Corporate Worship

You’re So Depraved, You Probably Think This Church Is About You: How Total Depravity Upends Attractionalism
By Alex Duke | 9Marks Journal: Ecclesiology for Calvinists | 02.05.2019Unbelievers’ most essential problem is not that they’re ignorant, apathetic, or rudderless, but that they’ve personally, willfully, and happily rebelled against the God who made them.

The Five Points of Calvinism and Your Church’s Sunday Meeting
By Matt Merker | 9Marks Journal: Ecclesiology for Calvinists | 02.05.2019It’s vital for those of us who hold to a reformed or “Calvinistic” doctrine of salvation to consider if our corporate worship reflects our professed soteriology.

The Christian Life Is More Like a Bus Ride Than a Motorcycle Ride
By Bob Johnson | 02.04.2019Hey pastor, here’s some language I use to help my people understand how the gospel relates to our life together as a single congregation with a single gathering (no multiple services or sites).

Episode 73: On The Lord’s Supper (with Bobby Jamieson)
By B. Jamieson, J. Leeman, M. Dever | 01.29.2019In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan asks Mark and Bobby a bunch of questions about the Lord’s Supper.

Should Pastors Talk about Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday?
By Jonathan Leeman | 10.04.2018You don’t have to address Brett Kavanaugh this Sunday. But if you do, don’t pick a side.

Episode 58: On Members Meetings
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 10.02.2018In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Mark and Jonathan discuss members meetings—what they are, where they are in the Bible, and how to make them of spiritual interest.

On Earth as It Is in Heaven: A Biblical Theology of Worship
By Jonathan Gibson | 09.18.2018By the end of the Old Testament, we’re left hoping for a son of God who will worship God perfectly, and who will then lead his bride in pure worship of the one true God.

Book Review: Practicing the Power, by Sam Storms
Review by Paul Martin | 08.16.2018Sam Storms’ recent book is a field guide for Reformed churches to introduce charismatic practices into the life of the assembly.

What Does a Prayer of Lament Sound Like?
9Marks | 06.25.2018Last week, we posted an article entitled “Why We Added a Prayer of Lament to Our Sunday Gathering.” Below are two samples of such prayers from Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon.

Why We Added a Prayer of Lament to Our Sunday Gathering
By Neal Woollard | 06.20.2018Lament is ingrained into the culture of Jesus’ people and will be until he returns. That’s why we recently added a corporate prayer of lament to our public worship.

C. S. Lewis on Corporate Worship
By Joe Rigney | 05.29.2018Over time, C. S. Lewis came to see the dangers in both individualism and collectivism in Christian worship. More importantly, he came to see how the church is the antidote to both.

Episode 51: On How the Reformation Changed Sunday Gatherings (with Jonathan Gibson)
By J. Gibson, J. Leeman, M. Dever | 05.08.2018Through the liturgies of the Reformation, evangelical doctrine was as much caught in public worship as it was taught in published writings.

The Local Church as a Counterculture
By Brett McCracken | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018The local church was never meant to be a cultural, comfortable, bourgeois social club that affirms people in their idolatry and helps them along on a journey to their “best life now.” It was meant to be a counterculture, a set-apart community embodying a radically different vision for human flourishing.

Book Review—The Whole Church Sings: Congregational Singing in Luther’s Wittenberg, by Robin Leaver
Review by Carl Trueman | 03.05.2018Of all the Reformers, Luther knew the ways in which Christianity struck deep emotional chords in the heart of the believer. But this meant he paid more attention, not less, to the words and the appropriateness of the music.

Episode 41: On Bringing Back the Prayer Service
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 02.27.2018Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever discuss the benefits and best practices of hosting a regular church-wide prayer gathering—in addition to the Sunday service.