Exploring the Impact of Pretending, Performance, Preference, and Presence-Filled Worship

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN PRETENDING TO WORSHIP, PERFORMING IN WORSHIP, PREFERRENTIAL WORSHIP, & PRESENCE-FILLED WORSHIP?

PRESENTED TO DR. BRIAN RUSSELL

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR PMIN 5553 60 OL: PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

COLLEGE OF MINISTRY AND THEOLOGY

SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

BY

WILTON GLENN

FORT WALTON BEACH, FL

9 MARCH 2025

INTRODUCTION

Worship is the opening of the heart in response to love for God. Franklin Segler, in Understanding, Preparing For, And Practicing Christian Worship, states, “When we try to worship for the sake of certain benefits that may be received, the act ceases to be worship.”[1] This presents a dilemma in contemporary worship. When we make worship about ourselves rather than about God, it becomes subjective, influenced by personal desires and preferences. This is known as preferential worship. Most Christians and orthodox traditional faith practices partake in four types of worship. Pretending worship, performance worship, preferred worship, and Presence-filled purposeful worship are all prevalent in the 21st Century modern worship realm by which, practical theology is pertinent to understand the four carefully.

THESIS

Kapic notes, “One of the greatest theological challenges of our time is to move our worship beyond self-absorption.”[2] This highlights a significant issue in contemporary church practices: worship often focuses on the individual rather than the divine. As a result, worship can devolve into imitating artists or icons from other faith traditions. This perspective distorts the essence of true worship and contradicts what God expects of us in any church service, gathering, corporate meeting, or personal expression. It is the goal of every theologian, lead pastor, production team, and worship pastor to avoid allowing performance, pretense, or preferential worship to replace worship steeped in the presence of God, achieved through intentional prayer, planning, and execution. This paper will defend the position that by purposefully planning worship through prayer, discernment, and Presence-filled encounters Churches can achieve true worship. This is wrapped around a biblically sound Gospel-oriented intention to achieve true worship that can be fulfilled for God’s glory.

MAIN ARGUMENT

A few terms can help clarify the essence of worship. Segler explains that the English word "worship" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term weorthscipe, which combines “worth” and “ship” to mean someone “worthy of reverence and honor.”[3] Therefore, we must declare God’s honor, glory, and might, as illustrated in Revelation 5:12-14. In the Old Testament, the term is translated as shachah, meaning “to bow down” or “to prostrate oneself.”[4] For example, in Exodus, when God spoke to Moses, the people believed and “bowed their heads and worshiped” (Exodus 4:31). Jesus used the Greek term proskuneo or to prostrate when speaking to the woman at Sychar, stating, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).[5] These definitions help us understand the roots of the term worship. Yet, why has false worship been introduced through pretending?

There are examples of ‘pretending acts of worship’ of false laying on of hands in the modern church for healing. There is also paying for blessings and words of encouragement or knowledge. Also, the Catholic church practices paying for indulgences to pray people out of purgatory. This is not true worship. It is idolization to its maximum content, even without the imagery of God which can be explored later. Imagining God is not idolization. But, pretending to lift your hands in reverence to God when your heart is not right with your brother or sister in Christ is blasphemy to the Holy Spirit when you have not left your gift at the altar and damned yourself to hell while taking communion. The Bible says, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”[6] This verse usually comes after the offering or during the prayer before the message. If before taking communion in the modern liturgical set service, this liturgical practice is before the message and after the music and worship. In the Catholic church, it remains near the beginning of the service with the Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy) or Penitential Act. It is also a reminder after the homily, before taking the “true body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ”. Catholics then end with the Eucharist before the processional out of mass.

It is important, as many new believers don’t really know what the meaning of Communion is. So, to be in a Presence-minded atmosphere while taking communion, this is the reminder most Protestant churches say, but don’t act on to move along in service. This is pretending to worship. Robert Thune in The Gospel-Centered Life states:

If we are not resting on Jesus’ righteousness, this growing awareness of our sin becomes a crushing weight. We buckle under its load and compensate by pretending that we’re better than we really are. Pretending can take many forms: dishonest (I’m not that bad), comparison (I’m not as bad as those people), excuse making (I’m not really that way), and false righteousness (Here are all the good things I’ve done). Because we don’t want to admit how sinful we really are, we spin the truth in our favor.[7]

True worship can only be experienced, not fully defined. Feelings of awe, reverence,

incomprehension, and mystery arise when encountering God in worship.

