Wesleyan

A Wesleyan Theology of Worship

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Wesleyan liturgical theology is deeply concerned to define worship as more than public acts. Worship has to do with all of life, with relationships, and with vocations. In deed and thought believers continually act out their relationship to Christ.

Christianity, as John Wesley describes it, is the method of worshiping God which has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. Christ makes known the profusion of God’s love for us, and faith (“the eyes of the newborn soul”) apprehends this love. Faith involves us in a life of worship as we are drawn to adore and to imitate the God who has loved us. Thus “worship,” in the Wesleyan tradition, encompasses not only public rituals and private devotions but the Christian life in all its fullness.

Worship is much more than the simple awareness of God. In its most general sense, worship is adoration, the loving contemplation of God’s holiness. Worship, says Wesley, brings us into the presence of God. Through it, we “find such a near approach [to God] as cannot be expressed. [We] see him, as it were, face to face … ” (The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. 1 [Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979] 514. Subsequent references will be to Works.) In the presence of this God we learn “to love him, to delight in him, to desire him, with all our heart and mind and soul and strength; to imitate him we love by purifying ourselves, … and to obey him whom we love … both in thought, and word, and work.” (Works, vol. 1, 544).

This sense of adoration and devotion before the presence of God found expression in the singing that characterized Methodist worship from its earliest days. Charles Wesley devoted his theological energies to setting Methodist doctrine to poetry and melody.

Worship invokes in the worshiper the whole drama of redemption including the call to repentance, the joy of knowing God as forgiving God, and the challenge of imitating Christ through holy living.

As a priest in the Church of England, Wesley was familiar with and generally at home in highly ritualized forms of worship. As a young missionary to the English settlement at Savannah, Georgia, he pored over new translations of Eastern Orthodox liturgical texts and revised the Anglican prayer book based on his research. In the heyday of the Methodist revival, he advised his followers to attend Communion as often as possible, preferably daily (he personally received Communion 5 days a week on average). He recommended the Anglican prayer book for personal devotions and provided a revised edition of it for American Methodists—i.e., the Sunday Service.

Wesley distinguishes between the outward form of worship and its inward power, neither of which can be neglected. He criticizes nominal Christians for observing the forms of worship while neglecting the power of God’s grace at work in them. To these, he says “true religion is so far from consisting in forms of worship.” (Works, vol. 1, 219).

At the same time, he criticizes believers who insist that “spiritual worship” makes the form of worship a matter of indifference and who ask “will it not suffice to worship God, who is a Spirit with the spirit of our minds?” (Works, vol. 1, 532). To these Wesley insists that worship must engage our whole person and therefore, must include a disciplined use of the “means of grace,” including public and private prayer, the Lord’s Supper, Scripture reading, fasting, and small group nurture. Although forms and rituals can be abused, “let the abuse be taken way and the use remain. Now use all outward things, but use them with a constant eye to the renewal of your soul in righteousness and true holiness.” (Works, vol. 1, 545).

This unity of inward power and outward form enables Wesley to maintain a theology of worship that straddles the divide between a liturgical formality and formless subjectivism. Worship centers on the objective realities of God’s presence and at the same time, it draws the heart of the believer into a transforming relationship.

Wesley’s discussion of the specific elements of worship indicates a thorough and consistent re-interpretation of liturgical forms in keeping with his theological commitment of visible holiness in believers.

Baptism represents the ordinary means by which we are initiated into the life of Christ. In speaking of infant baptism Wesley teaches a mild form of baptismal regeneration: “By baptism, we are admitted into the Church, and consequently made members of Christ, its Head … By water then, as a means, the water of baptism, we are regenerated or born again.” (Works, “A Treatise On Baptism,” in vol. 10, 190–2).

Yet Wesley adapts this Anglican view to his evangelical commitments. He concludes, for instance, that although baptism is the ordinary means of initiation into the life of Christ, it is not necessary to salvation: “If it were, every Quaker must be damned which I can in no wise believe.” (Works, vol. 26, ed. Frank Baker [Oxford: Clarendon Press, c. 1975], 36). In preaching to nominal Christians Wesley seems to dispense with baptismal objectivity altogether, chastening his listeners for assuming that baptism assures their salvation: “Lean no more on the staff of that broken reed, that ye were born again in baptism. Who denies that you were then made children of God … But notwithstanding this ye are now children of the devil.” (Works, vol. 1, 430). Wesley calls those who have lived away from their baptismal identity to rebirth in the Spirit.

