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Early Church Worship
Please see below for information about a summer WORSHIP WORKSHOP in Louisville, Kentucky. ============== Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE is another from Dan Kimball’s THE EMERGING CHURCH: VINTAGE CHRISTIANITY FOR NEW GENERATIONS. EARLY CHURCH WORSHIP We can determine that much of what the early church did when they gathered as a church for worship was heavily influenced by what they were used to in the Jewish synagogue. We know the early church met on Sundays, even though it was a working day in their culture. They must have met at other times when they had meals together (1 Cor. 11:17-22). [Historian] Justin Martyr, in his “First Apology,” written around A.D. 150 in Rome, offers us a snapshot of these early home church meetings. He tells us that they had prayer, a reading from a portion of the Scriptures “as long as time allows,” followed by a discourse given by someone in the church to encourage them to imitate what was heard in the Scriptures. They would then stand, pray, and take communion. Then off to their daily work they went. Some of this order of service was probably based on the synagogue liturgy with which many of the early Christians would have been familiar. Pretty simple, nothing fancy. Very Christ-centered and very participatory and community oriented. Very vintage. This was the worship service of the early church. Dan Kimball, in THE EMERGING CHURCH: VINTAGE CHRISTIANITY FOR NEW GENERATIONS, chapter 10, “What Is This Thing We Call the ‘Worship Service’?” (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), pp. 113. ISBN 0-310-24564-8 [FAVOR: Please consider forwarding the following paragraph to pastors or church musicians who might benefit from a wonderful WORSHIP WORKSHOP this summer.] WORSHIP TO THE GLORY OF GOD (July 12-16, 2004 in Louisville) will feature lectures by Harold Best and Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The five-day event is available as a two-credit course at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary or simply as a workshop for interested participants. You can expect an intensive experience combining both theological reflection and practical guidelines for planning and leading authentic biblical worship in today’s church. All lectures and materials will be relevant to both traditional and contemporary expressions of corporate Christian worship. If you have questions, please call 1-800-626-5525 (Ext. 4115). This and other summer offerings can be seen at www.sbts.edu/icw. Click on “2004 Summer Workshops”.] Have a great week. Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu/icw =========================== WORSHIP QUOTE OF THE WEEK: To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view a complete index of worship quotes, please visit http://www.wqotw.org =========================== |