An insightful excerpt from Matt Merker’s new book, Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God’s People, 9Marks, Building Healthy Churches series (Crossway, 2021).
What Is Liturgy?
Many theologians have called the order of service a “liturgy.” The Greek term leitourgia referred to work done for the good of the public. When used in the context of a church gathering, “liturgy” refers to the “work” or ministry of exaltation and edification for which God gathers his people—or better, that God himself performs in and through his people.
Let me disclose that I’m ambivalent about the word “liturgy.” It’s become trendy, and I’m not sure if writers who use it always mean the same thing. I usually prefer to speak of the “order of service.” But for the sake of joining and hopefully contributing to the conversation, I’ll use “liturgy” in this chapter. For me, liturgy refers to the order of the worship service, particularly how it reveals and reinforces the nature of the service itself.
To be sure, some may associate the idea of liturgy with high-church formalism and rote tradition. But in reality, every church has a liturgy. No matter how simple or complex, how short or long, each church’s order of service expresses a set of theological values. And in turn, the liturgy gradually inculcates those same values in the church’s members. Read More
Many theologians have called the order of service a “liturgy.” The Greek term leitourgia referred to work done for the good of the public. When used in the context of a church gathering, “liturgy” refers to the “work” or ministry of exaltation and edification for which God gathers his people—or better, that God himself performs in and through his people.
Let me disclose that I’m ambivalent about the word “liturgy.” It’s become trendy, and I’m not sure if writers who use it always mean the same thing. I usually prefer to speak of the “order of service.” But for the sake of joining and hopefully contributing to the conversation, I’ll use “liturgy” in this chapter. For me, liturgy refers to the order of the worship service, particularly how it reveals and reinforces the nature of the service itself.
To be sure, some may associate the idea of liturgy with high-church formalism and rote tradition. But in reality, every church has a liturgy. No matter how simple or complex, how short or long, each church’s order of service expresses a set of theological values. And in turn, the liturgy gradually inculcates those same values in the church’s members. Read More
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