As the church peers out its window at the culture that surrounds it, it must make a decision: Will the Church open the window to see, really see, what is going on?  As we enter the twenty-first century, it would be nice to say, “Let’s stay the same.” But the world out there has changed and continues to change rapidly.  The world in which young people are now being raised is not the same as the world in which many already in the church grew up…Change surrounds us.  We in the Church cannot help being changed as well, for we do not have the luxury of staying the same in a world that is rushing forward at breakneck speed.  In moral terms, much of the change is neither good per se nor bad; but the way we respond to the changing culture will tell us much about ourselves.

Daniel T. Benedict and Craig Kennet Miller, Contemporary Worship for the 21st Century (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1998). 33.

Good Morning by Mandisa featuring Toby Mac

I am worried about the church. The “worship wars” that rage in so many congregation are preventing us from truly being the church…My major concern for the Church has to do with worship, because its character-forming potential is so subtle and barely noticed, and yet worship creates a great impact on the hearts and minds and lives of the congregation’s members.

Marva Dawn, Reaching Out without Dumbing Down, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995)

I was in the mood for a little Mandisa this morning.  Here is Stronger.

There is a great gulf between the church’s worship and the life her laity live in the world…The powerless of worship to transform life is appalling and seems to be reducing the church to impotence.  

Paul W. Hoon,  The Integrity of Worship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971), 32.

We need to recognize the the Holy Spirit brings worship renewal.  Good worship does not happen because we decide to make it better, more interesting, or more relevant.  No!  Good worship depends on divine favor, an action “from above.”

Robert Webber, Worship is a Verb: Celebrating God’s Mighty Deeds of Salvation

Another great song from the pen of Keith and Kristyn Getty.

The place of worship has changed.  Now it is wherever God’s people are.  But the heart attitude of worship remains the same: to prostrate oneself, to revere, to do homage, to adore.

Once again, we see the picture – if not physically, then attitudinally – of bowing before God.  The issue under the New Covenant is the same as under the old: Worship centers on the attitude of the heart.

Ron Owens,  Return to Worship: A God-Centered Approach