Wesley’s teaching on the Eucharist begins with a strong emphasis on the real presence of Christ. “He will meet me there because he has promised so to do? I do expect that he will fulfill His word, that he will meet and bless me in this way.” (Poetical Works, III, 203–4). We can come to the Lord’s Table in the confidence that Christ will meet us there.

So confident was Wesley in Christ’s presence that he speaks of the converting power of the Eucharist. “Ye are the witnesses. For many present know, the very beginning of your conversion to God (perhaps, in some, the first deep conviction) was wrought at the Lord’s Supper.” (Journal, vol. 2, ed., Nehemiah Curnock [London: Charles H. Kelly, n.d.], 360–61). Those who seek God may find him revealed to them here. The Lord’s Supper stands as the chief means by which believers receive the grace of Christ and remained, for Wesley, an indispensable element in Christian living.

Wesley’s one real innovation in worship was his Covenant Service which became an annual practice in the Methodist Societies after 1755. Wesley based his liturgy on a seventeenth-century Puritan service. The Covenant Service’s prayers, responses, and solemn vows emphasized his vigorous program of moral and spiritual discipline.

For most of the eighteenth century, the Methodist Societies remained within the Anglican church. Therefore, in practice, Methodist worship rarely included sacramental elements. Methodists were instructed to receive the sacraments at their parish churches, whereas the Methodist chapels were reserved for singing and preaching. As the Societies gained independence from the Church of England, and finally broke with it altogether (1795), these limitations came to shape Methodist worship, especially in England. The tensions in Wesley’s sacramental-evangelicalism generally relaxed in favor of more informal worship styles. These tendencies were only heightened by the independent culture of the North American frontier. In this century the influences of the student movement and liturgical renewal movement have led to a resurgence of liturgical formality and sacramental practice in Methodism.

The Arts in Adventist Churches

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Gospel song is prominent in the music of Adventist churches. However, the range of music used spans the centuries from traditional masterpieces to contemporary choruses. Churches rely on a variety of instruments, from large pipe organs to electronic synthesizers. The other arts are not generally used in worship, but among a few leading churches banners, hangings, and drama have been introduced.

Music

From its very beginnings, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has witnessed a fascinating polarity in music preferences and practices. The church was forming during the period of revival and camp-meeting enthusiasm in the mid-nineteenth century. A considerable portion of music in the emerging church consisted of the white spirituals and gospel songs that one would expect from that background. Wesleyan hymns were significant, and people coming to the Adventist church from other denominations brought their hymns with them. Early Adventist leaders published hymnals and worked diligently to teach the people how to understand and use music from the great traditions of hymnody. This work continues. It would be difficult to define a Seventh-day Adventist music tradition because of the eclectic use of music in worship, although gospel song is the most prevalent genre.

Given this background, it is perhaps surprising that the use of the guitar in worship has been resisted in many places. However, a number of Adventist churches intent on renewing worship use not only guitars, but synthesizers, electric basses, drums, and various other instruments. Use of such instruments was almost negligible prior to the mid-1980s. Since the late 1970s many churches have added handbells to their worship programming. During this same period, though beginning earlier, Adventist college campus churches, as well as various other large Adventist churches have increasingly used brass ensembles and chamber groups in worship.

During the 1970s and 1980s several Adventist churches, mostly on college campuses, installed large mechanical action organs. The Rieger organ at Pacific Union College Church (Angwin, California, north of San Francisco) is the largest such organ on the West Coast, and the Brombaugh organ at the Collegedale Church (Southern College, near Chattanooga, Tennessee) is one of the largest in the United States. A number of Adventist churches also have large Casavant organs. Most Adventist churches, however, use a small electronic organ and often a piano for the accompaniment of worship.

One finds considerable musical variety within Seventh-day Adventist churches. Most typical is the standard fare of hymns and gospel songs which may be used for both congregational singing and service music. In the churches emphasizing renewal, particularly those with a celebrative type of worship, most of the music consists of Scripture songs and praise choruses. The great masterpieces of music are also heard regularly in the largest Adventist churches. Christian rock music, however, is rare.