For Christians, life itself is an act of worship. Thus, “worship is practicing the presence of

God in every experience of life,” and “acts of worship are more meaningful when the whole of life is devoted to God.”[8] This counter argues with authenticity the pretending on Sundays only worship lifestyle we as Christians should all live. In our daily walks of life, home, study, family, work, and social lives, it is not a performance but a moment-by-moment exercise to choose God because He first chose us. In the Gospel of John it reiterates,

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will

produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! [9]

Henceforth, Christians are to remain fruitful by the Word of God, the witness of their lives, and according to the tenets of the faith. We are to have as much fruit be evidently shown, known, and lived by when it comes to Gospel Centered living in Purposeful Presence filled worship and not pretending on Sunday only Worship. John says, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”[10] 

The fruit of the witness of Presence filled worship life known by Christians is best explained in Galatians 5 by Paul, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”[11] You have heard it said that the Golden Rule is the true way to live out the Gospel-centered life pragmatically. Love God and Love People, all the law and prophets hang on these two commandments. Love your enemies as well, and follow these fruits of the Spirit so that you may have abundant Life. Bless those who bless you. Choose God.[12]

However, Jesus warned the Christians then of false teachers, prophets, all sorts of conjurers and misleaders of The Way saying:

Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are

they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for

character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.[13] Matt. 7:16-20 (MSG)

These false teachers and ‘superapostles’ of today, usually are performance-based faith works idolized and awarded preachers as well as worship leaders in person and online, only into doing God’s work for the money. Thune says, “If we are not rooted in God’s acceptance of us through Jesus, we compensate by trying to earn God’s approval through our performance”.[14] They rely on “ false sources of righteousness to build [their] reputation and give us a sense of worth and value”[15] i.e. (job righteousness, family righteousness, theological righteousness, schedule, intellectual, flexible, mercy, legalistic, financial, political, & tolerance righteousness). 

This the problem with performance-based worship. It pits all these criteria into the purpose behind why their culture views God as productive to gauge the numbers of the congregation, the point behind the budgets and song or scripture selection, and even who should be online doing podcasts, live shows, radio shows, or better yet, videos of artists and performers with plastic awards being given out for “Best Worship Song of the Year by Indie Christian Artists”. What instrument based on appearance would make anyone look or seem better than King David with a sling or harp anyway? Looks, performance and class status do not matter in the real worship world. It is rather about Presence and being present and what the heart speaks rather than the mouth for with garbage in comes garbage out.

Thune says these are just a few examples, but, “functional righteousness disconnects us from the power of the gospel” and God is not disappointed in any failures in worship.[16] Rather, “If you imagined God as anything but satisfied because of what Jesus has done for you, you have fallen into performance mindset” worship. Therefore, a Christian worshipper or leader should step off the platform and re-evaluate the reason they ever joined a worship team and the reason they are a Christian today if they feel they are not performing well enough. This will help their perspective to encounter God on a deeper level and motivate them to live purposefully when experiencing divine worship in a meaningful way. Diving into this more gets to tell a truly captivating story of worshipping Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit for when John writes in his Gospel, “ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”[17] 

What is important here is not just the charisma of how we posture ourselves in worship in a spirit-filled way, but the truthfulness of it all in our hearts? Well, diving into Ancient Greek from John helps to understand. John writes, “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” (John 4:25) This is the King James Version. However, The Interlinear Bible by Jay Green Sr. (Hebrew, Greek, and English Translation) says these verses as such and defines it in context Ancient Greek Lectionaries differently on the words ‘worship’, ‘spirit’ and ‘truth’:

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers (προσκυνηται) will worship (προσκυνηται)the Father in spirit (στο πνεύμα) and truth (αλήθεια); also the Father such seeks those worshiping (kuvouvtas) Him.[18]

Thus, those who ‘worship’, proskuntai, ‘shall worship’ προσκυνήσουσιν, truthfully as real ones αληθινοί, in the spirit, στο πνεύμα and αλήθεια (in truth) for God the Father seeks such προσκυνούντας in verse 23. Worship is thrice mentioned. Truthfulness twice. Spirit is shown once because there is only One Holy Spirit within us. It is not our ‘spirit’ that leads us, yet God’s one and only Holy Spirit we seek week in and week out. Systematically and practically, we must do as God commands in worship. Therefore, if we are to be truthful (2xs) in our worship (mentioned thrice denoted differently in the plural as well as the pre-tense actional verb and then as a noun as well), it should be continual in our lives that we worship Him and true to others who know us. For the Father seeks such worshippers (in the third and last noun personhood pronoun of His heart after ours). Jesus says again, “God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.”[19] This involves more than hand-raising in a song on a Sunday morning service and going to Bible study at night on Wednesdays. Worship is a lifestyle.

