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Cultivatinga Life ofWorshipWhat does it really mean to worship God?

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Cultivating aLife of WorshipWhat does it really mean to worship God?

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Click on an article you’d l ike to read:

For the Leader Section:

53 Interact A bonus activity for your meeting time.

56 connect A relationship-building idea for your group.

58 Go Deeper Resources to help you explore this topic further.

3 How to Use tHIs kyrIa women’s mInIstry resoUrce

For Participants Section:

5 IntroDUctIon Getting Worship (at Least a Little Bit) Right By kelli B. trujillo

8 a Bow anD a kIss Authentic worship reveals both the friendship and fear of God. By philip yancey

13 a stronGer Heart for worsHIp One pastor’s personal journey from a “cerebral” faith into a life-changing practice of worship. By kevin Bidwell

20 tHe power of praIsInG GoD Through many heart-breaking experiences, Darlene Zschech found a secret weapon for survival: worship. By camerin courtney

30 tHe praIse connectIon When you’re facing down fear, worship God! By mayo mathers

34 work as worsHIp Serving God 9 to 5. By Luke Bretherton

40 a woman’s worsHIp JoUrney Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus. By Jodi adams

45 expLore A discussion guide for your women’s group.

50 LIve It A week’s worth of life-application challenges.

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How toUse this KyriaWomen’s Ministry Resource

Whether you lead a large women’s group, a medium-sized Bible study, or a small weekly prayer group, this resource is designed for you. First, give every woman in your group a copy of the “For Participants” section that follows. (The price you paid for this download includes permission to make up to 1000 copies of this material for your local church’s use.) Encourage everyone to read the articles and journal their thoughts in the “Prepare” spaces provided before your group meets.

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Cultivating a Life of Worship How to Use this Kyria Women’s Ministry Resource

Following the articles, you’ll find an “Explore” section that’s meant for you to use as a discussion guide during your meeting time. These questions will help you dive deeper into the topic, but feel free to also create your own questions for your group. In addition, you may want to start each meeting by simply asking participants to share their own thoughts and reactions from the reading and journaling they did ahead of time.

At the end of the “For Participants” section is a series of seven “Live It” suggestions. These daily-life application steps take on a variety of forms, but each one is meant to help women grow closer to God and follow his lead in the context of their everyday life. Challenge all the women in your group to put these seven ideas into practice during the week that follows your meeting time.

Next you’ll find a “For the Leader” section that’s meant just for you. Here you’ll get an extra “Interact” idea you can use with your group when you meet as well as a bonus “Connect” suggestion for how you can follow up on this topic in a way that helps deepen the relationships between the women in your group. Last you’ll find a “Go Deeper” list of resources to help you—or the women in your group—explore this topic further on your own.

We hope that this Kyria.com resource is used by God as a powerful tool in your women’s ministry group.

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One church I attended for a few years was really, really into the song “The Heart of Worship” by Matt Redman. Don’t get me wrong here—I think it’s a fantastic song. But it began to bother me when we seemed to sing it nearly every Sunday. The song’s lyrics quite candidly and confessionally speak about how we humans can so easily get worship all wrong: it can inadvertently become something about us rather than being focused on God.

By kelli B. trujillo

Getting Worship (at Least a Little Bit) Right

For Participants

Introduction

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsGetting Worship (at Least a Little Bit) Right

Week after week all the congregants in my little church passionately sang about worship, saying, “I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it.” There definitely were times when singing these lyrics was a very honest confession for me; I do struggle sometimes with turning times of corporate worship into self-focused experiences. But singing “I’m sorry” week in and week out rubbed me the wrong way. Are we really getting worship “wrong” all the time? I wondered. Do we really need to keep apologizing over and over? Aren’t we getting it at least a little bit right?

Worship, after all, is much more than just the time of singing or praying during a church service. It’s got much more to do with the attitude of our hearts, the God-honoring practices in our daily lives, and our responses to the circumstances that surround us than it does with how passionately or how properly we sing on Sunday mornings. Worshiping God through music can certainly be one of the most powerful ways to express our awe and love for God, but at its core, worship is meant to be expressed in all aspects of our lives. And I don’t think this worshipful way of living comes easily—I think it’s a lifelong process in which we each must put regular effort into choosing to worship, into cultivating worshipful practices and attitudes, and into communing with God throughout each day, rather than focusing all our thoughts and energies into other things.

So in some ways, worship is something that we can easily get wrong—when we boil it down to just music or just to times of “feeling good” about God, for example.

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsGetting Worship (at Least a Little Bit) Right

But in other ways, worship is something we can definitely get right—when we love our neighbor, when we strive for God-honoring excellence at work, when we choose to affirm our faith in God’s promises even when we’re in pain or afraid.

That’s why we at Kyria have created this download: to inspire and enable you and the other women in your group to look at the topic of worship up close, to think more deeply about what worship really means and what it looks like, and to give you the tools to help each other cultivate a lifestyle of worship. On the following pages, you’ll find articles from Today’s chrisTian Woman, GiftedforLeadership.com, and other Christianity Today International publications that will guide you through this exploration. Before your group meets, read through the articles and take some time to journal your thoughts in the “Prepare” spaces provided. Then be ready to discuss the “Explore” questions with your group, inviting God to reveal new insights and challenge you personally through the process.

As you read these articles, explore God’s Word, and worship God with your group, our hope is that your own “heart of worship” will be transformed, not only on Sunday mornings but in all other aspects of your everyday life.

Grace,

Kelli B. TrujilloManaging Editor, Kyria downloads,Christianity Today International

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Christianity claims a unique place among the world’s religions. Our faith tells of a God before whom the strongest saints took off their shoes, bowed down, fell on their faces, repented in dust and ashes. At the same time it tells of a God who came to Earth as a baby, who showed tender mercies to children and the weak, who taught us to call him “Abba,” who loved and was loved. God is both transcendent and immanent, the theologians say. God inspires at once awe and love, fear and friendship.

Authentic worship reveals both the friendship and fear of God.By philip yancey

Grab a pen or highlighter as you read the following articles and be sure to underline the parts that really stand out to you. to ready yourself for a discussion with the other women in your group, jot down notes and journal your thoughts in the “prepare” section that follows each article.