Visual and Performing Arts

A growing, though still very small, number of Seventh-day Adventist churches are using banners to enhance worship. For example, beginning in 1987 in Waynesboro, Virginia, and in 1990 in Lakeside, California, the author introduced banners, an artistic medium that had never before been used. Although the congregation first questioned their use, they soon recognized their great benefit. In Lakeside we have produced banners for Advent, Christmas, the Easter Season (Triumphal Entry, Crucifixion, Resurrection), Pentecost, Adventist Heritage Sabbath, and Thanksgiving.

Beginning at the Sligo Church (near Washington, D.C.), and then in Waynesboro and the author’s church in Lakeside, the author has introduced table displays to illustrate, complement, or expand the morning worship theme. A few Adventist churches, including the Sligo church, have commissioned artistic wall hangings. A limited number of Adventist churches have flexible seating, and only a few of those have varied the seating from time to time to enrich worship.

Chancel drama is a recent addition to Seventh-day Adventist worship and is used in only a very small number of churches. However, its use increased notably during the 1980s, to the point where several of the renewing churches are using drama almost every week.

In 1985 the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1985) was published. It is the first Seventh-day Adventist hymnal or liturgical book of any kind to include extensive worship aids. Prior to that, the most recent hymnal had been published in 1941. A Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White was published in 1988 (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988).

O KING OF KINGS, O LORD OF HOSTS

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O King of kings, O Lord of hosts, Whose throne is lifted high
Above the nations of the earth, the armies of the sky,
The spirits of perfected saints may give their nobler songs
And we, Thy children, worship Thee, to Whom all praise belongs.

Thou Who hast sown the sky with stars, and set Thy thoughts in gold,
Hast crowned our nation’s life, and ours, with blessings manifold;
Thy mercies have been numberless; Thy love, Thy grace, Thy care,
Were wider than our utmost need, and higher than our prayer.

O King of kings, O Lord of hosts, our fathers’ God and ours!
Be with us in the future years; and if the tempest lowers,
Look through the cloud with light of love, and smile our tears away
And lead us through the brightening years to heaven’s eternal day.

About the writer: Henry Burton, a Methodist minister, was born in 1840 in the house where his grandmother, in 1818 organized the first Wesleyan juvenile missionary society. His parents moved to America in his boyhood and he was educated at Beloit College. After his graduation he became a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He later moved back to London where he preached and wrote scholarly works and poetry until his death.

Key Verse: On his robe and thigh was written this title: King of kings and Lord of lords. –Revelation 19:16

Sunday Worship in the Church of the Nazarene

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Revolution has recently come to corporate worship in the American Holiness Movement. Historically, John Wesley and some of his American interpreters shaped the theology of the movement and nineteenth-century revivalism shaped its corporate worship. But lately, many have come to believe that the revivalist influence is as much a liability to the Wesleyan heritage as it is an asset. Corporate worship patterns developed under the influence of nineteenth-century revivalism provide a very effective vehicle for proclaiming the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification as an instantaneously granted “second work of grace.” But they are severely limited with respect to the other critical point in the Wesleyan understanding of Christian perfection, the point of encouraging and developing growth in grace.

Increasingly, it is being recognized that corporate worship must move beyond a solely evangelistic aim and express the basic Christian disposition to adore and praise God, to learn of God, and to learn of life in God.

The Camp Meeting Model

Many, however, encouraged by the administrative leadership within the movement and by its corps of itinerant evangelists, retain and promote as the ideal for corporate worship a stereotype of the late nineteenth-century camp meeting service. The features of such worship include: spirited singing of gospel songs; fervent, spontaneous prayers said aloud by many; shouts of “Amen,” “Hallelujah,” and so on; spontaneous personal testimony; excited preaching that need not hew closely to the biblical text; and “altar services” in which the mourners’ bench is lined with sobbing penitents seeking either justification or entire sanctification.

The liveliness of such services is almost always attributed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is there, it is believed, to help people distinguish clearly between sanctity and sinfulness, to determine which class they belong to, and to act accordingly.

This boisterous ideal has tended to shut out sustained contemplation of either the divine or human nature and generally it has inhibited nurture. And, admittedly, it has tended to be susceptible to sheer emotionalism. The standard of this model is applied even to sacramental services, which are evaluated in terms of degrees of overt emotional demonstration. The safeguards against evaluating all things by emotional criteria alone are putatively located in the ultimate authority of Scripture and in rather rigorous behavioral codes. But it is true that one would seldom hear commended as a model a service characterized by a quiet, thoughtful, generally unemotional spirit.

