What Happens When We Worship

Author(s):  Jonathan Landry Cruse
Publisher:  Reformation Heritage Books
Price: $2.99      

Many churchgoers assume that worship is inherently boring, something we need to make exciting. But as Jonathan Landry Cruse shows, churchgoing only seems monotonous and mundane because our eyes are blinded to the supernatural wonder that is taking place all around us.

In this book, Cruse helps us perceive the significance of worship and guides us through the spiritual actions of a worship service. Once you recognize how God is doing something to us and for us and through us in each element of the service, Lord’s Day worship will become the highlight of your week!

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Michael S. Horton
Part 1: Introduction
1. What Happens When We Worship?
Part 2: A Brief Theology of Worship
2. The Most Important Thing We Will Ever Do
3. We Are Being Shaped
4. We Meet with God
5. God Renews His Covenant
6. We Submit to God’s Agenda
7. We Commune with the Saints
Part 3: The Parts of the Service
8. God Calls Us
9. The Verdict Is Pronounced
10. Jesus Gets Up to Preach
11. God Feasts with Us
12. We Get a New Name
13. We Sing a New Song
Part 4: Conclusion
14. Extraordinarily ordinary Worship
15. Preparing for Worship

Author
Jonathan Landry Cruse (MDiv, Westminster Seminary California) is pastor of Community Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he lives with his wife and son.

Endorsements
“What happens in worship? God is at work, and the best thing we can do is receive it. I’ve known Jonathan Cruse for many years now and have enormous respect for his gifts not only in theology but in music. This book will broaden and deepen your vision while narrowing it on ‘the Author and Finisher of our faith.’ Please read, mark, and inwardly digest the teaching in this important book.” — Michael S. Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

“This excellent book is a fresh, engaging, and thoughtful call to worship. It opens up the importance, vitality, and character of worship in a very helpful way.” — W. Robert Godfrey, chairman, Ligonier Ministries

“Protestant worship can appear to be boring. The remedy for some is to add beauty and grandeur, and for others, excitement. The Reformers understood that biblical worship needed spice but that such pizzazz came not from externals or style but from Scripture, faith, and a right understanding of what transpires when God’s people meet in His name on the Lord’s Day. Jonathan Cruse uses the teaching of Scripture and the wisdom of Reformed theologians to remind Protestants how extraordinary their simple worship is.” — D. G. Hart, associate professor of history, Hillsdale College

“As responsibility for the faithful transmission of Reformed ministry and worship passes from one generation to the next, Jonathan Cruse has shown himself willing and able to take up the mantle. He presents the old strengths of God-centered, gospel-structured, Spirit-dependent, word-filled, and Bible-regulated worship with a fresh voice, conveying to this generation the genius of worship that is Reformed ‘according to Scripture.’ ” — Terry L. Johnson, senior minister, Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia

“I am amazed at how much solid material Jonathan Cruse has managed to pack into these few pages of What Happens When We Worship! Each aspect I think of on this vital subject is addressed succinctly and with biblical fidelity. I love the questions for further discussion. They turn you from a mere intellectual student into a fellow participant in a quest for authentic, God-glorifying worship. Read this book, and you will increasingly put mind, heart, and soul into your worship with renewed enthusiasm.” — Conrad Mbewe, pastor, Kabwata Baptist Church, Lusaka, Zambia