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Leading In Worship

Terry L. Johnson

4.19 · Rating details · 26 ratings · 8 reviews

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Hardcover, 356 pages

Published December 5th 2013 by Tolle Lege Press (first published July 1997)

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Aug 25, 2010 CJ Bowen rated it liked it · review of another edition

I've never given a book one star and four stars at the same time, but Leading in Worship is so mixed in what it tries to do that it gets both rankings. The introduction seems as if it were written for a different book, in which Johnson argues for his view of what constitutes Reformed worship. He flattens out the diversity of the Reformed witness, blithely charging those who would add praise choruses and new musical forms with a flippant betrayal of their heritage, while glossing over the fact th I've never given a book one star and four stars at the same time, but Leading in Worship is so mixed in what it tries to do that it gets both rankings. The introduction seems as if it were written for a different book, in which Johnson argues for his view of what constitutes Reformed worship. He flattens out the diversity of the Reformed witness, blithely charging those who would add praise choruses and new musical forms with a flippant betrayal of their heritage, while glossing over the fact that he and Calvin would completely disagree over instruments in worship and exclusive psalmody. Evidently, Johnson thinks that reforming Reformed worship gets to stop with his own convictions. He attempts to bring the weight of tradition and Scripture to bear, browbeating other ideas, promising Scriptural and theological arguments, but letting his footnotes do the heavy lifting. His arguments are scatter-shot, and compare poorly to something like Jeff Meyers' The Lords Service in articulating a biblical basis for the structure of a service.
But then the book delivers (as promised by the subtitle) a sourcebook for Presbyterians, and does a fantastic job of providing resources, ideas, and examples for conducting God-honoring services. There are still some wonky opinions and ideas like disallowing families to join the infant and parents up front at a baptism, advocating children's church, rejecting the church year but upholding Thanksgiving, marked by the singing of My Country, 'Tis of Thee, and the ghastly specter of an omnipresent organ hovering over the service, but the actual service plans, the prayers, and the sample liturgies are tremendous and quite helpful. The collects from the BCP that form appendix two are pure gold.
So if the intro was more along the lines of “Hey, guys, I've found some great reformed resources for worship”, then the book would be a unified success. As it stands, I fear the slipshod introduction will scare potential readers away from the riches that follow. ...more

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Mar 01, 2009 Douglas Wilson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pastoral-ministry

Very good.

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Oct 05, 2020 Parker rated it liked it

A mixed bag, honestly. The introduction seems almost completely unrelated to the book itself. There is plenty of useful material here, though burdened with lots of redundancy. I wouldn't have formatted it the way it was. Still, not a bad book by any means. ...more

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Jul 12, 2017 Ben Zornes rated it really liked it

Shelves: preaching-pastoral, worship

Quite useful as a reference for various liturgies and worship services. Very quick to read, and of course worth referencing regularly.

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Dec 21, 2019 Toghrul Salamzade rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Very good! This is a guide for Reformed worship and liturgy and also of history of Reformed worship.

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Mar 31, 2012 Robert Murphy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wish-list, library

I think this review is very good, though a tad too harsh:

Mar 01, 2011 CJ Bowen rated it ***
I've never given a book one star and four stars at the same time, but Leading in Worship is so mixed in what it tries to do that it gets both rankings. The introduction seems as if it were written for a different book, in which Johnson argues for his view of what constitutes Reformed worship. He flattens out the diversity of the Reformed witness, blithely charging those who would add praise choruses and ne I think this review is very good, though a tad too harsh:

Mar 01, 2011 CJ Bowen rated it ***
I've never given a book one star and four stars at the same time, but Leading in Worship is so mixed in what it tries to do that it gets both rankings. The introduction seems as if it were written for a different book, in which Johnson argues for his view of what constitutes Reformed worship. He flattens out the diversity of the Reformed witness, blithely charging those who would add praise choruses and new musical forms with a flippant betrayal of their heritage, while glossing over the fact that he and Calvin would completely disagree over instruments in worship and exclusive psalmody. Evidently, Johnson thinks that reforming Reformed worship gets to stop with his own convictions. He attempts to bring the weight of tradition and Scripture to bear, browbeating other ideas, promising Scriptural and theological arguments, but letting his footnotes do the heavy lifting. His arguments are scatter-shot, and compare poorly to something like Jeff Meyers' The Lords Service in articulating a biblical basis for the structure of a service.
But then the book delivers (as promised by the subtitle) a sourcebook for Presbyterians, and does a fantastic job of providing resources, ideas, and examples for conducting God-honoring services. There are still some wonky opinions and ideas like disallowing families to join the infant and parents up front at a baptism, advocating children's church, rejecting the church year but upholding Thanksgiving, marked by the singing of My Country, 'Tis of Thee, and the ghastly specter of an omnipresent organ hovering over the service, but the actual service plans, the prayers, and the sample liturgies are tremendous and quite helpful. The collects from the BCP that form appendix two are pure gold.
So if the intro was more along the lines of “Hey, guys, I've found some great reformed resources for worship”, then the book would be a unified success. As it stands, I fear the slipshod introduction will scare potential readers away from the riches that follow.(less) ...more

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Oct 21, 2016 Aaron Ventura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Some decent service outlines. More like a handbook or reference manual. The scripture prayers are the best part of the book since it's basically well, Scripture. ...more

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Apr 13, 2019 Rick Davis rated it really liked it

Shelves: pastor-resources, liturgy-worship

Great resource for Reformed liturgical forms. The review here is helpful. ...more

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About Terry L. Johnson

Terry L. Johnson

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Terry Johnson was born and raised in Los Angeles. He studied history at the University of Southern California and also studied at Trinity College, Bristol, England, and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, before earning his D. Min in 2008 from Erskine Theological Seminary.