A Bowand a Kiss

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsA Bow and a Kiss

To most moderns, however, a sense of awe comes with the greatest difficulty. We have domesticated angels into stuffed toys and Christmas ornaments, made cartoons of St. Peter at the gate of heaven, tamed the phenomenon of Easter with bunny rabbits, and substituted for the awe of shepherds and wise men cute elves and a jolly man dressed in red. Almighty God gets nicknames like “The Big Guy” and “The Man Upstairs.”

One of my biggest pet peeves is how that the word worship has become synonymous with music. For several months my church went on a hunt for a “worship pastor,” and a parade of candidates auditioned with their guitars and backup groups. Some of them prayed, yes: “Lord, just, you know, really be here tonight with us, just let us know you’re here.” None showed much knowledge of theology, and assuredly none led us toward anything like awe. Worship today means loudly filling every space of silence.

I welcome the sense of celebration and joy apparent in much recent music. Yet I wonder what we are missing when we seek to reduce the distance between creature and Creator, a distance expressed so eloquently by Job, Isaiah, and the psalmists. John, the disciple Jesus loved, who had lain against Jesus’ breast, records in Revelation that he fell at his feet as though dead when Jesus appeared in full glory.

The style of worship swings back and forth like a pendulum, from Orthodox to Doukhobors, from Anglican to Quaker, from Lutheran to Moravian, from state-sanctioned churches to counter-cultural emergent

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churches, and perhaps we need a bit of both. Søren Kierkegaard once said that we treat worship as if the pastor and choir are the actors and the congregation the audience; instead, God should be the audience, the pastor and choir the prompters, and the congregation the true participants. Which brings up an interesting question: What kind of music does God prefer? We will have a long time to learn the answer to that question, it seems, as Revelation gives many scenes of creatures worshiping God through music and through prayer.

Jewish ethicist and writer Abraham Heschel made the observation, “Awe, unlike fear, does not make us shrink from the awe-inspiring object, but, on the contrary, draws us near to it.” And Martin Luther was said to pray with the reverence of addressing God and the boldness of addressing a friend.

One worship leader, who is having an increasing impact on Christian music, strives to hold in creative tension the two elements of friendship and fear. Matt Redman, author of such songs as “Heart of Worship,” “Better Is One Day,” and “Let My Words Be Few,” leads the group Soul Survivor, which meets in a large warehouse in London, England. One year, concerned that worship music was turning the focus to musicians rather than God, Redman and his pastor took the daring step of eliminating all music from worship services. After that period of “fasting,” he emerged with a new understanding of worship. As he said in a radio interview:

[Worship] is best summed up in Ephesians 5:10, which says, “Find out what pleases the Lord.” If

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you’re talking about music, you want to bring an offering that is going to please him and obviously he is not worried about the music, what style it is or if you’re playing in time and stuff. When you pour out your heart with the music and you back it up with your life, that is probably the heart of worship.

An album Redman released in 1998, The Friendship and the Fear, takes its title from a verse in Psalm 25: “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him.” Redman continues exploring the borderland between friendship and fear, for authentic worship encompasses both. It is the proper response when a holy God extends to flawed human beings an invitation to intimacy. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the primary word for worship means “to bow down in reverence and submission.” And in the New Testament, the most common Greek word for worship means “to come forward to kiss.” Between those two—or combining both—lies our best approach to God.

Philip Yancey is an award-winning author and a regular columnist for chrisTianiTy Today. This article was first published in the May 2005 issue of chrisTianiTy Today.

A Bible study called

“Fear and Friendship:

Two Sides of Worship”

further explores this

article. Find it here, at

ChristianBibleStudies.com.

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http://biblestudies.stores.yahoo.net/feandfrtwosi.html



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Prepare£ Yancey writes about the paradoxical way we should approach God, saying, “God inspires at once awe and love, fear and friendship.” Which way of relating to God seems to come more naturally to you: having a fear of God and approaching him with reverence and awe? Or feeling familiar and loving toward God as your friend? Why? Jot down some of your thoughts.

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I confess. I’ve lusted. I’ve lusted after the kind of church that someone else is pastoring. More than occasionally. Worse yet, I hid my lust by pretending my church was actually better. Or at least just as good.

The object of my lust was worship. I wanted the kind of worship at my church that I saw and heard about at others. I wanted to see people moved by the Spirit during a service. Tears. Joy. Intimacy with God.

One pastor’s personal journey from a “cerebral” faith into a life-changing practice of worship By kevin Bidwell

A Stronger Heart forWorship

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsA Stronger Heart for Worship

I found many people and situations to blame for my unfulfilled desire. It was the board, the lack of musicians, the town, the backward people, the building (“If only I had a larger sanctuary”), the denomination (“Pentecostals don’t have this problem”).

It was everything, except me.

After all, I had the desire. I was the one who “spoke for God.” I couldn’t be the problem, could I?

Well, yes.

I didn’t openly hinder worship; in fact, I was all for it. I taught that it was a good thing to celebrate God. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” was a text I was familiar with (Psalm 34:8). (I wasn’t too familiar with the taste, just the verse.) It wasn’t that I didn’t want people to love Jesus. The problem was I had no idea what loving Jesus meant.

Messing with my mind and emotions My faith was cerebral. I grew up in a stoic family that went to a stoic church. Faith had to do with reason. If someone were to ask me, “Do you love Jesus?” I would have said yes, though with little emotion attached. I had the “if you love me you will obey my commands” down cold (John 14:15). I would love Jesus as long as doing was as far as it went. I didn’t want him messing with my emotions.

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Worship was an hour on Sunday morning. While I had passion when it came to my wife and children, I had none when it came to expressing my faith through worship. I was opposed to the “hand-raising, oil-slinging” crowd because I mistakenly thought their faith was all about emotion. I failed to see that my own faith had swung too far in the opposite direction.

It was 1983, and I was pastoring my first church. Sixty people in a poor, rural Kentucky county. Fortunately, only one family in the church had problems with me. Unfortunately, 58 of the people in the church were from that family. I had no idea what I was doing. I felt like a failure.

That’s when God did it. He chose that time to begin drawing me into a love relationship with himself. I wasn’t seeking him wholeheartedly. Yet despite my sin and immaturity, God wanted my heart.

Over the next several years, God taught me to express love and adoration to him that actually came from my heart. Patiently and gently, he transformed my heart of stone.