Traditional Patterns

Up until the mid-1960s the pattern of Sunday morning corporate worship varied little from congregation to congregation across the Holiness movement. That pattern is still common: opening hymn (choir and minister already in place); gospel song; pastoral prayer; announcements and offering (piano or organ offertory); choir number; gospel song; “special” music; sermon; benediction. Only one biblical passage would be read—the sermon text, immediately prior to the sermon. The pastoral prayer would be spontaneous or extemporaneous. “Read prayers” would have been considered quite inappropriate. The benediction would, more often than not, be an extension of the sermon—recapitulation, additional material, or suggested application. Seldom was it Trinitarian or even biblical; almost never was there an ascription in place of a benediction.

Processionals and recessionals were a rarity, but not unknown. However, they were simply matters of getting a choir into and out of the loft and served no liturgical function. Preludes were understood to be mood setters, but usually accompanied much socializing in the pews. The idea of silence in the moments before a service was considered to be of secondary importance, and might even be opposed. Hospitality came first and hence, socializing.

Universally until the 1960s, and still quite commonly thereafter, the Sunday evening service was constructed of the same elements as that of Sunday morning, with some exceptions: the gospel songs were chosen for their liveliness and their evangelistic content, there would often be more in the way of “special” music, and the sermon would almost invariably lead to an altar call, a call to conversion or to entire sanctification.

The heart of this model, the lively fervor or “excitement” described as the “presence of the Holy Spirit,” has remained the desideratum for the past 125 years. But since the 1960s, the means of achieving or sustaining it have changed. As the movement has become increasingly middle class, the older practices of spontaneous shouting, testifying, and praying aloud simultaneously have been curtailed. As a result, much of the “burden” for maintaining the desideratum has fallen on music, and music has also been assigned the task of mood control.

Consequently, in many places, direct congregational participation is reduced to the singing of choruses and snippets of hymns and gospel songs surrounded by elements of performance and entertainment in which members of the congregation are mere spectators. The song leader has become a sort of emcee, responsible for keeping up “a good spirit” with a line of pious commentary, observation, and introductions. The use of lush stereo tapes in the accompaniment of local musicians furthers the mood of performance and entertainment.

A Place for Adoration

While very few in the Holiness movement would want to discard evangelism as an essential purpose of corporate worship, the dominance of the evangelistic model has met with increasing resistance. In many places there is a revolutionary concern to make a place for adoration, contemplation, and nurture. This concern, often only dimly perceived and poorly articulated, has not yet universally removed evangelism from its place of priority, but it has in some places and is showing signs of doing so quite widely.

Here the historical tendency of the Holiness movement to reject out of hand any worship patterns and perspectives other than its own (even failing to recognize its indebtedness to Methodism and Anglicanism) has generally left it without the basic experiences and perspectives that would permit and encourage careful discussion of change. On the one hand, it has been sharply critical of the freedom of the Pentecostals, and, on the other hand, it has declared the traditional forms to be “cold, dead, and formal.” Even where it has retained older rituals, as in baptism and the Lord’s Supper, it has developed a studied offhandedness in celebrating them, for the worst of all sins in public worship is “formalism.”

The Quest for Contemporary Appeal

So it is that two distinct new approaches to worship have been developed, in addition to the older pattern and its modern mutation, already noted. Perhaps most common are those approaches for which the word contemporary holds high value, and which are concerned primarily with psychological or aesthetic satisfaction. The language and experience of the social sciences and the entertainment industry are given high credence. The patterns chosen are those of the gospel sing or those of the televangelists, in which the aim appears to be an emotional tone—a sense of having “gotten in touch with God” or a sense of having “refocused life,” not usually evangelism. The music, especially, is turned toward self-affirmation.

In these patterns, the choir will often begin the service with a rousing contemporary chorus of praise which often repeats a biblical verse and in which the congregation will be asked to join on a second go-round. This will be followed by an informal word of greeting from the pastor or the song leader and often an invitation to “turn around and shake hands with those near you.” Then will come another chorus or a gospel song, or even one of the livelier hymns, followed by yet another chorus or gospel song, a “prayer chorus” and “prayer time.”

“Prayer time,” which is usually directed by the pastor against a background of “mood music” is principally given over to petitions, most of them having to do with physical and emotional health and material desires. It is usually closed with the choir or the choir and congregation singing a chorus.

