Review: By the Waters of Babylon

mlward

aniolScott Aniol’s new book, By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, argues at length against the architects of missional evangelism—not because Aniol thinks the attractional model (of Hybels, Warren, et al.) is better, but because he doesn’t see cultural forms as neutral, suitable for any message including the gospel.

Here’s what I take to be his thesis paragraph for the book:

Although the missional church seems to correctly recognize the nature of the Christendom paradigm in western civilization and in many cases rightly discerns the integral relationship between Christianity and culture during that period, it appears to view this development in the history of the church as entirely negative, with very few positive fruits. At the very least, most missional advocates see what happened as merely neutral contextualization of the church’s worship to culture, yet their very quick dismissal of worship forms coming out of that period as simply antiquated “relics” reveals what may be a simplistic understanding of the impact of the church upon culture during that period. This perspective limits their ability to recognize the strengths of the cultural forms from that period in expressing Christian values and the vast differences that exist today with regard to culture and contextualization in worship.

Discussion

"We simply believe the mega-church model may have played a role in the unspooling of Perry Noble"

SI Filings

“But looking deeper into this situation … is Noble’s church part of the problem? Is its ultra-contemporary worship emphasis – in which pastors are hailed as rock star gurus – displacing real religious substance? And are those who attend these heavily-secularized services en masse merely feeding a ‘feeling’ as opposed to feeding their souls?”

Discussion

5 Favorite, 5 Least Favorite Instruments Used in Worship

SI Filings

“1. Piano — Piano is not only a favorite; it is one of the few instruments that did not also get mentioned as a least favorite. 2. Acoustic Guitar — This instrument was a clear second preference. 3. Organ — This instrument was also the number one least favorite. There seemed to be a clear generational divide here.” CPost

Discussion

Acceptable Worship - 1 Peter 2:4-10

Aaron Blumer

This outline continues a series preached in 2002. For my own edification (and hopefully yours), I’ve restudied the passage and made some improvements to the outline.

Introduction

Worship has been a controversial topic in recent years. In some ways, the degree of controversy is a good thing: much of it arises from people genuinely striving to do what they believe to be God’s desire—that is, to properly honor God’s name and, at the same time, properly involve and engage God’s people in that activity.

Clearly, much of the controversy has also arisen from philosophies of ministry or outreach that, among other errors, improperly relate the interests and desires of the lost or immature to the worship life of the local church.

Peter’s teaching in this portion of 1 Peter is an excellent corrective. It helps us frame the question of acceptable worship correctly, understand the bigger picture, and ask the right questions to evaluate our present-day options.

Discussion