            Therefore, it is rhythmically rooted in Scripture when observing and participating in

worship in Christian’s daily life and when it comes to practicing singing or being a part of a

worship team on a Sunday celebration for Christ. Samuel Deuth says in Following Jesus,

“Worship is what we do regardless of circumstances or feelings. Often taking a few moments in

worship to lift up your hands and sing will greatly impact your life and the climate of your heart”.[20]

It is imperative that we participate in worship and don’t just stand there as if it is not a part of a

Sunday service key factor. Even the disciples in The Chosen sang on the day of Shabbat and often

other times.

Kelly Kapic resounds this argument by saying we don’t have to understand every

worship songs when singing. Nor do we have to be lifelong Christians who have our act together.

He says, “Worship does not require that we perfectly understand everything about God but that we

respond genuinely to the true God who makes himself known to us.”[21] The Psalmists say God

will make us known to Him in our songs of praise, adoration, glorification, and worship to Him.

            Psalm 100 is one of the most quoted worship psalms to this day. It says:

            Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his[a];

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.[22]

It is important to engage fully in singing new songs with happiness and joy to God in church. It is also important to keep the tradition of reviving the songs old, hymns, and other spirituals or gospels that shaped our tradition to what it is now like “How Great Thou Art” and “I Exalt Thee”. The generations after and now growing need to know these rich theologically true songs from over 20 years ago rather than just the feel-good concert “smoke, fog, lights, haze and praise” songs all over social media and in concerts. Also, Terry L. Cross,  in Serving The People of God’s Presence: A Theology of Ministry, highlights the importance of engaging in worship and service within the church, stating, “The church is not primarily a place to exchange ideas but a place for the practice of prayer, song, praise, worship, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper.”[23] In this way, all generations can participate more fully in the routine practices of the liturgy and worship by recognizing the Lord’s Supper in communion, singing about the life, death, burial, defeat of the grave, and ascension and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the wonder-working Presence filled power of prayer and preaching within a 21st Modern worship church setting.  

COUNTERARGUMENT/REBUTTAL

Another problematic argument in the liturgy of more traditional worship settings by

preference of worship is still debatable. Scholars and theologians agree that “music is the vehicle that moves worshipers into the Holy of Holies of God’s Presence."[24] This understanding highlights the significant role of music in many church services today, especially in the North American church model of the 21st century. Segler references Reformed liturgical scholar John Witvliet, who observed, “Simplistically, the Roman Catholics reserve their sacramental language for the Eucharist, Presbyterians for preaching, and charismatics for music.”[25] For Christians who grasp the story of the Lord’s Supper and can follow any preacher’s message, the sacraments of the service are still manifest through these two essential forms, both rich with God’s Presence. Some people celebrate traditional masses and liturgies often. Others observe the Eucharist on High Holy days when they can, however, they do not make it an obligation out of guilt or shame to follow all the rules, rituals, holidays, holy days, obligations, or tithing and indulgence practices. Nor do they all idolize the icons associated with the artwork of older traditional religions based on other earlier Christian religions or the Orthodox and Catholic teachings.

Yet, for believers seeking a deeper connection to God “in spirit and truth”,

the element of music becomes crucial in experiencing and encountering God, particularly on the holy day of Sunday. Without the avenue of ‘good’ music, worship in traditional or even blended settings is extremely difficult. It can feel like a series of disconnected rituals, rather than a cohesive expression of communal praise where Christians gather to sing in the Spirit. Without the proper form of worship through music in any liturgical setting, a worship service is false and so are its intentions even if other elements of biblical teaching, rituals, or traditions still follow biblical Gospel standards to date.

Worship in the contextual times of the New Testament then were much different than they are now. “Christian worship is rooted in Jewish practices, The earliest Christians ere Jews who had been faithful in their worship at the temple and in their synagogues. Jesus himself followed the practices of his people in worship. To some extent, the first Christians followed Hebrew worship as they were accustomed to in the temple and in the synagogue”.[26] However, there was no imminent and radical change in worship from the OT times into the NT times when Jesus died. They just moved into worshipping in people’s homes, which is what the Book of Acts is about. Later, in Christian History, buildings were formed, sanctuaries, houses of worship, and more denominations split off in Christian history causing a divide about how to worship preferentially based on different beliefs like transubstantiation versus consubstantiation, charisms, preaching styles, and changes with the Gutenberg Press by translating out the Scriptures for the vernacular of the Indigenous non-reader to learn to read the Bible. That is another paper in and of itself in Church History.

