More from Keith Watkins on Progressive Worship

Keith Watkins continues his posts on worship in progressive churches.  He considers five generalization on alternative worship from Lutheran theologian Thomas Schattauer.  They are:

1. Recovery of historic practice toward a distinctive community witnessing to God’s purpose in the world
2. Use of cultural materials toward a wider embrace of people (be it the unchurched or particular ethnic groups)
3. Attention to the experience of the marginalized toward justice and inclusion of God’s reign
4. Focus on relational community toward social belonging and wholeness
5. Openness to the movement of God’s Spirit toward personal healing, holiness, and hope

Watkins provides a hint for the direction of his series when he says:  Schattauer’s list gives insufficient attention to another impulse that I encounter with increasing urgency in theological literature and in conversations with church people week after week: the need to restate central Christian doctrines in ways that can be affirmed by people who have dismissed older ways of stating Christian beliefs and who are searching for believable ways of describing their faith.