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Contemporary Christian Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in...
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Contemporary Christian Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in Today’s Church

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2023) | Viewed by 7569

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
United Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg, PA 17325, USA
Interests: emerging church movement; new types of ministry for new generations; preaching; digital worship

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to participate in an upcoming issue of the journal Religions. The topic of this Special Issue is “Contemporary Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in Today’s Church.” We have come through a difficult time during the COVID-19 pandemic. and we’re not quite certain how things will shift and change in the future. Around the globe, the death counts, have, for the most part, lost the shocking reality of the individual, familial, and societal losses. The world has shifted in many ways over the past few years. The Church had a pivotal role for some during this time and, for others, the Church seemed to have failed to address the needs precipitated by these changes. Worship, pastoral care, preaching, faith formation, and social functions of religious communities had to adapt to the rapid changes. Some churches succeeded and some failed to even try new things—due to a lack of financial or structural limits.

Believers and non-believers looked for ways to break through the isolation and fear. Not being able to meet in person influenced many. For some, the time away from the physical church during the COVID-19 pandemic left them feeling isolated, alone, and doubting the existence of Divine power. Others found ways in their own spiritual practices to stay connected to God through profound and personal times of devotion. Some found that they got by without “the Church” and are not ready or willing to return. Still, others learned to utilize the digital and social media technologies offered to stay connected to God, to each other, and to worship in new and exciting ways with their communities of faith. Still, others just screamed at God and at the Church for their perceived failings in their eyes. We have come to a pivotal moment in the life of the Church.

Now what? What does the Church look like after this forced reexamination of the role and functions of our work? If, we define the “contemporary Christian Church,” what does it look like now? What form does worship, preaching, and praise need to take into the future? If this is a moment of needed reformation and reclamation, what shape will that take? Can worship and praise address the issues of our time authentically, relevantly, and lovingly? How can holy worship, liturgy, the celebrating of sacraments, preaching, and music begin to shape, not just the contemporary Church, but also provide us a lens into “what’s next?”

The invitation to imagine, dream, and intentionally focus on what the contemporary Church might look like is the focus of the Special Issue. The scope is to include perspectives from different religious traditions.  

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (kwiseman@uls.edu) or to Religions editorial office (religions@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.”

Dr. Karyn L. Wiseman
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Contemporary Worship
  • Liturgy
  • Praise and Worship
  • Preaching
  • Praise Music
  • Praise
  • Christian Worship
  • Church hymnody