Peers of more scholars, theologians, and pastors say many things about worship in the 21st Century. Gordon Lanthrop says in an article Worship in the Twenty-first Century: Contextually Relevant and Catholic--3. Preaching, that the style of preaching, rather than the music and worship avenue differs between relevancy and the Catholic styles. In it, it defends the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and more to the open public. Lanthrop elaborates with:

The "sermon" of Luke 24 becomes a prototype for Christian preaching to enable and create faith. It is not that by way of self-congratulation in Christian circles; the aborted sermon of Luke 4 remains possible. But in Luke 24, the sadness and loss of the disciples—but also the rejection of outsid­ers and the foreshadowed death of Jesus—are transformed by the presence of the risen Lord in the interpreted word of the Scrip­tures, a presence recalled, confirmed, and supported through the risen one's presence in the meal. The sermon of Luke 24 can and must stand side by with the life-giving meal and, by implication, with the life-giving bath and the openness to strangers.[27]

Therefore, it is not to say that the modern worship world does not value as much the preaching and teaching of their pastors as they do the music portion of the beginning and/or end of a service, however, music draws a crowd, and teaching cyclical biblical seasons of topics is redundant and will just leave a church in ruin, debate, only fewer regular church attendees who faithfully tithe minimally out of obligation rather than cheerfully giving. It also elevates the outlook, and more likely the pocketbook, and status of the lead pastor and worship leader rather than the team effort and those who volunteer their time, talent, and gifts to the church with no title. It is still good to see off the pilgrim on his journey with a meal and food for the spirit to nourish them until their next destination with the Lord’s Supper, which can help greatly.

Another scholar, Keith Peklers, talks more about the Roman Catholic liturgical reforms regarding worship In 40 Years of Liturgical Reform: Shaping Roman Catholic Worship for the 21st Century. He highlights the then Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, who had a pluralistic view of ecclesiology but understood the wants of the people that were his congregants. Pekler writes of Cardinal Mahony:

Before we are anything else — any sex, ethnicity, nationality or citizenship — we need to be the Body of Christ, sisters and brothers by our Baptism. Every one of us needs to know by heart some the music, vocabulary, movement, and ways of thinking and feeling that are not of our own background. The larger society we are a part of needs this witness.[28] 

Peckler defends the values of post-Vatican II’s ways of allowing multi-cultural views and vantage points within the reforms of worship within the Catholic liturgy. However, he also said he had seen a decline in worship within the attendance of the Catholic Church. They were going elsewhere where it was more community-based.

            Pekler found that the disparaging number of Catholic church attendees was gone. The shift was that:

The cultural situation is equally instructive as we move from the United States to considerationof the global picture. At the beginning of the twentieth century, 80 percent of all Christians through out the world were white and lived in the northern hemisphere. By the year 2020,80 percent of all Christians will be people of color who live in the southern hemisphere. This new sociological reality has tremendous implications for our liturgical prayer of the 21st century.[29]

To no surprise, this number keeps decreasing in this modern age as the next generation are not interested in these traditions, and the influx of migrants is rejected by the Catholic Church’s American-based values of non-solidarity and reform as priests and pastors are overwhelmed with workloads, funerals, weddings, and less income into the offering plates.

CONCLUSION

            All of the songs we sing in worship, service, amongst the liturgy, in orthodoxy, or the mass matter. Ian Hussey penned a peer-reviewed article called, The Songs We Sing: A Textual Analysis of Popular Congregational Songs of the 20th and 21st Century. In it, he describes the analysis for which I have based my Presence-filled defense and for that, each church claims to be true when ministering on Sunday and defends. Every church and its doctrine claim their ways are “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”.[30] He simply states in his introduction that “Church music is more than entertainment or even a vehicle to help the relationship with God - it shapes the theology of congregations.”[31] The theology and doctrine of each church’s congregation are always a bit different.

