Exploring Contemporary and Alternative Worship
Mission Statement
The members of and visitors to this seminar have been tracking developments in “contemporary” worship (seeker services, praise-and-worship services, convergence worship, and “traditional” services that “blend” elements from these other kinds of services), as well as the general trends in worship and music styles, liturgical art, architecture, and seminary education. Recently, the seminar has also addressed “alternative worship” as it has developed in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, US and other locations, and worship in the Emerging Church movement.
Convener
Margaret Brady
North Park Theological Seminary
3225 West Foster Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625-4895
847-508-6337
mbrady@northpark.edu
2008 Academy Meeting Agenda
- General topics of current alternative worship practice in the US, Canada and New Zealand, including case studies.
- The connection between historical movements in times of worship change and current worship movements; “Early Methodism and the Emerging Missional Church: Worship, Missiology and Institution in Symbiosis.”
- Current training programs for future ministers and their institutional worship services.
- Creating arts events for both liturgical and evangelical use; “The Psalms Project.”
- Methodology for evaluating worship; a presentation from New Zealand: “An Examination of the Appropriate Methodology for Looking at Contemporary and Alternative worship, Comparing and Contrasting Insights from Systematic Theology and Contextual Theology.”
Number of participants: 22-25
Papers Online
2004
Lester Ruth
"A Rose By Any Other Name: Attempts at Classifying North American Protestant
Worship"
Previous Seminar Report
See seminar reports from annual meetings dating back to 2002: