What is the role of music in the twenty-first century church--and what should it be? Johansson examines this and other crucial questions concerning church music and offers "redirection" for the function of music ministry in the life of the modern church.

What does worship look like? Is there just one truly right way to worship? Are there any wrong ways? To what extent should our unity as believers manifest itself in unified public worship? Sadly, disagreement over how we should worship our loving God has sparked some most unloving attitudes among Christians. Exploring the Worship Spectrum seeks to correct this. It provides a forum for presentation, critique, and defense of six prominent worship styles: -Formal-Liturgical - Paul Zahl -Traditional Hymn-Based - Harold Best -Contemporary Music-Driven - Joe Horness -Charismatic - Don Williams -Blended - Robert Webber -Emerging - Sally Morgenthaler This unique format allows those with a heart for worship to compare different perspectives and draw their own conclusions on what the Bible teaches. It engages the reader's faculties of critical thinking in a way that allows him or her to understand the various approaches to worship, carefully evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and make personal choices without adopting a judgmental spirit. The Counterpoints series provides a forum for comparison and critique of different views on issues important to Christians. Counterpoints books address three categories: Church Life, Exploring Theology, and Engaging Culture. Complete your library with other books in the Counterpoints series.

Do we think about worship?

In the 'emerging' generation 'worship' is something to do with style, rather than substance. A matter of live-and-let-live choice.

But pure worship is declaring with our words and lives that God is more important to us than anything else - that he is our deepest desire and that he is worth more than anything else we hold dear. God alone is worthy of worship because he alone is righteous.

Louie Giglio points out that worship is simply about value. Our worship is a response to what we value most. If we consider that a person, a thing, or an experience is what matters most then we are willing to sacrifice in order to get it. Worship is coming before the 'throne' of what is of ultimate value to us.

In the Old Testament the priests would build an altar on which to offer the sacrifices to the One whom they worshipped. In order to find your altar of worship just follow the trail of how you use your time, energy, money and affections. The more time you spend before that throne, the more your life will reflect what or whom you worship.

It is time to re-engineer what we value most so that worship is something that truly honors God. Some values we hold dear will have to be cast aside, some new ideas adopted, still others will need to be strengthened.