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Designing Worship Together: Models and Strategies for Worship Planning
(The Alban Institute, 2005)
Description
Much more than a "how-to" for worship planners. Drawing on more than two decades of collaborative worship planning, as well as numerous conversations with other worship planners. Pastor Howard Vanderwell and musician Norma de Waal Malefyt lay out a thoughtful, field-tested process for planning, implementing, and evaluating life-enriching weekly worship. Well over a dozen field-tested tools and a selected bibliography round out this invaluable resource for worship planners. Read related story.
Authors
Norma de Waal Malefyt is a resource development specialist in congregational song for the Worship Institute. Her responsibilities include developing training resources and curriculum for the Worship Institute website, publication series, and training events. She serves as a presenter at events sponsored by the Worship Institute, including academic courses, the annual Calvin Symposium on Worship, and other training events.
Norma enjoys participating in worship especially in the areas of worship planning and music leadership and in developing those gifts in others. She graduated from Calvin College with degrees in music education and organ performance. She returns to the college setting after serving in parish music ministry.
Howard D. Vanderwell is a resource development specialist of pastoral leadership for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. His responsibilities include the provision of resources on worship planning for pastors and worship teams, networking with pastors on the field for their encouragement and instruction, providing materials for the Institute web column, assisting with Institute sponsored training, and providing Continuing Education lectures at Calvin Theological Seminary.
He is a recently retired Christian Reformed Church pastor after spending 40 years in pastorates in Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan. His interests include planning, leading and evaluating worship, series preaching, and worship renewal throughout the evangelical church. He holds M.Div. and Th.M. degrees from Calvin Theological Seminary, and the D. Min. degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, California.
Related Printouts
Weekly Worship Planning Guide (page 151)
The Pattern of a Worship Service (page 152)
Grid: The Journey of Christian Worship
Related Audio
"The Case for Collaboration"
Lecture and Q&A
Howard Vanderwell
at Calvin Theological Seminary
| . Lecture excerpt | 9:00 |
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| . Q&A | 11:35 |
Endorsements
"In a day when worship, born out of an antihistorical attitude, focuses on the self—what I need, what I want, what I do—it is refreshing to find a book that focuses on God yet is deeply concerned about the people engaged in worship."
—Robert Webber, Myers Professor of Ministry, Northern Baptist Seminary
"There was a time when worship planning was primarily the work of the preacher and the church musician. But with so many changes in worship style and the explosion of available worship resources, more and more churches are planning worship in new and creative ways. Howard Vanderwell and Norma de Waal Malefyt have provided a helpful and much-needed resource, showing congregations how to plan, implement, and evaluate worship with theological integrity."
—Doug Brouwer, First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan
'Designing Worship Together goes beyond a cookie-cutter approach to worship planning and leading and provides excellent guidance based on a variety of experiences. Vanderwell and de Waal Malefyt continuallly challenge readers to think theologicallly and act scripturally, and to open themselves to Spirit-driven newness."
—Harold M. Best, former dean of the Conservatory of Music, Wheaton College
"This book gives worship planners solid biblical and theological foundations for their work. It also provides comprehensive and practical advice for congregations who truly want their worship to be as meaningful and God-glorifying as possible. Howard and Norma make clear that planning engaging, God-glorifying worship, week afer week, is hard work. They also give congregations the resources needed to do that hard work."
—Duane Kelderman, vice-president for administration, Calvin Theological Seminary
"This theologically sound and practically grounded book is a rich resource for those already working together to plan worship. It will be an eye opener for those yet to implement a collaborative approach to the art of worship planning."
—John Ferguson, Elliot & Klara Stockdahl Johnson Professor of Organ & Church Music, St. Olaf College
"The authors have spent years in dynamic collaboration and now share the fruit of their work. The result is deeply insightful, winsome, and, above all, just plain helpful."
—Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., president, Calvin Theological Seminary
"This carefully researched body of theory, method, and practice points to the very best practices to which we all could aspire. Broad in the traditions and voices it surveys, the insights found here translate across a broad spectrum of worship. This resource needs to be on the shelves of all teachers and practitioners of worship."
—Timothy L. Carson, author of So You're Thinking About Contemporary Worship
Vital Worship, Healthy Congregations Series with The Alban Institute
This series is designed to call attention to instructive examples of congregational life and to explore these examples in ways that allow readers in very different communities to compare and contrast these examples with their own practice.
To find all the books in this series, go to Publications and under "Publisher," select "Alban Institute."
