{"product_id":"9781946453037","title":"The Rise (and Fall) of the Secular Church: Observations of the Church Since Whatever Happened to Worship?: A Call toTrue Worship Sermon Collections by A. W. Tozer, 1985","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOver a half century ago, A. W. Tozer warned about the invasion of secularism into the church. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat has happened to the church and its worship experience since he started in 1962: \"Heresy of method may be as deadly as the heresy of message”?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMany Christians simply accept the form of worship in their churches as it is — after all, if it's church it's right, isn't it? \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe fact that secular values, styles, and expressions exist in the worship of many evangelical churches today shows the insidious, yet discernible creep of secularism into the worship experience.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChange is inevitable. No one is naive enough to believe that the church today must be the same as the church of the first century. However, is there a \"right\" way to worship according to the Scriptures? Have we discarded biblical patterns for worship?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWorship in the first church was God-directed, filled with sacrament and symbol, life changing, insider-shaping, seeker insensitive, even exclusive, yet multi-ethnic. Compare that to what characterizes the church in many places today: relevant, segregated, professionally orchestrated, culture-centered, and performance-based.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor Ron Fessenden presents the reader with a thought provoking discussion of the contemporary church, highlighting changes that have their roots in non-biblical expressions or values, and describes how the church and its worship experience are increasingly defined in secular terms, how we seem to be in the midst of a slide away from the spiritual toward something more secular, and what might come of all this if we continue on the same path we are on now. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Outreach, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47175016546544,"sku":"9781946453037","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781946453037_p0.jpg?v=1763808936","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781946453037","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}