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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rather mind tweaking and very practical book on worship, May 24, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations (Paperback)
This book helps us understand why emerging generations are disappearing and disconnecting from our churches and some practical ideas of what to do about it. It gives very practical and detailed examples of worship services from different churches around the country, so it isn't just one model or one specific approach. However, this book also totally challenges us to rethink what we even are supposed to do when we gather together as a church. It asks the questions about why do we preach the way we preach? Why do we use so much music lately and feel like a rock concert? Why do our church buildings feel like theaters instead of sacred spaces? The refreshing thing about this book is that it challenges us NOT to go more shallow or become seeker-sensitive to engage the hearts of emerging generations in their expressions of worship. But instead, says we should go all the more deeper in our teaching, use more Scripture, and be more unapologetically intense about our worship. It shares how to move beyond just preaching and singing to also be making our worship gatherings more interactive and participatory through ancient practices, painting art based on Scripture, creating prayer stations etc. So, if you are looking for a book about worship that is a lot different than any other book I have read about worship - and have your mind tweaked to rethink things about the church, then this is a book you will want to read.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Agree with premise, hate the writing, September 27, 2007
This review is from: Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations (Paperback)
Many people are praising this book for its challenging message. I don't disagree with the message.
I was disappointed in this book because it the poor quality of writing inhibits clarity and good argument. Also, because the author believes every gathering must fit its unique context (I agree!), he tries to avoid making specific recommendations. The result is just jumbled ideas and vague quasi-suggestions. If you are looking for a book that will teach you how to start an emerging worship gathering, this is not going to be very helpful.
The best part of the book is where Kimball profiles several different emerging worship gatherings (at the back), and it would have been a better book to start with these, then draw observations about things they have in common. (And it would have been better if such observations were written by a better writer.)
More specifically about the writing, Kimball's problems start with a poor vocabulary. A good vocabulary results in an economy of words and a precision in meaning; a poor one yields vague, shallow wordiness.
For example, he writes on page 172: "Historically, church ministry functions in a certain way and there was a specific approach to looking at the church leadership structure. But Graceland [an alternative/emerging worship gathering] started going against the norms of consistency and church uniformity!" Lots of words, little clarity: it's clumsy and vague.
I found Kimball's avoidance of specific suggestions or guidance for creating emerging worship gatherings annoying. Either he is unable to find common threads in emerging worship gatherings, or he is deliberately obfuscating. I wish he would show a little more faith in his readers, and tell us how each gathering he profiles was envisioned and created. Most of us are bright enough to realize that our situation is unique, and we must be careful in applying the lessons from other gatherings. But more specifics would have made this a much more helpful resource.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is exactly what I needed, February 18, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations (Paperback)
I read a lot of books on the emerging church and postmodernism and all the Sweet,McLaren things which are great - but i think this is a rare type of book which actually walks through some ideas of what to do about it in my church. There is a lot of talking and guessing about culture today, but if you want to actually learn some ideas of what to do in your church to engage emerging generations, than this is a wonderful book to do so. We have tried a lot of things, but i wish i had this book before we began trying them. I also love that it gives examples from all around the country, so we can see what is happening in a variety of churches and not just in an isolated church or one person's experience. The detailed chapters of how to get started are exactly what we need, so i highly highly recommend this for anyone thinking of starting something new or changing what you are doing. If you are actually in ministry and serious about doing something and not just talking about it, then this book is great for you.
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