Beyond “Pass It On” I suspect God knew that I had to love him with all my heart before I could help the people to love him.

It began simply enough. I felt an “urge” to worship the Lord. Not a mandate, not a command, just a simple, quiet longing.

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The small church I pastored had a large cemetery. It dated back to the mid-1800s. About 1,200 people were buried there. I would venture out into the church cemetery on nice mornings with a hymnal. There was one unique tombstone that I would sit on. It was a large shelf of rock suspended on four pedestals about two feet off the ground. The writing on it had long since worn away, but it made a nice bench. I would sit there, my hymnal in hand, and sing hymns to the Lord. I didn’t play an instrument then, so I sang a cappella.

Often I was embarrassed when someone would pull into the church lot looking for me, only to find me with my eyes closed, sitting on a tombstone, singing at the top of my lungs.

Yet no matter how strange it seemed or how often I got embarrassed, something in me was changing.

After a while I discovered worship tapes. Like many Christians raised in the Bible Belt, my exposure to contemporary worship was singing “Pass It On” around a campfire. Listening to worship tapes expanded my range of expression. I was able to feel my heart drawn closer to God as the recorded praise of the worship leader and musicians led the way.

I talked to the Father as my father for the first time in my life. I could describe our relationship using real relationship terms: love, passion, friendship, companionship.

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Pick and grin One Saturday I was sitting at a friend’s house. He had just taken up guitar. I picked up his guitar and he showed me a few chords. After I left his house that day, I asked the Lord for the chance to learn to play guitar for him. I had no guitar and no money to buy one, so I figured it would be a while before I could start. I had momentarily forgotten how generous our Father is.

That Sunday the associate minister was going to begin giving free guitar lessons to anyone interested. I asked him if I could come and if I could borrow a guitar—just during the lessons—so I could at least begin learning the chords.

He took me to his office. Handing me a guitar, he explained, “A kid came by this week and donated this old guitar. He wanted someone who couldn’t afford one to still be able to play. Enjoy.” The case was caved in. The strings were corroded. And it was one of the most precious gifts I have ever received.

It took surprisingly little time for me to be able to play songs in worship to the Lord. Soon I was able to pick songs that expressed how I felt about God rather than having to depend on the songs on a tape. My love for God grew even more.

The fruits of real worship That was many years ago, but I have continued to grow as a worshiper. There are times when I have been distracted. There are times when I have rebelled. Still, God has been faithful to love me and call me back to his side.

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Why has becoming a worshiper been so important to my life and ministry?

First, it taught me what worship is and isn’t. Once I had thought of worship as a style of music. Now I see it as an attitude of the heart. As a pastor leading others in worship, I needed to focus on the heart, not the style.After a while, people gleaned from my lifestyle and heart that worship was about the Lord, not about my personal agenda. They knew my concern was that the church would love the Lord. Whenever I recommended a change, they saw it from that perspective. They didn’t always agree, but they were always agreeable.

As a worshiper I also gained something else: communion with God. There is no way I could have pastored several churches through radical change without it. Times in the presence of God gave me the emotional strength to carry out the tasks at hand.

I have helped three churches move into blended worship over the last 15 years. No two were the same. Spending time with the Father allowed me to “see what he was doing” and imitate him.

I no longer lust after a “better” church. Instead, I long for a deeper relationship with God

Kevin Bidwell is a pastor. This article was first published in the April 2000 issue of Leadership JournaL.

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Prepare£ Bidwell characterizes his faith as once being rather stoic; over time, God led him to integrate emotions into his understanding of worship. What role do you think emotions should play in worshiping God? Would you describe your own relationship with God as more “rational” or more “emotional”? Journal some of your thoughts on this topic.

GET PERSONAL WITH GODBecoming a person of worship is not difficult, but it requires

consistency. Here are four helpful keys:

£ Set aside time to worship. Without making time in your schedule, it won’t happen.

£ Start where you are. If you know hymns, sing hymns. If you don’t like to sing, pick out a characteristic of God that you appreciate and tell him about it.

£ Use worship CDs. Recorded worship music from companies like Integrity, Vineyard, and Maranatha! can have a tremendous impact on your personal devotional time. Keep worship music playing in your car; you may find yourself worshiping the Lord in gridlock instead of being annoyed.

£ Offer what you’ve been given. If you play an instrument, worship with it. If you write, create a poem or tribute to the Lord. Whatever you do, do it as an act of worship. God made you just as you are; so give him yourself

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Australian worship leader Darlene Zschech didn’t set out to write a globally popular praise song when she penned “Shout to the Lord” in 1993. “I wrote it when I was feeling discouraged,” explains the Queensland native with the lilting Aussie accent. “I felt I could either scream and pull my hair out—or praise God.”

At the time, Darlene and her husband, Mark, had two babies, and with a struggling motorcycle-parts business, money was tight. It was during one particularly stressful day that Darlene snuck into the toy room where they kept their piano and put into song the spiritual truths to which she desperately clung: “Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name,” and “Nothing compares to the promise I have in you.”

Through many heart-breaking experiences, Darlene Zschech found a secret weapon for survival: worship.By camerin courtney

The Powerof Praising God

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsThe Power of Praising God

That song, “Shout to the Lord,” was released by Hillsong Music Australia, the praise and worship label of the 10,000-member church in Sydney where Darlene now serves as worship pastor. In 1996, it became the title cut of a gold-certified worship album released in the U.S. by Hosanna! Music. Since then, the song’s been sung by congregations worldwide, and performed for the Pope at the Vatican and for the President of the United States.

Considered one of this generation’s premiere worship leaders, Darlene has penned dozens of praise songs and performed on numerous worship albums across the world. Mark and Darlene are also the associate directors of Hillsong Conference, an annual international worship workshop in Sydney attended by thousands of church leaders.

In this exclusive interview, Darlene talks about how she’s dealt with many struggles and heartaches over the years and her journey toward discovering the power of praising God—even when you don’t

feel like it.

Did you have any idea “Shout to the Lord” would be so popular?Not at all. I was actually embarrassed the first time I played it for the worship pastor at Hillsong Church; I made him stand with his back to me on the other side of the room! I’d play four bars and say, “I don’t know if this is any good. Change whatever you need to.”

But he liked it, and the first time we sang it at church, people were on their feet singing along before we’d even gotten the words on the screen. It took off from there.