The mood then rapidly shifts as visitors are greeted, announcements are made, and various activities are vigorously promoted. The offering is then taken as an offertory is either played or sung. The offertory prayer is quite informal. It is always spontaneous and is usually prayed by one of the ushers. This is usually followed by a “choir special,” which, in turn, is followed by a chorus or a verse or two of a hymn or gospel song by the congregation. If the offertory music was instrumental, there will now usually be a vocal “special.”

Then comes the sermon, almost always delivered in conversational tones. While there is some tendency now among those following this model to attempt to fit the music to the theme of the sermon, ordinarily it will not show any clear relationship. In fact, ordinarily the text will not be known until the pastor reads it as a preface to his sermon. The service is closed according to the pattern set much earlier, but the aim will not be clearly evangelistic. There is often no clear aim beyond the psychological one of feeling affirmed.

Recovery of Historic Traditions

At the same time some are reaching back to the Methodist and Anglican roots of the Holiness movement and seeking to reclaim more traditional forms of worship. These give high credence to the language and experience of the historic traditions. They choose patterns that aim at recognition of the sovereign God and at thanksgiving for the redemption brought to us, in our unworthiness, by Christ. They emphasize the dialogical character of worship, with the use of spoken and sung response to Scripture reading, to prayer, to the sermon, and to the offering.

Especially noteworthy is the increasing use of the lectionary for both public reading of Scripture and sermon text, of the Lord’s Prayer, and of congregational response to prayer and Scripture reading. All of this, in turn, has led to more careful observance of the high holy days in the liturgical year besides Christmas and Easter. It has also led to a redirecting of the role of music—from mood-setter and means of personal testimony to a form of active participation in worship itself.

The order of service itself is essentially a simplified form of the older Anglican service of Morning Prayer with sermon. Also characteristic is a return to more frequent celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The ritual followed here is usually a simplified version of that devised for the American Methodists by John Wesley, with strong emphasis on penitence now being replaced by an emphasis on solemn celebration and thanksgiving. For all of this, the twentieth-century hymnody of the Holiness movement has proven inadequate, so it is quite common to find bulletin inserts containing older hymns, especially those of Charles Wesley.

Almost all of the major Holiness denominations are currently creating new hymnals. This is being done with careful attention to “what the people [seem to] want,” and only minimal consultation with theologians and biblical scholars. This very deliberate policy can only strengthen the so-called contemporary style of worship and further move the unique theological and experiential identity of the Holiness movement in a mainline evangelical direction. On the other hand, the publication of the Wesleys’ hymns and worship aids point to a reviving of the liturgical spirit that gave birth to Wesleyanism.

The Holiness movement has not been self-critical or reflective concerning its patterns of worship, and has therefore not established worship commissions or even mandated courses in corporate worship for its clergy. And, at the moment, the signs of change are to be seen in local congregations, not denominational offices or schools.

Sunday Worship in Wesleyan Churches

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True religion does not consist in any ritual observances, such as forms or ceremonies, even of the most excellent kind, be they ever so decent and significant, ever so expressive of inward things. The religion of Christ rises infinitely higher and lies infinitely deeper than all these. Let no man conceive that rites and ceremonies have an intrinsic worth, or that true worship cannot subsist without them. (Discipline of the Wesleyan Church [Marion, Indiana: The Wesleyan Publishing House, 1968].

This statement in the first Discipline of the Wesleyan Church, adopted at its initial general conference in 1968, remains both a “special direction” of the denomination and a key to understanding its worship patterns.

Plain Worship

The Wesleyan Church was created by the merger of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church, both of which were firmly rooted in the nineteenth-century holiness revival in America. As the denominational name indicates, the ties to John Wesley are strong.

The early shape of Wesleyan worship, then, was Methodist—not the traditional form Wesley himself preferred, but the modified variety, shaped by the American frontier. An early Wesleyan Methodist directive, “On Public Worship” (1849), speaks plainly about plain worship:

To establish uniformity among the churches in public worship on the Lord’s Day, it is recommended that the following order be observed. Let the morning and afternoon service consist of, 1. Singing; 2. Prayer; 3. Reading the Scriptures; 4. Singing; 5. Preaching; 6. Singing; 7. Prayer; 8. Benediction. Let the evening service be the same, only omitting the reading of the Scriptures; or let there be a prayer meeting. Parts of this order may be omitted as particular times and circumstances may require.

We recommend the churches to dispense with the instrumental music. (Discipline of the Wesleyan Church [New York: The Wesleyan Methodist Connection, 1849], 65-66)

That basic order, or one similar to it, would be recognizable in a majority of Wesleyan churches a century and a half later—except that the afternoon service is now just a historical footnote and that instrumental music has long been universally accepted in the church.

