Planning and Leading Christian Worship
PRTH 521
Summary
Explore the Planning and Leading Christian Worship course and what you can expect to learn through the semester.
Course Overview
Planning and Leading Christian Worship equips students to plan and lead biblically-informed and historically-guided, Christian corporate worship.
Attention is given to the theological and philosophical underpinnings of a range of Christian worship actions, contextual considerations, wise navigation of change, and analysis of optimal practices in worship design and leadership.
Classes are discussion-based and the professor dialogues and coaches students in the design and implementation of corporate worship services.
Textbooks
- See the current booklist.
Professor: Dr. David Hartkopf
Professor: Dr. Stephen Smith
Assignment Overview
Engage in hands-on worship service design through practical projects – from crafting calls to worship for different church seasons to developing comprehensive worship reform strategies, you’ll build a portfolio of real-world worship leadership resources.
Deepen your theological and historical understanding through focused papers and discussions, exploring everything from early Wesleyan hymns to contemporary worship trends across different traditions.
Develop your personal worship leadership skills through customized focus assignments – choose between scholarly research, practical ministry application, or personal development tracks to align coursework with your specific ministry goals and interests.
Intended Outcomes
You will appreciate
- Appreciate Christian Tradition and the contributions of the Church universal to contemporary Christian worship practices.
- Realize how your local Church subcultural worship practices fit into the larger picture of Christian Worship.
- More deeply value the worship services of your local church and the people you serve.
- Be motivated by class material to plan worship services that engage and disciple gathered believers into more mature followers of Christ.
- Be motivated personally to grow in your role as a Spirit-filled lead worshiper.
You will understand
- Learned the key elements of biblically and historically informed Christian worship.
- Gained a basic familiarity with literature connected to planning Christian worship.
- Gained an entry-level understanding of your local church’s worship history, and how it is situated in the larger story of Christian worship.
- Learned methods and best practices connected to leading different parts of a Christian worship service.
You will be able to
- Be able to plan biblically and historically informed Christian worship with sensitivity towards your subcultural context.
- Be able to articulate strengths and opportunities for growth concerning corporate worship in your local church.
- Be able to apply principles from class material to produce meaningful, positive change in the worship services you lead.
- Be able to articulate differences and similarities in various Christian worship traditions.