Having served in music and worship and production ministry in over 20 churches and ministries, it is not easy to memorize and understand completely each emotion, thought, and analogy to deliver for each song and encounter. There is except one word which Jesus describes of the Father about His church as the Church comes to Him in “truth” and “spirit”: Grace, dear God. Grace. Grace covers all who believe in Jesus Christ and it is grace that is sung in every song about the atoning factor of God’s redemption on the cross through His own Son. Without God’s redemption at Christ's expense, The Church would not have joy to know God more fully in the avenue of music in the church, no matter what the song or how it is presented. It’s not for entertainment for the Church; it’s for God’s gladness to overflow back to Christians in its fullness of His love mercy and grace. However, the more grace that can be found to be good in quality of sound, technical, and visually appealing. This is true for the humor aspect and engaging preaching which makes the church seem familial and surreal, the better in actual engagement and reactionary participation to drive the heart closer to the Spirit and Truth of God within.

As evangelicals, we can turn to David Driedger’s article on Evangelicals, Worship and Participation: Taking a Twenty-First Century Reading. He writes of The Great Awakening of the Protestant movement, by which most believe now we are in The Second Great Awakening revival times. He reviews Alan Rathe’s Evangelicals, Worship and Participation:Taking a Twenty-First Century Reading, saying of him that “he under­stands worship to encompass both life and liturgy.”[32] The order of service is designed to enhance the musical worship experience. By doing so, the combination of the message, scripture, and tone within the church helps engage members and encourages them to reconnect. This strategy aims to bring people together more each week, inviting everyone to consider it in their daily lives.

Some Christians may prefer shorter sermons with longer messages. Other more spirit-filled empowered, charismatic, apostolic, Pentecostal Christian churches find God’s Presence thicker, and more tangible in longer music and worship services of great theological truth in contemporary, older praise and worship, and even reintroduced hymns. This pierces the heart before the Word of God has even been spoken on the platform for the message of the week's end. Without a doubt, the pretenders that float in and out of the church’s seeker-friendly roaming world look for their Sunday fix. And the comfortably self-righteous content performers just take an afternoon expensive lunch break now that they’ve picked up their children from their first free daycare of the week. But being connected with God in the Church with the purpose of worship still happens and is rooted and valued in the mind, hopefully. For one day out of a tumultuous week, they are not alone.

REFLECTION

            The church, along with myself, my peers, allies, and friends, gathers to commune, serve one another, catch up, and sing joyfully and loudly. We believe in the Resurrection and in the power within us to overcome challenges. Through worship, we can conquer anxiety, depression, fear, financial struggles, relationship issues, marital and family difficulties, job loss or the monotony of work, and feelings of isolation. Together, we don't have to fight the enemy alone.

God assures us, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand.”[33] This hand delivers us from ourselves and conquers our worries and fears. He offers us rest and comfort, as stated, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”[34]

When King David wrote The Miserere, or Psalm 51, he feared that the Holy Spirit would leave him because of his sin of murder and adultery with Bathsheba’s and against her husband. However, the Holy Spirit does not abandon us for our sins. While we can grieve or ignore the Holy Spirit, we cannot lose its Presence through our behaviors or attitudes.

The true denial of the Holy Spirit comes from rejecting God, which is akin to denying Jesus as the Son of God. This also means rejecting the belief that the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus and baptized the disciples, allowing them to communicate in various languages and develop a personal prayer language.

These past 8 weeks, I have grown in the Holy Spirit and worship through leading Friday night events for worship with spontaneous and prophetic moments on mysteriously put-together supernatural teams. I have also been able to experience more of the truth behind Scripture by putting together a set list of songs so the Holy Spirit can flow in truth without me hindering it in worship with Pensacola Burn 24/7 and others and leaving space for God, testimony, and prayer to speak and move by The Spirit. He will not leave me even if I grieve Him, and He is my source of strength. I am grateful for not quitting in my journey of finding a home church to be plugged into a worship team. As an ex-Catholic, the “Spirit will lead me to trust Him beyond all borders.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cross, Terry L., Serving The People of God’s Presence: A Theology of Ministry (Grand Rapids,

MI: Baker Academic, 2020), Kindle Edition. 188.

Deuth, Samuel. Following Jesus, 7 Essentials to Following Jesus. United States: Samuel Deuth   Ministries, 2016.

Driedger, David J M. “Evangelicals, Worship and Participation: Taking a Twenty-First Century

Reading.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 29 (December 21,

2019): 91–95.

Green, Sr., Jay P. The Interlinear Bible. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. United States: Hendrickson Publishers,

2016.

Greek Interlinear Bible. (Scriveners Textus Receptus, KJV/AV, 1894, 2015)

https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm. Web. Accessed. Mar.

9 2025.