Freedom Over Form

Wesleyan worship is still oriented more toward freedom than form, more toward simplicity than elaboration, more toward pulpit (or even pew) than Table. If James White is right in placing Methodism in the center of a worship continuum that stretches from order on one end to spontaneity on the other, the Wesleyan Church would join its holiness counterparts on the “free” side, though considerably short of Old-Style Quakers and Pentecostals (James White, Protestant Worship: Traditions in Transition [Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1989], 23).

Unlike some denominations, it is difficult to characterize the worship of a typical Wesleyan church. In most, a bulletin outlines an order of worship, but with few liturgical components. Gospel songs mix with Charles Wesley’s hymns in the morning worship services, occasional “amens” punctuate the sermon (though less frequently than in the past), and evangelistic sermons lead to altar calls as seekers “pray through” at the front of the sanctuary. Communion is offered quarterly, baptism less often.

The Wesleyan version of the Christian year is simple, consisting of Christmas, Easter, and a collection of cultural holidays, like Mother’s Day and Independence Day, that have been incorporated into the tradition. Revival meetings are scheduled for spring and fall, though the two-week meeting that was customary for the grandparents of today’s worshipers was abbreviated to a ten-day meeting in their parents’ generation and has since become a three- to-five-day event in the modern church. Camp meeting is still a summer staple, but with fewer campers and more evening commuters. Often it is held in tandem with a church conference. Variations abound, but this profile is generally accurate. In fact, it is a passable profile for the holiness movement as a whole.

Since in Scripture, from Isaiah 6 to the hymns of Revelation, the worship of God is inextricably linked to the holiness of God, it might be supposed that holiness churches would major on worship and set the pace for worship renewal in the Christian community. In reality, the emphasis in holiness circles has fallen more on the holiness God imparts to his people than on his own intrinsic holiness. “Be holy … ” is stressed more than the rest of the verse, “ … because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2; cf. 1 Pet. 1:16).

Simply put, worship in holiness churches has received less attention than the other marks of the church—evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and service.

Celebration vs. Reverence

Like many sermon-focused traditions, Wesleyans have tended to regard the rest of the service as introductory and preparatory (“the preliminaries”). Since the 1970s, however, interest in the nature and purpose of worship has increased, judging from such indicators as worship-related articles in denominational publications, seminars at district and denominational gatherings, and worship attendance. Average attendance at Sunday morning worship surpassed Sunday school attendance for the first time in memory in 1980, a statistical trend that has continued. Perhaps the most significant renewal indicator, and certainly the most practical, is the frequency with which “worship leader” has begun appearing in pastoral staff job descriptions.

Renewal is apparent on two divergent fronts—one a trend toward praise and more freedom, the other an appreciation of liturgy and more form.

Praise-and-worship music is popular especially among younger congregations and newly planted churches, many of which are populated with first-generation Wesleyans. Overhead projectors are replacing hymnals for some, and clapping is increasingly accepted. Wesleyans do not practice glossolalia (tongues-speaking), but to many congregations worship renewal means a more charismatic style—lifted hands, contemporary choruses, an expanded role for music in the service, greater reliance on taped accompaniments. The emphasis is on celebration.

For others, worship renewal means a recovery of reverence. Wesleyans will never be “high church,” but some congregations are adopting liturgical elements like the creed (two are printed at the front of the 1976 hymnal), choral responses, multiple Scripture lessons, and a greater participation in the Christian year. Lectionary use is not widespread, but some Wesleyan pastors follow it. Fixed prayers are still uncommon except for the sacraments, weddings, and the rituals of membership, ordination, and installation of leaders. Litanies appear on special occasions. It is a limited liturgy to be sure, but a journey of discovery for the participants.

The future degree and direction of change is difficult to predict, but the dialogue has begun. Wesleyans are thinking and talking about worship. Growth has brought a substantial number of new Wesleyans into the fold, and many bring with them worship patterns and preferences from previous denominations. The church is producing more seminarians than ever before, and at least one denominational college offers a course in Christian worship that focuses on liturgics and is required of all ministry candidates.

Both renewal movements will likely continue to act as catalysts for change. A denomination that has always defined itself doctrinally rather than liturgically will have room within its walls for contrasting—or complementary—worship styles.