"Reaching Out without Dumbing Down," by Martha Dawn

A few months ago I bought several books on worship, and am still trying to work my way through them. I haven't gotten very far, but I did finally finish one - "Reaching Out without Dumbing Down," by Marva Dawn.

The title nicely captures the essence of Dawn's plea. She urges churches to carefully consider their worship practices in light of pervasive cultural factors without the church, and idolatrous tendencies within the church, that threaten to mute the church's ability to bear witness to the truth of God in her worship. The less self-reflective the church becomes about her worship, the more likely her worship will conform to the values and norms of the world. Not only will the church fail to honor her Lord in this way, but she will have nothing of true value to offer the world around her.

One point I found particularly helpful was Dawn's emphasis on the role of worship in building Christian character. The worship practice of the church will have a tremendous influence on the thoughts and lives of Christians over time. This is a perspective that I think is extremely important to bear in mind when Christians discuss (or sometimes, argue about!) worship. Worship is far more than our experience of it (as Dawn reminds us, it is ultimately about God, who is both the subject and object of worship), but it has a large part to play in forming our character as Christians. Dawn discusses all the implications this has for the content of worship.

While Dawn at times tries to rise above the "traditional" vs. "contemporary" debate in the church's worship wars, in my mind her book unquestionably makes a strong argument for worship practices that are usually considered "traditional." Whenever the church overly accommodates herself to the prevailing culture, which appears to be the major problem with many contemporary worship practices, she becomes unable to create a genuine Christian counter-culture that preserves the weightiness and majesty of God, that fosters genuine community, and that forms godly character.

The one weakness of the book that came to my mind is also a strength. Dawn rarely cites Scripture to support her thesis. She quotes at length the studies of other sociologists, philosophers, and theologians, but hardly ever directly appeals to Scripture. However, her analysis is not thereby undermined. Rather, this perspective that is really based more on observation than exegesis, serves to complement well principles of worship that are taken directly from Scripture. In other words, Dawn's book affirms from empirical study the importance of being faithful to those principles of true worship that God has revealed in his Word.