Friday, February 14, 2025

The Wellspring Service


A few years ago on this blog, I designed a liturgical service drawn from traditional sources, which an evangelical church could hypothetically use to dip its toes into the great stream of the timeless traditions of high-church Christian worship. At the time, we weren't actually implementing such a service in my church; I knew that I would love it, but I wasn't sure anyone else would. Well, that has changed. There has been a growing groundswell of interest in connecting to the classical forms of Christian worship from the days of the early church, and so we've started offering a monthly service of high-church liturgy. I offer here, for anyone who might be interested in using it, the newly revised version of my Wellspring service (based mostly off the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, but with some additional prayers from ancient sources). I've also included a document I wrote for my church to answer their questions and explain the meanings behind the service. Click the links below to access the documents.


Wellspring: A Classic Liturgical Service of Christian Worship


Wellspring FAQs


Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Update

After a few weeks of pounding away at another book project, I'll be coming back to a more regular schedule of posting on the blog. I'm happy to report that my next book is well on its way to publication, with a release date hopefully later this year. It's based on the research that went into my PhD dissertation, and it traces the story of how a new form of worship in the English churches of the 1700s (congregational hymns) ended up striking a spark that lit the global Protestant mission movement. The provisional title is Earth Repeats the Loud Amen: How a Revolution in Worship Launched a Global Mission Movement (title is subject to change at this point, though). It'll be released by William Carey Publishing, as was my last book (Missionary Motivations: Challenges from the Early Church), and I'm really looking forward to working with them again on the editing and processing steps to come. To any students of worship or mission, this book should be an interesting read. 

In any case, with the initial manuscript-production stage off of my plate, I'll be a little freer in my schedule, and will be returning to regular posts of The Evangeliad and a few occasional essays. Thanks to all my readers!