contemporary Worship: Exploring CCLI’s ‘Top 25’ List for
Changes in Evangelical Contemporary Worship,” Worship 87, 5 (September 2013): 445-63.
Ward, Pete. Selling Worship: How What We Sing Has Changed the Church. Milton Keynes:
Paternoster, 2005.
Woods, Robert and Brian Walrath, ed. Message in the Music: Studying Contemporary Praise & Worship.
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007.
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To see social science background on and study of contemporary worship:
Bergler, Thomas E. The Juvenilization for American Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
Ellingson, Stephen. The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in the Twenty-First
Page | 4 Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Justice, Deborah R. “Sonic Change, Social Change, Sacred Change: Music and the Reconfiguration of
American Christianity.” Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 2012.
Luhrmann, T. M. When God Talk Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Mart, Gerardo. Worship across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation. New
York: Oxford, 2012.
Miller, Donald E. Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1997.
Thumma, Scott. Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America’s Largest Churches. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
Wilford, Justin G. Sacred Subdivisions: The Postsuburban Transformation of American Evangelicalism.
New York: New York University Press, 2012.
To get into an insider’s mindframe:
Read issues of Worship Leader magazine.
Giglio, Louie. The Air I breathe: Worship as a Way of Life. Multnomah Books, 2006.
Giglio, Louie. Wired: For a Life of Worship. Multnomah Books, 2006.
Houghton, Israel. Deeper Level. Whitaker House, 2007.
Hughes, Tim. Here I Am to Worship. Regal Books, 2004.
Park, Andy. To Know You More: Cultivating the Heart of the Worship Leader. IVP Books, 2004.
Redman, Matt. Face Down. Regal, 2004.
Redman, Matt. The Heart of Worship Files. Regal, 2010.
Tomlin, Chris. The Way I Was Made: Words and Music for an Unusual Life. Multnomah Books, 2004.
Zschech, Darlene. Extravagant Worship. Bethany House Publishers, 2004.
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To see where contemporary worship music came from:
Bergler, Thomas E. “‘I Found My Thrill’: The Youth for Christ Movement and American Congregational
Page | 5 Singing, 1940-1970.” In Wonderful Words of Life: Hymns in American Protestant History & Theology.
Edited by Richard J. Mouw et al. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004.
Hamilton, Michael S. “The Triumph of the Praise Song: How Guitars Beat Out the Organ in the Worship
Wars.” Christianity Today (July 12, 1999): 28-35. Reprinted in Worship at the Next Level. Edited by Tim
A. Dearborn and Scott Coil. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004.
Ingalls, Monique Marie Ingalls. “Awesome in This Place: Sound, Space, and Identity in Contemporary
North American Evangelical Worship.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2008.
To gain insights on handling a worship band and worship band worship:
Baloche, Paul. Worship Band Workshop: Roadmap to a Skilled Team. DVD. Leadworship.com.
Boesenecker, Andy. A Field Guide to Contemporary Worship: How to Begin and Lead Band-Based
Worship. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2011.
Scheer, Greg. The Art of Worship: A Musician’s Guide to Leading Modern Worship. Grand Rapids, Baker
Books, 2006.
Siewert, Alison, ed. Worship Team Handbook. IVP, 1998.
To get insights on how to put together an order for “classic” contemporary worship:
Baloche, Paul. Leading Worship: Creating Flow. DVD. Leadworship.com, 2003.
Liesch, Barry. The New Worship: Straight Talk on Music and the Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Books,
1996.
To get insights on how to put together creative orders that uses contemporary elements:
Cherry, Constance M. The Worship Architect: A Blueprint for Designing Culturally Relevant and Biblically
Faithful Services. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010.
Hawn, C. Michael. “Form and Ritual: Sequential and Cyclic Musical Structures and Their Use in Liturgy.”
Chapter 7 in Gather into One: Praying and singing Globally. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.
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To get tips on starting a new service:
Arn, Charles. How to Start a New Service. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997.
Page | 6
Boesenecker, Andy. A Field Guide to Contemporary Worship: How to Begin and Lead Band-Based
Worship. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2011.
To have help in knowing how to select solid congregational songs:
Cherry, Constance M. et al. Selecting Worship Songs: A Guide for Leaders. Triangle Publishing, 2011.
McLean, Terri Bocklund. New Harmonies: Choosing Contemporary Music for Worship. The Alban
Institute, 1998.
To see and hear musical resources that will upset all your presumptions:
Cardiphonia.org
Igracemusic.com
Giamusic.com for Taize and Iona resources and Folk and Black Gospel settings for standard pieces in the
liturgy
Contemporary Songs for Worship. Grand Rapids: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2008.
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