I can’t take any credit for its impact. God decided to put his blessing on this song.

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Why do you think people respond so strongly?They seem to like its simple melody and bold lyrics. The line “nothing compares to the promise I have in you” was something I clung to when our circumstances seemed so bleak. I think that rings true with anyone going through tough times.

It seems as though you’ve had your share of tough times.Yes, though God is so faithful. My mum and dad split up when I was 13. Though my parents didn’t get along with each other, they never lost their devotion to us kids. While that was great, it also led to a messy battle. During custody proceedings, the judge even said to my parents, “I wish you two could work it out because I’ve never seen two people so committed to their kids.” My siblings and I grew up apart from each other (I lived with my father).

Where was your family spiritually at the time of the divorce?We’d attended church for years, but stopped going about this time. My parents’ divorce was the first one in our church, and no one knew how to respond. People took sides, and some said very hurtful things. Looking back, I know they weren’t bad people, they just didn’t know how to handle divorce. None of us did.

But my mum didn’t return to church for a long time because of those hurtful comments.

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And your dad?He actually rededicated his life to Christ a couple years after the divorce. He took my brother and me to a kids’ program at the church, and that’s where I learned how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

What impact did becoming a Christian have on your life?I’d already been through quite a bit, so learning about God’s unconditional love immediately took my breath away. It was the first time I fully realized I didn’t need to perform or please others to earn acceptance!

I remember being in church one Sunday not long after I’d asked Christ into my life, singing with the congregation “When I Hear the Sound of the Army of the Lord.” I looked around at this bunch of people singing together who had nothing in common except Jesus, and I began to catch a glimpse of the power of corporate worship.

Soon after, I wrote my first worship song. And I started singing with a Christian band. That’s where I met Mark; he was the drummer.

But I still struggled with a lot of issues in my life. I wrestled with anger at my parents over having to choose between them during the custody hearings. And I’d developed an eating disorder; I began pretty much starving myself as a preteen. Then I started gobbling up formerly forbidden foods, but soon learned I couldn’t eat that amount of food and still stay slim. So I began taking laxatives and popping pills to get rid of the extra weight. I’d really make myself sick. It was so dangerous.

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How long did you battle bulimia?It wasn’t until Mark and I married when I was 19 that I started changing those negative habits. Actually, Mark was instrumental in my recovery. As my faith deepened, I worked on getting rid of this stronghold in my life. But I only let God come in so far. My eating disorder was so huge for me, I couldn’t quite surrender it all to him.

And Mark wouldn’t let me shut him out. When he discovered laxatives in my bag on our honeymoon, he threw them out and said, “No more.”

What first drew you to Mark?I was attracted to his faith in Christ and to his inner strength. He’s always had a good sense of who he is, and he stays true to that no matter what. I was drawn to him because I didn’t have that kind of strength—and I wanted it. He’s one of the most uncompromising people I know.

And he thought I was beautiful! Although it took years for me to accept that Mark—and God—thought I was beautiful just as I was, with continued support from Mark and prayer for strength, I overcame the faulty thinking and unhealthy habits.

How did you and Mark go about changing the patterns of your childhood?When we got married, we made the conscious choice to change these negative patterns for the generations to come by not even allowing divorce to be an option. We made up our minds that we would stay married no matter what. Many times over the years—especially on those inevitable bad days—I’ve said to Mark, “You’re stuck

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with me.” Even when we’re in a bad season or feeling vulnerable, it’s easier to steer away from poor choices because we know our core values. And staying married is definitely one of them!

Of course, that’s not to say we haven’t made some mistakes along the way.

Such as?I actually left home a few times in the first year of our marriage. I just didn’t know how else to respond. I didn’t know how to resolve conflicts. So I’d say, “I’m leaving.” And Mark would say, “All right. Whatever. See you soon,” because he knew I had nowhere to go. We had a lot to learn about truly trusting each other and believing that someone else can love you over the long haul.

I’ve also had to learn to let go of secret grudges. I had to work through unresolved anger from my childhood.

How did you do that?Becoming a wife, and eventually a mum, gave me a different perspective. It prompted some great talks with my mum, and I started to understand better what she and my father went through. I realize now that both my parents have awesome hearts, they just lost their way for a while. They did the best they could do with the wisdom they had.

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Now you’re involved in a ministry to hurting teen girls. Did your own difficult experiences as a teen prompt you to get involved with Mercy Ministries?Definitely. I would have benefitted from a ministry like this when I was growing up. It’s only by God’s grace that I didn’t become a statistic.

Your involvement in Mercy Ministries must be an especially meaningful ministry to you as a mom.I adore our girls. They’re so creative. Amy, who’s 12, is into painting and dancing. Chloe, who’s 8, is our inventor. Everywhere you go in our house you step on one of her “inventions”!

We’re thrilled to be expecting again. Mark and I waited a long time to have a third child since our lives were so busy. So when I had a miscarriage last year, it was devastating.

How far along were you?Twelve weeks. We’d just announced my pregnancy to the church. Everyone was so excited with us. And then they grieved right along with us when we lost the baby.

The timing was difficult. It was right before I was leaving for a worship tour. I was grieving the loss of someone I knew and loved even though I’d never seen or held my baby. As every expectant mum would know, we had hopes and dreams for this child, and those died, too.

What happened on the tour?I know the power of bringing to God what Hebrews 13:15 calls a “sacrifice of praise,” because there were nights when I really didn’t feel like getting up on that stage and praising him. But I didn’t want to see the enemy win.

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So I said, “God, no matter what I’m feeling, I’m going to worship you now. You’ll have to carry me. Because of Jeremiah 31:13, I know you’ll replace my sadness with joy, turn my mourning into gladness.” Sometimes I needed him to carry me night by night, sometimes minute by minute.

How did making the decision to praise God anyway impact you?Whenever I’ve worshiped in times of distress, I’ve seen God move in amazing ways. I think it’s because praising God requires more faith even than prayer. You’re not just saying, “Dear God, I’m really hurting. Help me out here. I need this and this.” Don’t get me wrong, that’s completely valid.

But worship requires obedience … it requires an act of your will. It’s thanking God for things even though they’re not there yet. It’s appreciating Jesus not for what he can do for you, but for being your Savior. And there’s power in that—power to change hearts and power to move mountains.

