In the age of Amazon, it’s difficult to know what books are worth reading and which aren’t. A simple search for books with “worship” in the title will produce everything from daily devotionals to scholarly monographs to “how to” handbooks. No one is an authority on all “worship books,” but I’ve read my fair share of them and would like to recommend 5 that I’ve found myself going back to more than the rest. By no means am I claiming that these are the best worship books out there, but I can firmly say that they’ve helped shape my thinking and my ministry (beyond worship!) in substantial ways.
Book #1: The Worship Architect by Constance Cherry
Recently I was training a volunteer to open service with the Call to Worship and I found myself rereading The Worship Architect’s whole section on the topic. In this book, Cherry, a student of Robert Webber’s, gives us a handbook on worship design and implementation. If that sounds boring to you, fear not: it’s well-written and far more simple to resource than you might think. Which is a uniqueness: I have found this book to be most valuable as a resource to reference for specific elements, rather than a text to read from cover to cover. Cherry’s thesis is that design – structure and flow – is just as important to the shape of corporate worship as content is, and there are well-worn paths we can follow that are both grounded and relevant for today. Pick this book up, read it slowly, and refer to it often. Examine the services you plan or lead and find ways to deliberately establish a foundation in your community’s worship that will stand the test of time.
Book #2: Ancient-Future Worship by Robert E. Webber
Ancient-Future Worship was the first book of its kind that I read a number of years ago and, in many ways, it launched me onto the trajectory of learning and discovery that I’ve now been on for more than a decade. Robert Webber was an academic pioneer. As an Evangelical theologian and early-church historian, his work focused largely on retrieving the best models of worship from the Bible and the historic Church for the health and guidance of contemporary corporate worship. Webber argued that God’s story should be central in our worship gatherings. He reminds us that we have been brought into God’s family – God’s story – not the other way around.
Book #3: Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace by James B. Torrance
While certainly this is the most theological book on the list, I believe it is also the most rewarding. This little book is all about “who” we worship – the triune God of grace – with very little about the “how.” Torrance rightly suggests that the Trinity is central, not simply for right doctrine and ethics, but for both understanding worship and for worshiping rightly. In most of our churches we talk ad nauseum about the “how to’s” of the Christian life and very little about the nature of the God into whose life we have been brought. Simply put, many things “happen” in worship, but the ultimate aim is that we live in communion with God: Father, Son, and Spirit. Torrance reminds us that in all of our practices and expressions that God is the primary actor and it is for life with Him and in Him that we have been created.
Book #4: Spirituality of the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann
This is the shortest book on the list at only 74 pages, yet it’s the most spiritually demanding and insightful about our journey with God over the course of a lifetime. As worship leaders we *know* that the Psalms are important. We *know* that they were the songbook and prayer book for the Jewish people and they should be important for us today. But how so, exactly? What are we to do with them? Of course, this is a multi-faceted response – we should read them, we should pray them, we should study them, and we should find ways to sing them. But we should also hear in them permission to wrestle and struggle with God. Not just for important people like David, but for every person who is drawn into relationship with this living God. Here, Walter Brueggemann provides us with a “spiritual theology” of the Psalms. He identifies within the Psalms recurring themes of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation and suggests that every one of us – including those in your congregation – will walk through these seasons. Personally, this book gave me language and permission to be honest about my faith and lack of faith. To be vocal with my praise and my disappointment.
Book #5: The Worship Pastor by Zac Hicks
This is the book you’re most likely to come across in your research on worship leading, and for good reasons. Zac Hicks is a pastor who, in his own development and experience, recognized that the vocation of a worship pastor is far more diverse in function and responsibility than most have received training for. This book is brilliantly organized around the many callings of a worship pastor, beginning with the primary calling to be a pastor. Hicks identifies sixteen – SIXTEEN! – responsibilities that worship pastors regularly carry and he treats each one with its own chapter. If this sounds daunting, it is! Which is why his conclusion reminds us that we will fail in our ability to faithfully embody the perfect “worship pastor” and when we do, we fall into the arms of the One who called in the first place. I listed this one last as it’s the most “practical,” but if you haven’t read it I recommend starting here.
The best books are the ones that open you up to a journey of further discovery. You’ll know that one of these has done that if, upon finishing, you have more questions and a greater curiosity than you did when you began. Who knows, maybe along the way you’ll be prompted to write a book that will end up on a list like this in the future.
10KFAM exists to raise and release spiritual mothers and fathers who creatively shape the future of the church. The primary way we do this is through our Worship School, an 18-month discipleship program rich with community, coaching, and Master’s-accredited content (that doesn’t require any relocation!). Whether you’ve been leading worship for decades or are just starting out, we invite you to join the journey of learning to cultivate and give away what God’s placed in you. Click here learn more about the School.
next worship school begins MAY 5-9, 2025