Hussey, Ian. “The Songs We Sing: A Textual Analysis of Popular Congregational Songs of the

20th and 21st Century.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 6, no. 2

(2019): 217–34.

Johnson, Todd E., ed. The Conviction of Things Not Seen, Worship and Ministry in the 21st

Century. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2002.0

Lathrop, Gordon. “Worship in the Twenty-First Century: Contextually Relevant and Catholic--3.

Preaching.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 26, no. 4 (December

31, 1999): 303–13.

Pecklers, Keith F. “40 Years of Liturgical Reform: Shaping Roman Catholic Worship for the 21st

Century.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 79, no. 3 (December 2005): 194–209.

Rooted, Connect With God The Church Your Purpose. Rooted Network, Zondervan, 2020.

Segler, Franklin M., and Randall Bradley. Understanding, Preparing For, And Practicing

Christian Worship. 2nd ed. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman, 1996.

Thune, Robert H., and Will Walker. The Gospel-Centered Life. Greensboro, North Carolina:

New Growth Press, 2011.

[1] Franklin M. Segler, Randall Bradley. Understanding, Preparing for, And Practicing Christian Worship. 2nd Ed.

(Nashville, TN, Broadman & Holman, 1996). 5

[2] Kelly M. Kapic. A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology (Little Books InterVarsity Press). Kindle Edition. 12. 

[3] Franklin M. Segler, Bradley, Randall. Understanding, Preparing for, And Practicing Christian Worship. 2nd Ed.

(Nashville, TN, Broadman & Holman, 1996). 6

[4] Ibid. 6. 

[5] Ibid. 6.

[6] Matt. 5:23-24 (ESV)

[7] Robert H. Thune, Walker, Will. The Gospel-Centered Life. (Greensboro, NC, New Growth Press 2009). 19.

[8] Franklin M. Segler, Randall Bradley. Understanding, Preparing for, And Practicing Christian Worship. 2nd Ed.

(Nashville, TN, Broadman & Holman, 1996). 8.

[9] John 15:5-6 (ESV)

[10] John 15: 7-8 (NLT)

[11] Gal. 5:22-23 (NLT)

[12] Deut. 30:19-20

[13] Matt. 7:16-20 (MSG)

[14] Robert H. Thune, Will Walker. The Gospel-Centered Life. (Greensboro, NC, New Growth Press 2009). 21.

[15] Ibid. 22

[16] Robert H. Thune, Will Walker. The Gospel-Centered Life. (Greensboro, NC, New Growth Press 2009). 23.

[17] John 4:23-24 (KJV)

[18] Greek Interlinear Bible. (Scriveners Textus Receptus, KJV/AV, 1894, 2015)

https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm. Web. Accessed. Mar. 10th 2025.

[19] Greek Interlinear Bible. (Scriveners Textus Receptus, KJV/AV, 1894, 2015)

https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm. Web. Accessed. Mar. 10th 2025.

[20] Samuel Deuth. Following Jesus, 7 Essentials to Following Jesus. (United States: Samuel Deuth Ministries, 2016). 11.

[21] Kelly M. Kapic, A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press). Kindle Edition. 14.

[22] Psalm 100: 1-3

[23] Terry L. Cross, Serving The People of God’s Presence: A Theology of Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI:

Baker Academic, 2020), Kindle Edition. 188.

[24] Todd E. Johsnon The Convictions of Things Not Seen: Worship and Ministry in the 21st Century. (Grand Rapids, MI, Brazos Press, 2002). 49

[25] Ibid. 48

[26] Franklin M. Seger, and Randall Bradley. Understanding, Preparing For, And Practicing Christian Worship. 2nd ed. (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman, 1996). 21

[27] Gordon Lanthrop. “Worship in the Twenty-First Century: Contextually Relevant and Catholic--3. Preaching.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 26, no. 4 (December 31, 1999): 304.

[28] Keith F. Peckler. “40 Years of Liturgical Reform: Shaping Roman Catholic Worship for the 21st Century.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 79, no. 3 (December 2005): 203

[29] Ibid.

[30] John 14:6 (NIV)

[31] Hussey, Ian. “The Songs We Sing: A Textual Analysis of Popular Congregational Songs of the 20th and 21st Century.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 6, no. 2 (2019). 1.

[32] Driedger, David J M. “Evangelicals, Worship and Participation: Taking a Twenty-First Century Reading.” Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, Lsdar 29 (December 21, 2019): 2.

[33] Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

[34] Matt. 11:28 (NIV)