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Selling worship

How what we sing has changed the Church

How is the feel-good factor in your church?

SELLING WORSHIP
How what we sing has changed the Church
By Pete Ward
Paternoster. 210 pages
ISBN 1 84227 270 5

Selling Worship explores the impact of youth culture, consumerism and charismatic worship upon evangelicalism in the last 50 years.

The author Pete Ward teaches at King’s College, London, with a special focus on the study of popular culture and theology. Ward writes from a charismatic theological position, but I believe that his book is helpful whatever position you hold. Part of the reason for this is the wide variety of subjects the book deals with.

It is split into three parts; firstly, an historical account of the development of youth evangelism in the post-war years and the emergence of the charismatic worship movement. A further line of thought running through the early part of the book is a discussion on the development and use of modern marketing structures within Christian music.

Secondly, a discussion about the theology which lies beyond charismatic worship, with particular focus on ‘Youth praise’, ‘Graham Kendrick’, and ‘the Survivor songbook’.

Finally, the last part of the book is devoted to a ‘critical appreciation’ of charismatic worship and the challenges that face all music producers and consumers within our contemporary capitalist culture. The book is an important contribution to the more general debate surrounding worship within the church and the challenges we all face to be relevant, meaningful and biblical. The book is complex in parts, but forces the reader, whatever their persuasion, to reflect on debates such as: ‘Are songs stories of encounter with God in our lives? So what does this mean for us in regular worship?’ Ward does not comment on the development of contemporary non-charismatic worship or about the many who find themselves ‘somewhere in between’ in the worship-style wars, which is a little frustrating.

Other discussions, such as ‘how can worship function as a form of evangelism?’, make for interesting reading. Although I don’t agree with Ward on some of his observations and conclusions, I feel informed by his contribution and understand more clearly some of the debates surrounding the area of worship.

Trevor Lewis,
minister, Lindfield Evangelical Free Church, West Sussex