How did you discover your purpose as a worship leader?I sought it out because I was intrigued by the verse in Psalm 139 that says God “knit me together in my mother’s womb.” I thought surely he made me for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was. So I started looking at what I’m good at, what I love to do, and whether that lined up with God’s Word. God doesn’t make it difficult for us to figure out our unique purpose—we do.

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How so?A lot of women are caught up in preconceived ideas of what a godly woman should be. So we spend all this time trying to fit into a specific mold—serving on all the right church committees, being a Martha Stewart at home—when that might not even be close to what we’re created for. When women fail at the things they’re not good at, they feel guilty. So they distract themselves by getting even busier so they don’t feel that guilt. It’s a vicious cycle.

What can women do to break that cycle?Take the time to be with God, to love and adore him. Allow his Word to permeate the core of who you are. Let him whisper in your ear who he created you to be. Write down your heart’s dreams and desires, and ask God how he can use them to further his kingdom. It’s important to remember, we each bring something unique to the table.

There’s something that radiates from a woman who is confident in who she is in God. It’s attractive. Her husband finds it sexy, her kids think it’s cool. But so many Christian women shy away from that kind of confidence because they confuse it with arrogance, or they’re scared to find their true identity in Christ. There are so many treasures locked away in these women.

How do you stay true to whom God created you to be?I constantly have to take time out with God to reestablish my priorities. I’ve been one of the world’s greatest people-pleasers. But I’ve discovered when my focus is on pleasing others, I wear out. And when my focus is on pleasing God, I experience joy.

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God wants our worship. He wants our time. But more than anything else, God wants our heart—in good times and bad. I’ve learned the power of that truth firsthand.

Camerin Courtney was editor of Today’s chrisTian Woman. For more information about Darlene Zschech and her music, check out www.IntegrityMusic.com. Learn more about Mercy Ministries of America at www.MercyMinistries.com. This interview was first published in the March/April 2001 issue of Today’s chrisTian Woman.

Prepare£ From her own painful experiences, Zschech has come to believe that “praising God [during hard times] requires more faith even than prayer.” Does it feel counter-intuitive to praise God during periods of heartache? What can worship look like in the life of someone who is really hurting? Write some of your thoughts in the space below.

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A jagged flash of lightning ripped open the night sky, and I sucked in my breath, instinctively hunching in fearful anticipation. A few seconds later, angry thunder vibrated across my nerves. I really hate lightning and thunder!

A room full of out-of-town relatives chuckled indulgently at my involuntary gasps each time lightning stabbed the sky, knowing well my fear of thunderstorms. But just as the storm seemed to pass, an earth-shattering crash snapped everyone to attention. The whole house shuddered.

When you’re facing down fear, worship God! By mayo mathers

The Praise Connection

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsThe Praise Connection

“Whew! Lightning must have struck close,” my uncle stated. “I’m going to look around.” He opened the front door and took a step outside. “There’s a fire!” he hollered.

I hurried outside to see flames leaping up a large juniper tree in the field across from our house, the orange glow growing with breathtaking speed.

“It’s coming this way! We’ve gotta get out of here!” At the urgency in my uncle’s voice, I raced for the phone, forcing my trembling fingers to punch the 911 buttons. Then I flew through the house, grabbing pictures off walls and photo albums from bookshelves. Within minutes everyone piled into the car, and as we drove down the driveway, I heard sirens. Help was on the way.

Later, the fire extinguished and our house safe, I drew two conclusions from that experience: My fear of thunderstorms wasn’t so unreasonable, and fear only seems unreasonable when it’s directed toward something you personally do not fear.

When we were building a fence one summer, my son, Landon, didn’t want to carry the boards because they had earwigs crawling on them. I insisted he do it anyway until my husband casually asked me, “What if the earwigs were snakes?” I quickly found another job for Landon.

It’s no fun to be afraid, but I’m glad God understands. The Bible is heavily laced with reassuring passages addressing fear. One of my favorites is about King Jehoshaphat, who had a legitimate reason to be afraid (2 Chronicles 20). Three different armies had declared war on him. His

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solution? After praying for God’s intervention, he had a choir lead his army into battle. As the choir sang, the three armies fought each other in a far-off valley. By the time Jehoshaphat’s army arrived, no one was left to fight. All because of praise!

I gave Jehoshaphat’s solution a try when my car broke down on the freeway late one night. Swallowing back my fear, I prayed, “Father, whatever happens now, I’ll praise you—and I’ll trust you.”

Immediately a dark van lumbered to a stop and a powerfully built man stepped out and walked toward my car. I repeated, “I praise you, God, and I trust you.”

As it turned out, the man was from the next town and knew which mechanic to recommend and tow company to call. In no time at all, I was back on the road. As I thanked the stranger for his help, he explained why he’d stopped: “Last week my wife’s car broke down and no one stopped to help her. I told the Lord the next time I passed a car on the side of the road, I’d stop.”

Amazing! I’ll remember this praise connection the next time I see storm clouds gathering.

Mayo Mathers is an author and speaker. This article was first published in the April 1997 issue of Today’s chrisTian Woman.

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Prepare£ What faith-crippling fears have you battled? Have you ever praised God when you felt afraid? How can worship and praise strengthen your faith in the face of those fears? Write some of your reflections below.

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Work and worship are rarely connected in the lives and minds of most Christians. In my own church in London most people separate what they do Monday to Friday from their “spiritual” work on Sunday. In a recent parish council election, various members of the church stood up to say why they should be elected. One did children’s work, one ran a Bible study group, and another was part of the music team. The fact that one was a top lawyer, the other a respected economist, and the last one a mother of three was apparently thought to have no relevance to their contribution to church life.

Serving God 9 to 5.By Luke Bretherton

Work asWorship

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsWork as Worship

The task of integrating our worship life with our work life and vice versa is crucial to authentic Christian witness. Unless we do this, we deny that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1) and capitulate on our responsibility to steward the created order and all human activity within it. This task of integration is crucial to enabling the things and people of which our world consists to serve as vehicles, each in their own way, of the praise of God. Without worship as the underlying rhythm of our life, our work is not shaped by God’s calling of us but by worldly measures like success. When we define work apart from worship, we create a large space in which we disengage from God, leading to sin and idolatry.