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1030 KiB  
Article
Streamable Services: Affinities for Streaming in Pre-Pandemic Congregational Worship
by Joseph Roso
Religions 2023, 14(5), 641; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050641 - 10 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1292
Abstract
Following the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many congregational leaders had to scramble to set up streaming or recording systems in order to continue their worship services without putting congregants at risk, but some congregations had already set up such systems in the [...] Read more.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many congregational leaders had to scramble to set up streaming or recording systems in order to continue their worship services without putting congregants at risk, but some congregations had already set up such systems in the years leading up to the pandemic. Previous research has found that these capabilities were not evenly distributed throughout the population of congregations, but this work has primarily focused on how technological divides are the result of a lack of economic resources. However, economic resources were not the only factor associated with whether congregations had streaming options or not. Using Wave 4 of the National Congregations Study (NCS) conducted in 2018–2019, I find that, prior to the pandemic, Catholic congregations and Protestant congregations with more enthusiastic worship services were more likely to have streaming or recording systems even after controlling for economic resources, technological knowledge, and other organizational features. The elective affinities between certain worship practices and online streaming meant that some congregations were in a better position to meet the unexpected challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. These findings highlight the important role congregations’ cultural beliefs and practices can play in shaping their activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Christian Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in Today’s Church)
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18 pages, 279 KiB  
Article
Over-Generalizing, Under-Promising, and Over-Promising: Singing Sadness and Joy in the Church
by Daniel Jesse
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1172; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121172 - 1 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2071
Abstract
In this article, I examine the emotional content of songs sung in Christian churches. An analysis of the lyrical content of the songs that have been tracked by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) from 1988 to 2018, shows there is a definition of [...] Read more.
In this article, I examine the emotional content of songs sung in Christian churches. An analysis of the lyrical content of the songs that have been tracked by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) from 1988 to 2018, shows there is a definition of the Christian life that is set before the church and in turn sung by it. The word “joy” appears 37 times and the word “praise” is used 152 times in the 133 songs that comprise the contemporary praise and worship hymnody in the defined time period. In the same time frame, the word sad or any of its derivatives (sadly, sadness, etc.) never occurs in the group of songs that are being discussed. Nor is the word “sorrow” ever used. There are two conclusions that can be drawn from the lack of the use of the word sad. The first is that sadness is undervalued. The second conclusion is that the word “sad” is not a good song word, meaning that it is awkward to sing and fit in the rhythm or meter of a song. The first conclusion relates to the lexical value of a word and the second to the semantic value. To understand the emotional content of music, the texts which provide a lexical meaning need to be examined. Secondly, the semantic meaning, which is composed of the cultural connotations, needs to be considered. The first part, the lexical, is considered by looking at only the text. The second, the semantic, involves looking at how the words and music (both apart and together) conceal and reveal meanings that surpass the lexical level. Thus, the first part of the present work will look at the lyric’s words devoid of context while the second part of the essay will examine the fullness of the songs. As the semantic levels are explored, they will be brought together with the lyrics and the previous level and the question of whether there is an overpromising of joy in the songs will be answered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Christian Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in Today’s Church)
11 pages, 233 KiB  
Article
“Blessed Is the One Whose Bowels Can Move: An Essay in Praise of Lament” in Contemporary Worship
by Casey T. Sigmon
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1161; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121161 - 29 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1480
Abstract
The CCLI charts may not reflect it, yet one thing many Christian churches discovered as the pandemic raged across the world (and violence at home and abroad) was the need for songs of sacred lament. Unfortunately, many churchgoers, especially those who identify as [...] Read more.
The CCLI charts may not reflect it, yet one thing many Christian churches discovered as the pandemic raged across the world (and violence at home and abroad) was the need for songs of sacred lament. Unfortunately, many churchgoers, especially those who identify as practitioners of contemporary Christian worship, have cultivated a gap between the biblical give and take of praise and lament revealed most poignantly in the book of Psalms. This chasm between praise and lament is a problem, as a liturgical discourse about disastrous events is weakened. Churches sing congregational songs of praise in the church, the chorus of ‘what ought to be’. Meanwhile, outside the church, artists in genres as diverse as folk and rap sing the chorus of what frankly ‘is’. For the church to be transformative, it must be grounded in what is (lament) and aiming toward what ought to be (praise). This is the value of the cycle of praise and lament in the church’s liturgy. This article explores the impact of CCM (contemporary Christian music) and praise and worship culture as it laments the loss of lament in Christian worship. The essay articulates the missing sense of ‘Truth’ in contemporary congregational music, as defined by Don Saliers’ Worship Come to Its Senses. The article closes by amplifying emerging Christian songwriters reintroducing lament to contemporary worship. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Christian Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in Today’s Church)
10 pages, 237 KiB  
Article
What Comes Next: Continuing the Digital Ecclesiology Conversation in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Rob O’Lynn
Religions 2022, 13(11), 1036; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111036 - 30 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1554
Abstract
This essay seeks to add to the emerging conversation regarding digital ecclesiology. In short, digital ecclesiology is an ongoing conversation not only about how congregations use technology but craft digital spaces for worship and ministry. This essay will seek to add in four [...] Read more.
This essay seeks to add to the emerging conversation regarding digital ecclesiology. In short, digital ecclesiology is an ongoing conversation not only about how congregations use technology but craft digital spaces for worship and ministry. This essay will seek to add in four ways. First, this essay will explore the concern of techno-ontology. As articulated by Ashley John Moyse, techno-ontology occurs when humans lose their identity to technology by being conformed to the limits of technology. Concerns such as “Zoom fatigue” and content proliferation will be given attention here. Next, this essay will explore a homiletic response which was adopted largely wholesale, whether done so critically or uncritically, during the COVID-19 pandemic—conversational preaching. Then, this concern will come into focus through a brief textual analysis of Hebrews 10:19–25. Finally, a way forward—the “what comes next”—will be considered and proposed. This way forward will be articulated in two forms. First, there will be the overall ecclesiastical, or congregational, focus. Second, there will be the specific homiletic and liturgical focus. The essay will conclude with an invitation for continued conversation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Christian Worship and Praise: Liturgy, Preaching, and Music in Today’s Church)
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