Book: Worship Team Handbook

Ron Rienstra

Alison Siewert (ed.), Andy Crouch, Matt Frazier, and Sundee Frazier. Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998. 1-800-843-7225. 182 pp. $14.99.

Labeled a “handbook,” this offering from IVP might just as well be called a “goodie bag.” Written by members of the Urbana Worship Conference worship team, it’s filled with all sorts of goodies. There are sections on worship itself (theoretical without being boring), leading worship (an especially helpful section), and practical help for developing worship teams and choosing and writing music for worship. More sections include practical skills for musicians (very nitty-gritty!), teaching aids, dramas, help with using visual arts and the media, putting it all together, and more. An appendix includes some helpful Bible studies for worship leaders.

This is an excellent resource for worship leaders to use with their teams. The chapters come in small, easy-to-digest chunks and are filled with both insight and hands-on help. Highly recommended.

Rev. Dr. Ron Rienstra has been a regular contributor to Reformed Worship over the years. He is the director of worship life and professor of preaching and worship arts at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America , author of Church at Church, and coauthor with his wife, Debra, of Worship Words: Discipling Language for Faithful Ministry. Together they have three grown children, a multiplicity of living-room instruments, and a tame backyard they are slowly rewilding.