The primary obstacle to integrating work and worship is sin and suffering. As Christians we must recognize that our actions will fail. Moreover, they will often be the cause of harm to others. Humility, forgiveness, and restoration of our faith in God’s sovereignty are only possible in the context of worship. The eschatological reality that God’s kingdom has broken in through Christ and by the Holy Spirit and is established now—but not yet—is a daily tension for Christians. It is by shaping our lives in the pattern of this tension that we are constantly thrown back to seeking God as the Alpha and Omega of all action.

Sadly, we too quickly equate faithfulness to God with success at work. What is more, we live in a culture where efficiency and effectiveness are the measure of what is good, rather than faith, hope, and love. Hence, the story in Mark 14 of the woman pouring out a bottle

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of perfume over Christ’s head is deeply countercultural. The disciples get angry at this shocking, extravagant waste of a valuable “product” that could have been used “effectively” in feeding the poor. But Christ admonishes the disciples. For the woman’s action is a picture of the Crucifixion, of our Father’s extravagant, inefficient pouring out of his Son’s life by the Spirit for each of our sakes. And we are called to do likewise for those around us.

The key to transforming our work is our worship and praise of God. Sin is the denial of God, the refusal or blocking of proper praise. It is worshiping something other than the triune God who moves towards us to draw us into life with him. We are constantly disengaging from this movement of God toward us and instead either constructing false images of God or else orientating ourselves towards something in the world as if it were God.

Praise refocuses us on God, so we are empowered to go out and serve God and others. Praise creates a different, God-focused perspective. It opens up future possibilities and hope. Our questions are not always answered, the pressure does not diminish, but in praise we come to know that God is Sovereign Creator of all things, that there will be justice and order, although we do not see it now (Psalm 73). Praise is the means of rightly ordering our perspective or re-imagining the world.

John Stott and others suggest a division between evangelism and social action—as the two wings of a butterfly. Both evangelicals and social gospel people

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are wrong, however, in placing the emphasis on action in the world. What humans need is to move in a rhythm of adoration of God, resting in his presence, to action in the world which speaks of God’s presence. All action in the world should point to God, whether it explicitly tells people the words of Christ or demonstrates those words. As St. Francis of Assisi said: “Preach Christ at all times, and when necessary use words.” The rhythm of adoration and action is not a new dualism; rather, it is a single, dynamic sweep or movement.

Worship means literally service offered to God. It is not the bit in the church service where we sing songs! That is worshipful singing. We can also have worshipful studying, worshipful cooking, worshipful typing—in fact, anything that venerates or gives worth to God can be worshipful. The key is the devotion of the heart toward God. Luke 12:34 states, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What we invest our energy, money, and worry into, that is what we worship with our heart.

All life should be worshipful. Scrubbing the floor or working on a computer can be an act of worship. However, there are times when we need to focus our attention solely on God and come face to face with him. We can do this individually in quiet times, but we also need to do this corporately. This involves our taking what we do in the world and offering it back to God as a sign of thanks that all things come from God and that God is sovereign over every area of human activity. By moving in a rhythm of adoration of God to action in the world, we can sustain a working life that reflects Christ.

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Just as our work needs to be rooted in times of adoration, so our times of adoration need to incorporate our work. I long for a time when churches will gather to celebrate the founding of a new business, or to grieve when people are made unemployed. We mark our birth, marriage, and death together—why not everything else? For then we shall truly be moving in a rhythm of adoration and action, our life in the world reflected in and reflecting back our life with God who moves with us in the world.

As the Anglican prayer states after the Communion:

Almighty God, We thank you for feeding us With the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Through him we offer you our souls and bodies To be a living sacrifice. Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory. Amen.

This article was first published in Re:geneRation QuaRteRly in January, 1996.

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Prepare£ Bretherton emphasizes both the importance of time set aside specifically for worship and worshiping God through our daily work. What does your daily work look like? How can you serve God through it? How might worshiping God through your work be different than how you normally approach your daily responsibilities? Write some of your thoughts below.

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Easter is one of my favorite holidays. It’s one of those great days that is ripe with nostalgia, family, and deepening meaning as I grow older and the clamoring voices grow quieter. I was recently reflecting that it’s funny how you can hear a story so many times as a child and yet it can take on a new life and a new voice as the hearer becomes a woman.

Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus.By Jodi adams

A Woman’sWorship Journey

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This was my experience of Luke’s narrative of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Jesus on that first Easter dawn. Perhaps most of us have sat in a Holy Week service or leaned in to some familial storyteller and heard about that Easter morning when Mary arrived at the tomb, her eyes damp with tears, and mistook the Christ for a common gardener in her grief. More often than not, this narrative was mixed in with the many other accounts of eyewitness testimony—some of them charming, some of them fantastical.

As a young woman, I remember hearing many versions of sermons noting that Jesus Christ, the Great Peacemaker and Restorer, appeared first to a woman—something scandalous and decidedly not categorically correct for the ancient world. Preachers and teachers have hemmed and hawed over this not-so-little point in every conceivable way, and yet, as I’ve grown older and my concept of knowing God has embraced a certain mystery, my thoughts of that garden encounter move from theatrical observer to silent sister of that broken woman who found herself in the midst of a powerful transformational encounter with God.

I must admit that a piece of my deep interest in this story stems from my conviction as a worship leader. Sharing in Mary’s journey through the morning’s event preaches more about worship than any sermon ever could. As a sister on this journey, I can share powerfully in Mary’s experience and be simultaneously empowered and humbled, drawn in and released.

Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsA Woman’s Worship Journey

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Worship is a dialogue that begins when we first utter our acknowledgement of God—whether we do this through song, through prayer, through sacrament; whether we are experiencing joy, complacency, or the fog of grief. I know that my experience has often been guided by too many cultural pieces; I come to worship too often with the agenda of receiving, of self-focused need, of measuring the quality of the day by the impact on my emotions or mood. Then I would wonder why I didn’t feel an expected and pre-defined communion with God.

Ah, the conviction of sweet, selfless Mary. It is often the stories of others that provide us the sign-post we may not have even known we needed. Mary transcended the cultural expectations of her gender, set off to the tomb to worship—to serve perhaps for the final time the man she had come to call Master, Rabbi, Friend. She had no expectation of receiving anything from the dark tomb. She had no consolation of company or dignity of position. Her intention-filled trek to the tomb was her profound worship utterance.

And God responded.

