Worship in the Church of God - revisited

I have posted on worship in the Church of God before, but am prompted to do it again because of a recent article in Communion (Nov-Dec 2007, Vol. 8 No. 3) summarizing a presentation given by Jeff Hayes (from Warner Southern College) at the annual meeting of the Worship Society of the Church of God. Hayes challenges some commonly held notions in our movement, and provides some brief, but insightful correctives.

I support the renewed consideration of worship from within our peculiar historical and theological context. As a movement with certain distinctive emphases, it is expected that our worship express itself uniquely. In that regard the Worship Society has the potential to play an important role.

Nevertheless, I remain concerned that despite broadening advances we are still not grappling with the larger issues of worship from within our holiness paradigm. I have written on this before, and continue to believe that we have something unique to offer Christendom in terms of understanding and experiencing worship. This will require, however, much deeper theological engagement than we are now involved in.

A Coaching Culture

I just returned from four days in Tampa, Florida for a Coaches Training event put on by Church of God Ministries as part of SHAPE and CTI (Coaches Training Initiative). In addition to SHAPE and CTI coaches, many Area Administrators were also present. Approximately 100 leaders in total were in attendance at this gathering, entitled "Transforming the Culture by Being the Body of Christ." Four outstanding resource persons were brought in to lead the main sessions: Al Ells, Bob Logan, Milfred Minatrea, and David Ferguson.

This event was designed to bring together some of the most significant, potential change agents within our movement. The conviction is that life-change, and therefore cultural change within our movement, will only occur when we function relationally based on a strong missional foundation. Coaching is a specific skill-set that can enable this to happen.

But, all this talk about SHAPE and "coaching" is not just another program, slick methodology or current fad. What impressed me and others in attendance is the very deliberate emphasis that our North American leaders are taking regarding spiritual direction and leadership development. I remain convinced that with this significant change in attitude and approach we are on the verge of phenomenal missional impact.

Book Project

As my blog description indicates, I am passionate about finding meaningful ways to dialog about issues confronting the Church of God, including the need to find meaningful ways to express our emphases on holiness and unity. Unfortunately, these core teachings of ours have not been adequately articulated for the current time and culture.

For awhile now this concern has been a major preoccupation of mine. In fact, I have been formulating many of the ideas and discussions that have arisen and writing them down. Gradually a book has been taking shape.

Today I am publicly announcing this book project. Not that I am a great writer, or am even the best person to state these thoughts. But someone needs to do this and I hope it will contribute to further conversation within our movement.

The working title of my book is Praxis in Community: Rediscovering holiness and unity in the Church of God. While there is still much work to be done, I am making this known now because maybe it will encourage others to join in this discussion, especially since from time to time I will be seeking feedback here on this blog. Hopefully our conversations will contribute to this important objective.