Tim Keller on Evangelistic Worship

Posted on 2011/09/21 by Daniel L. Sonnenberg

Pastor Tim Keller shares what I think are some very helpful ideas about preparing for and communicating the gospel to unbelievers in Sunday worship. To understand what he means by “evangelistic worship” you may need to read the entire article. He doesn’t mean using a pre-packaged form of “seeker-sensitive” or “traditional” worship. He believes worship is best fashioned with a view to the the Bible, the cultural context and the historic tradition of each particular church. Here’s an excerpt to whet your appetite.

Tim Keller on Preaching to a Mixed Audience

Posted on 2011/09/21 by Daniel L. Sonnenberg

I appreciate the work of Pastor Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian in downtown Manhattan in New York City. Over the past twenty years he has brought the Gospel to bear on a generation of mostly professionals who are now corporately seeking to renew the city “socially, spiritually and culturally.”

The Conversational Form of Reformed Worship

Posted on 2011/08/10 by Daniel L. Sonnenberg

I’ve been looking at historic and current models of Reformed worship: John Calvin’s The Form of Church Prayers, 1542; The Westminster Directory, 1645; and The Book of Common Worship, 1993. They all follow the model of a “group conversation with God” as described in an article / Bible study from the Calvin Institute for Worship Studies entitled, “The Pattern of a Worship Service.”

Thoughts on Preaching

Posted on 2011/08/10 by Daniel L. Sonnenberg

I am adjusting to the new responsibility of preaching every Sunday. My preaching responsibilities in the past were more infrequent, so I’m adjusting to a much faster pace. I love God’s word and the process of preparing and delivering weekly messages from it. I will continually seek to improve my skills in order to bring the truth of the Gospel to the church in the Holy Spirit’s power and love.

Revised 1 Peter Series Outline with Chapter, Verse Numbers

Posted on 2011/08/01 by Daniel L. Sonnenberg

Glenn McIntyre recently made me aware that when I published the outline of First Peter earlier I did not include the verse numbers so that people could tell where we are as we go along. See below.

Prayer in the Reformed Tradition for the Modern Church

Posted on 2011/06/08 by Daniel L. Sonnenberg

I took a course in seminary entitled “Leading in Prayer” with Dr. Hughes Old. I look forward to using a number of the ideas from his class and book by the same title as I begin to plan worship services at Stonebridge. I wrote an extended paper as a final project for the class identifying the Reformed roots of both the forms and contents of the prayers in his book. Click on the following link to read my article entitled, “The Reformed Roots of Hughes Old’s Leading in Prayer: A Workbook for Worship.” An excerpt…