The beautiful sound of her own name in the mouth of God brought Mary to her feet—literally and figuratively. By our definitions, this was the whole of the worship encounter. Mary was sad. Mary met God. God made her feel better. But I wonder what Mary would tell us about her change in vision on that Easter morning?

When Mary breathed though her tears and worshiped by love and service, God planted in her the seeds of the kingdom that called her to live in the fullness of her

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feminine self; not defined by her religious culture or the voices of the world around her, but one solely defined by her encounter with God. The conversation continued, both in the garden when Christ sent her to be the herald of the greatest event in time, but it continues on into our day and into the places where we can join in the dialogue.

Doing the sorting through the voices that clamor to define us and fill us can be an exhausting task, but that is the beauty of nourishment; it’s not something we can artificially create. When we utter our expressions of awe for who God is and not for who we need him to be, we transcend our own cultural categories and are released to discover the heart of our feminine spirituality.

As a woman—defined by more than anatomy or vocal register—what is your unique worship utterance? We enter the conversation at different places, but we are all sharing in the dialogue. Mary invites us into her story to be released and nourished. I invite you into the worship journey. Anticipate beauty. Be open to transformation. And look beyond the expected.

Jodi Adams is a teacher, author, and visionary for community worship. Jodi and her family live in Denver, Colorado. This blog posting was first published online at www.GiftedforLeadership.com in March, 2008.

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Prepare£ Adams talks about worship as “our expressions of awe for who God is” rather than worship that’s self-driven and focused on “who we need [God] to be.” Take a moment right now to worship God by expressing some of your own responses of praise, awe, acknowledgement, and wonder at who God is. Write words, phrases, or even sketches or doodles to express those ideas in the space below.

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£How would you define the word worship? How might you explain it to a new Christian?

Use these discussion questions to explore explore what God’s Word says about worship with the women in your group:

Explore

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsExplore

£What practices, settings, or experiences best help you to worship? If you can, share a specific example of a recent time in which you felt drawn to worship God.

£Read Matthew 14:3–9. What adjectives would you use to describe this woman’s act of worship? How can those descriptions translate into the way you worship God in your own life?

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£Two of the articles in this download explore the connection between worship and painful or fear-filled times. Our natural instinct certainly isn’t to worship God when we are hurting or afraid! Read Psalms 42 and 43 aloud together. What human emotions are portrayed in these honest songs? Have you ever been in a similar situation in which you’ve had to “force yourself” to praise God? Describe the situation and the effect worshiping God had on you during that time

£Jodi Adams has grown to understand worship in a new way through her personal exploration of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Jesus. Read John 20:1–18. What strikes you about this passage? In what ways do we see Mary worshiping Jesus?

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£Adams writes, “By our definitions, this was the whole of the worship encounter. Mary was sad. Mary met God. God made her feel better. But I wonder what Mary would tell us about her change in vision on that Easter morning?” What do you imagine Mary might say about her experience with Jesus that day? If she were part of this conversation, what do you think she’d want to say about worship and what it can mean in our lives?

£Though experiences of corporate worship (such as singing on Sunday mornings) are very important, worship is not limited to those expressions and rituals. God spoke very poignantly about worship through his prophets in the Old Testament. Read Amos 5:6–12 to get a sense of how God’s people were living at that time, then read what God said about their worship practices in Amos 5:21–24. (If you’d like, read a similar challenge from God in Hosea 6:6.) Do you think God feels the same way about our worship today? Why or why not?

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£Who is somebody you admire who powerfully worships God through his or her everyday life? How does that person exemplify justice, mercy, righteousness, love, or other God-honoring attributes? How do you desire to be more like that person? Explain.

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Day 1Set aside time today when you can be completely alone. Then grab a hymnal, a Bible, or a worship CD and spend some time completely focused on worshiping God. Sing with all your heart or read words of praise (such as psalms) aloud to God. Put distracting thoughts aside, striving to give your attention entirely to God.

How can you worship God more purposefully and intensely? How can you worship him in non-musical ways, such as through service or through your work? Take some time over the next seven days to explore the topic of worship on your own and apply biblical principles to your everyday life.

Live It

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsLive It

Day 2Read and reflect on the story of Jehoshaphat’s army in 2 Chronicles 20:1–23. How might the principles in this story apply to your everyday life? How might God be calling you to worship him in the face of danger, risk, worry, or fear? Journal your thoughts.

Day 3Today, pray the Anglican prayer highlighted by Luke Bretherton in his article:

Almighty God, We thank you for feeding us With the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Through him we offer you our souls and bodies To be a living sacrifice. Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory. Amen.

As you pray, contemplate the meaning of each word and phrase, asking God to enable you to worship him in your life and work today.

Day 4Praise God in a way that’s out of the norm for you. For example, you could draw or paint a picture to express your praise; you could talk to God aloud about what you observe during a nature walk; you could dance before him; you could worship him in a time of silent contemplation; you could create a symbol of your worship such as a wooden cross or a clay model. Invite God to connect with you as you try this new worship experience.

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsLive It

Day 5Today, try to memorize Romans 12:1–2. As you do, also take time to meditate on its meaning: How can your very life be an act of worship before God? Invite God to speak to you throughout the day about the type of worship he desires from you.

Day 6Read Hosea 6:6, Amos 5:24, and Micah 6:8, then copy each verse in your journal. Write a prayer to God expressing your desire to live the kind of worshipful life described in these passages.

Day 7Rather than singing, worship God by doing one purposeful act of justice, mercy, humility, or righteousness today. It could be something small, like holding the door open for someone who needs help or extending extra mercy and grace to your children if they misbehave. Or it could be something larger, like a very humbling act of service (cleaning toilets at a ministry) or standing up against injustice (writing a letter to your state or federal representative about a specific injustice).

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A fter your discussion of the articles and Scriptures about worship, lead the women in your group in a unique experience: a worship scavenger hunt! You’ll need snacks, copies of the “To Find” list on p. 55, and several 100 Grand candy bars (Nestle).

Divide the group into smaller teams of three to four women each. Then explain that you’ll all be going on a Worship Scavenger Hunt and that it will be timed. (You can set a timeframe that will work best for your group—it’s OK if there won’t be enough time for every team to find all the items on the list.) Explain that you’ll have snacks and a time of discussion when all the teams have returned.

