The Worship Mall

The Worship Mall PDF Author: Bryan D. Spinks
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0898696755
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Religion today is in competition with the leisure and entertainment industries. Gen Y, the postmodern generation, is open to spirituality; but most of todays young adults have not been born into faith communities where they feel any lasting allegiance. Studies suggest that for the young, belief in God is an optional matter, a virtual consumer choice. As a result, different trends in worship and worship styles are offered by different churches to suit lifestyles, attitudes, and personal taste.

The Worship Mall

The Worship Mall PDF Author: Bryan D. Spinks
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0898696755
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book

Book Description
Religion today is in competition with the leisure and entertainment industries. Gen Y, the postmodern generation, is open to spirituality; but most of todays young adults have not been born into faith communities where they feel any lasting allegiance. Studies suggest that for the young, belief in God is an optional matter, a virtual consumer choice. As a result, different trends in worship and worship styles are offered by different churches to suit lifestyles, attitudes, and personal taste.

The Worship Mall

The Worship Mall PDF Author: Bryan D. Spinks
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0898696771
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book

Book Description
Religion today is in competition with the leisure and entertainment industries. Gen Y, the postmodern generation, is open to spirituality; but most of todays young adults have not been born into faith communities where they feel any lasting allegiance. Studies suggest that for the young, belief in God is an optional matter, a virtual consumer choice. As a result, different trends in worship and worship styles are offered by different churches to suit lifestyles, attitudes, and personal taste.

Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces

Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces PDF Author: Jon Pahl
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 160608397X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Christian historian Sidney Mead has observed: In America space has played the part that time has played in older cultures of the world. In Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces, Jon Pahl examines this provocative statement in conversation with what he calls the spatial character of American theology. He argues that places are always imaginatively constructed by the human beings who inhabit them. Sometimes this spatial theology works to our benefit; other times it poses spiritual risks. What happens when our banal clothing of the sacred violates our genuine need for comfort and intimacy? Or when we remember that the fleeting pleasures of a shopping trip or a Disneyland escape are designed to fill someone else's pocket rather than the spiritual emptiness in our own hearts? Pahl develops several ways to clothe the divine from within the Christian tradition. He introduces a theology of place that reveals aspects of God's character through biblical metaphors drawn from physical spaces, such as the true vine, the rock, and the living water. Accessible and thought provoking, this enlightening book provides a better grasp of our particularly American way of lending religious significance to spaces of all kinds.

Shout to the Lord

Shout to the Lord PDF Author: Ari Y. Kelman
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 147986367X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
How music makes worship and how worship makes music in Evangelical churches Music is a nearly universal feature of congregational worship in American churches. Congregational singing is so ingrained in the experience of being at church that it is often misunderstood to be synonymous with worship. For those who assume responsibility for making music for congregational use, the relationship between music and worship is both promising and perilous – promise in the power of musical style and collective singing to facilitate worship, peril in the possibility that the experience of the music might eclipse the worship it was written to facilitate. As a result, those committed to making music for worship are constantly reminded of the paradox that they are writing songs for people who wish to express themselves, as directly as possible, to God. This book shines a new light on how people who make music for worship also make worship from music. Based on interviews with more than 75 songwriters, worship leaders, and music industry executives, Shout to the Lord maps the social dimensions of sacred practice, illuminating how the producers of worship music understand the role of songs as both vehicles for, and practices of, faith and identity. This book accounts for the human qualities of religious experience and the practice of worship, and it makes a compelling case for how – sometimes – faith comes by hearing.

God Rock, Inc.

God Rock, Inc. PDF Author: Andrew Mall
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520974786
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Popular music in the twenty-first century is increasingly divided into niche markets. How do fans, musicians, and music industry executives define their markets’ boundaries? What happens when musicians cross those boundaries? What can Christian music teach us about commercial popular music? In God Rock, Inc., Andrew Mall considers the aesthetic, commercial, ethical, and social boundaries of Christian popular music, from the late 1960s, when it emerged, through the 2010s. Drawing on ethnographic research, historical archives, interviews with music industry executives, and critical analyses of recordings, concerts, and music festival performances, Mall explores the tensions that have shaped this evolving market and frames broader questions about commerce, ethics, resistance, and crossover in music that defines itself as outside the mainstream.

God at the Mall

God at the Mall PDF Author: Pete Ward
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 9781565634114
Category : Church group work with youth
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Ward combines theologically-based theory and practical application to encourage youthworkers to meet kids where they re at, befriend them, and then begin to introduce them to Christ. Helpful discussion questions follow each chapter. Ward s passion for God s word and youth is evident. He has a unique uncompromising ability to maintain an integrity and consistency in theology while making ministry to teenagers practical and culturally relevant." " Steve Gerali, Judson College . . . A fresh perspective. . . . [Ward] integrates the theology, sociology, and missiology of youthwork in a way that will force church leaders to rethink youth ministry and youthworkers to rethink the church. " Paul Borthwick, Director, World Evangelical Fellowship Commission "Too much of today's youth ministry is shaped by a thin brew of pragmatism and panic that talks about 'how' without ever talking about 'why.' The end result is a generation of youthworkers who have been well trained in general to do nothing in particular. In "God at the Mall," Pete Ward's keen mind and warm heart offer us that rare combination of thoughtfulness and passion that asks not only 'how do we get there?' but also 'where are we going?' and 'what kind of cultural landscape are we passing through to get there?' I don't know of any youth ministry thinker who has done more to translate in-depth sociological research into the world of everyday, real-life youthwork. Don't read this book unless you're ready to think, and pray, and rethink the way you do youth ministry." " Duffy Robbins, Chair, Department of Youth Ministry, Eastern College "Pete Ward is uniquely gifted as a cultural observer, . . . as one who can relateespecially to rebellious young people, and as a leader of leaders as well as of youth." " Dean Borgman, Charles E. Culpeper Professor of Youth Ministries, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (from the foreword)

The New Religious Image of Urban America

The New Religious Image of Urban America PDF Author: Ira G. Zepp
Publisher: Christian Classic
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description


Messages in the Mall

Messages in the Mall PDF Author: Paul V. Marshall
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1596271906
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
For more than a decade the author has been writing a "Saturday religion column," syndicated in ten newspapers in the 14 counties of Pennsylvania that comprise the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem. The "600 words or less" in the title comes from the rigorous discipline of writing to strict space requirements. The intent of the columns is to engage the secular culture and to bring the church's message to it by commenting on the realities of the human condition and on issues of general interest. This book is a compilation of many of the columns, organized along thematic lines. This book will be an ideal cross-denominational trade book for individual reading or group use. The short-take format lends itself to episodic reading and will appeal to the individualdaily-prayer market. Clergy will find the book an excellent source for sermon ideas.

Desiring the Kingdom (Cultural Liturgies)

Desiring the Kingdom (Cultural Liturgies) PDF Author: James K. A. Smith
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 9781441211262
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans--as Augustine noted--are "desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love. James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in Desiring the Kingdom, the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcome Desiring the Kingdom, as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.

You Are What You Love

You Are What You Love PDF Author: James K. A. Smith
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 1493403664
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
You are what you love. But you might not love what you think. In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the One for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the "imagination station" that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship. Following the publication of his influential work Desiring the Kingdom, Smith received numerous requests from pastors and leaders for a more accessible version of that book's content. No mere abridgment, this new book draws on years of Smith's popular presentations on the ideas in Desiring the Kingdom to offer a fresh, bottom-up rearticulation. The author creatively uses film, literature, and music illustrations to engage readers and includes new material on marriage, family, youth ministry, and faith and work. He also suggests individual and communal practices for shaping the Christian life.