This is an important one for any pastor, worship leader, and others who have a leadership role for corporate worship services. In this video I interview Dr. Josh Samuel from Master’s College & Seminary in Ontario, Canada. A fair amount of our discussion focused on how we can facilitate authentic experiences of the Holy Spirit in corporate worship.
This is something that Christians sometimes debate. But here is the definitive answer to this question.
It was early Sunday morning, and we were driving down the highway just outside the city to an “Apostolic” church that is a part of the largest Oneness denomination in the world—the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI). This was about to be my first experience in a Oneness worship service. As we turned into the church driveway, I thought that this could be [. . .]
We packed into our green minivan and drove into the small town at the foot of the mountains. Even though we were camping, we managed to clean off our camp smell and still arrive at the small Pentecostal church a few minutes early. Upon entering their worship space, I got the suspicion that this was […]
There are not a lot of worship songs directed to the Holy Spirit. The Bible never says we would worship the Holy Spirit, but is it okay?
In December 2015 the PAOC released another small book. Overall, I was encouraged by the key theme running through this book—theology and mission must and do meet. However, I will focus here on some specific points that stuck with me. Pentecostals and Experience There is no doubt that at the core of Pentecostalism are experiences […]
I was away from home, so I took the opportunity to attend two historic and liturgical churches. One of them was very traditional, while the other church was a little more contemporary, even including a familiar Chris Tomlin song in their worship. As I participated in the liturgies of these services, I took note of […]
Some people think of theology as dry. However, theology is found in anything that expresses our ideas of God and all things in relation to God. Hence, theology is found not only in textbooks—it is also found in places like art and music. With respect to worship and music specifically, it is important for us […]
Each year for my Church history class I have my students attend Orthodox or Catholic worship services and write a reflection paper on their experience. As I have graded their assignments, I have been struck by their observations regarding worship. These served as important reminders for me. 1. Worship should involve reverence for God A […]