Use this bonus idea during your group’s meeting time.

Interact

For the Leader

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For the LeaderInteract

Pass out the “To Find” list to each team, then send them off, encouraging them to have fun and reminding them to be back on time.

When everyone gets back, invite teams to show and explain the items they found with the rest of the group while you all enjoy the snack.

Determine which team has “won” by getting the most items on the list, then have fun by playfully awarding each winning participant $100,000 (i.e. 100 Grand candy bars)!

Wrap up your time together by explaining that worship isn’t just a serious topic—praising the Lord can be fun and spontaneous! Further, we should praise him for all kinds of people, things, and opportunities. It’s not just about carefully preparing specific times of worship, but rather living lives of worship.

Take time together to purposefully praise God for the different items on the list that group members shared. For example, have someone in the group pray a prayer of thanksgiving for the “prickly” item. “God, thanks for the living things you have so cleverly created… like this cactus.”

This Worship Scavenger Hunt was created by Tami Rudkin and was first published July 2003 on www.SmallGroups.com.

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www.SmallGroups.com

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsInteract

“To Find”

q Find something prickly.

q Find several items: each one should begin with the same letter of each team member’s first name (e.g. Tanya—tomato).

q Find something that reminds you of new beginnings.

q Find something that reminds you of God’s faithfulness.

q Find something that proves you went into a fast-food establishment.

q Find someone to help … then bring back a story about the way your team helped that person.

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Help your group members develop a stronger sense of intimacy with each other by inviting them to worship God together in a unique way. Set up a Facebook page, a web page or blog, a Twitter group, or a group email list just for the women in your ministry. Then, over the next seven days, invite all the group members to “publicly” worship God by writing their response to the following praise prompts and posting those responses on the web page or sending them to the group via email or Twitter.

Use email or a phone call during the week after your group meets to check in with the women in your group, encouraging them to do the “Live It” life application steps!

Connect

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For the LeaderConnect

Your job will be to post the prompt each day … and be sure to write your own response as well to get things moving!

Day 1God, I worship you because…

Day 2God, I’m so thankful that you…

Day 3God, I believe this is true of you:

Day 4God, today I’ll show you my love by…

Day 5God, you are awe-inspiring. One thing that puts me in awe of you is…

Day 6God, one thing I really love about you is…

Day 7God, I want to honor you with my actions. Help me find the strength to…

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Books:

The Air I Breathe: Worship as a Way of Life by Louie Giglio (Multnomah, 2006; 140 pages). We are all worshipers...of something. But are we spending our lives and filling our days with what matters most? The Air I Breathe will awaken you to the reality that worship is more than a service on Sunday. It’s every moment reflecting God’s glory and grace.

Want to explore this topic further? Or are you looking for resources to recommend to the women in your group? Check out the following books and web resources:

Go Deeper

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http://www.christianbook.com/air-breathe-worship-way-life/louie-giglio/9781590526705/pd/526708?item_code=WW&netp_id=429859&event=ESRCN&view=covers

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For the LeaderGo Deeper

Extravagant Worship by Darlene Zschech (Bethany, 2004; 221 pages). Enter into God’s presence with new understanding and excitement when you discover what it means to be an extravagant worshiper. Darlene Zschech’s passionate love for her Lord leaps from the page as she inspires, encourages, and instructs worshipers and worship leaders alike.

The Justice God Is Seeking: Responding to the Heart of God Through Compassionate Worship by David Ruis (Gospel Light, 2006; 130 pages). When the apostles in Jerusalem sent Paul out on the Church’s first missionary venture, they launched him with one charge: “Remember the poor.” It is the same challenge brought by worship leader David Ruis in this exploration of the intersection of worship and justice, the crossroads where love of God and love of neighbor meet.

When Women Worship: Creating an Atmosphere of Intimacy with God by Amie Dockery and Mary Alessi (Regal Books, 2007; 144 pages). Women were created for intimacy with God. But so many things get in the way! Past abuse. Regret. Shame. Feelings of unworthiness. How can worship hold any real meaning? Using the model of Mary of Bethany, who anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume, the authors help readers discover how the act of worship itself is transformation.

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http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=200526&item_code=WW&netp_id=369387&event=ESRCN&view=covers





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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For the LeaderGo Deeper

Online Articles:

“At Home with God”—How to create spiritual sanctuary in your house. A Today’s chrisTian Woman article by Sharon Hanby-Robie.

“The (Broken) Heart of Worship”—In the midst of unbearable tragedy, Job did the unthinkable. Here’s what we can learn from him. A Today’s chrisTian article by Michael Card.

“Finding God Faithful”—How surviving shyness, cancer, and a prodigal daughter helped Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s director, Carol Cymbala, discover the truth about God. A Today’s chrisTian Woman article by Ginger Kolbaba.

“Little People, Big Faith”—From the mouths of babes can come great spiritual truths. A Today’s chrisTian Woman article by Beverly Dillard.

“Rediscovering Holiness”—If you think it’s just a set of rules, you may be surprised! A Today’s chrisTian Woman article by Ruth E. Van Reken.

Bible Studies:

“David’s Dance Across the Line” This single-session Bible study from ChristianBibleStudies.com explores the story of King David dancing joyfully before the Lord in 2 Samuel and considers how it can serve as a model for our own worship.

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http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2007/janfeb/8.46.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/buildyourfaith/wisdom/5.28.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2001/novdec/6.62.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2009/janfeb/littlepeoplebigfaith.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2002/mayjun/14.24.html

http://biblestudies.stores.yahoo.net/davdanaclin.html

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Cultivating a Life of Worship | For ParticipantsGo Deeper

“Fear and Friendship: Two Sides of Worship” This single-session Bible study from ChristianBibleStudies.com will help you examine what the Bible says about maintaining awe of God while also developing an intimate relationship with him.

“Worship” This 5-week course from ChristianBibleStudies.com will help you explore important questions like: Why and how should we worship? How can we see who God is through worship? How does worship connect with our personal walk with God?

“Worshiping Well” This single-session Bible study from ChristianBibleStudies.com explores some of the issues churches today wrestle with in their approach to corporate worship. How should churches navigate issues of musical style, personal expression, and theological preaching in worship services? What should be at the core of worship, no matter which church we attend?

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http://biblestudies.stores.yahoo.net/worshipnew.html



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