A follow-up book to Terry Johnson’s Worshipping with Calvin, this book focuses on the application of historic Reformed ministry and worship today.
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Earlier this year, I read a book by Terry Johnson called Worshipping with Calvin. In that book, Johnson was making the argument that there is a great need for the revival of a historic Reformed ministry and worship that depended upon and flowed out of the Word of God itself. The final sentence of that work promised a follow up, and the name of that book is Serving with Calvin: Leading and Planning Services of Worship in the Reformed Church. This book, like the first, is published by Evangelical Press (EP Books).
RELATED: {Book Review} Worshipping with Calvin
Serving with Calvin: Leading and Planning Services of Worship in the Reformed Church
In this wonderful book, Johnson proves once again to be an experienced, wise, and godly pastor who desires to see the Lord worshipped by His Church with a purity that honors Him. This book touches on so many varying topics that are central to the corporate gathering of the church, and specifically, for the pastor who is leading and planning those services.
The first two chapters, before getting into the nuts and bolts of planning the service, begin by pointing out the importance of building upon the foundation of Christ, and the necessity of preparing the minster in leadership, piety, humility, and wisdom.
Following those two excellent introductory chapters, Johnson jumps into the ins and outs of planning the service. He is not approaching these topics with a broad treatment, but he gets quite specific which the reader will find greatly helpful (i.e. he even deals with specific items such as finding an appropriate pace for a worship service).
Chapters four and five deal with administering the elements of Word, sacraments, and prayer. This was probably my favorite portion of the book. Johnson’s section on preaching was a book within a book! I found this entire section to be very enlightening and especially practical. It is such a blessing to learn from a pastor who has been ministering these elements for quite some time. We have much to learn from him.
I could go on and on about how helpful this book has proven to be. Johnson knows the importance of reading, preaching, singing, praying, and seeing the Word, and this book is an excellent practical guide on how to do just that. If you are a pastor or a leader within the church, you need to do yourself the favor or reading this book. Tolle lege, take up and read!
Disclaimer: My thanks to Evangelical Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Matt became a joyful follower of Jesus at the age of 21. He is very grateful to be a husband to Lindsey, and a father to four boys. He is an ordained minister (teaching elder) in the PCA. He previously served as a pastor of biblical counseling and is currently a corporate chaplain in southern Delaware. Matt received his Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and holds an advanced certification in biblical counseling from the Association of Biblical Counselors. In his free time, he loves playing with his boys, traveling with his wife, and reading (and buying!) books.
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