The Next Worship - (IVP Signature Collection) by Sandra Maria Van Opstal (Paperback)

About the Book

How do we help our congregations navigate the journey of worshipping in a multicultural context? Innovative worship leader Sandra Van Opstal gives leaders and churches guidance, providing biblical foundations for multiethnic worship and practical tools for planning services that reflect God's invitation for all peoples to praise him.

Book Synopsis

How do we help our congregations navigate the journey of worshipping in a multicultural context? Innovative worship leader Sandra Van Opstal gives leaders and churches guidance, providing biblical foundations for multiethnic worship and practical tools for planning services that reflect God's invitation for all peoples to praise him.

Review Quotes

"The Next Worship is an indispensable guide for leaders who want to thoughtfully engage their communities in the worship giftings of many communities. This book is insightful, practical, immensely helpful and profound! Van Opstal blends an academic understanding of peoples and cultures with a pastor's heart and a practitioner's no-nonsense advice. Many claim to value multiethnic worship, but few have journeyed so deeply and so broadly-Van Opstal is one of those few."

"The Next Worship not only crosses boundaries but redefines them. Sandra Van Opstal invites readers to join in a journey of hospitality around the table-Jesus' table. She so beautifully puts the analogy of diverse worship alongside our calling to be both a host and a guest at the table where everyone is welcome and can play a role. The invitation is to learn and draw from one another, experiencing the culinary delights we may not otherwise partake in. Sandra's examples show a richness and necessity of crosscultural community, understanding and participation. This book addresses our spiritual mandate for inclusion and also provides very practical tools, stories and examples from which the reader is able to gain incredible insight, avoid common crosscultural pitfalls, and acquire an increased sensitivity and awareness. I recommend this book not only to anyone seeking to understand and develop multiethnic worship communities, but also to anyone seeking to understand God's heart for diversity and how to engage our neighbors more meaningfully."

"All Christians are on a journey toward God's multicultural kingdom. We live in a remarkable time of opportunity for growth in understanding and shared practices across cultures. Drawing on years of creative leadership in a variety of contexts, Sandra Van Opstal offers us testimonies, tools and insights to inform the next steps in our own journeys of growth and sanctification. May God use this book to break down barriers and strengthen intercultural bonds of many worshiping communities!"

"Because we live in an increasingly diverse, mixed and multicultural reality, The Next Worship is a must-read resource for pastors and worship leaders. Navigating the profound complexities of cultural identity within the life of the church, Sandra Van Opstal equips and compels us toward becoming a more competent, generous and self-aware leader."

"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lamented that one of the most segregated hours is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, when the church gathers for worship. Sandra Van Opstal offers a fresh vision where the church reflects the diversity of God's kingdom rather than conforming to the patterns of segregation. The Next Worship reminds us that unity is not about uniformity, but about harmonizing rather than homogenizing. Van Opstal reminds us that what may be just as important as how we worship is who we worship with. This is a beautiful book."

"For many years, Sandra Van Opstal has been leading diverse people to do more than sing of love and justice (Psalm 101:1). She has led them to walk, work and worship God together as one beyond the distinctions of this world that so often and otherwise divide. In The Next Worship, Sandra provides competent insight and practical advice for ministry leaders seeking to present a more credible witness of God's love for all people in an increasingly diverse and cynical society."

"I love this book! The Next Worship is theologically and biblically sound, socially and culturally relevant, and extremely current and practical. The truth and experiential wisdom shared by Sandra Van Opstal has the potential to spark a movement that creates inclusive communities of trust where people from every walk of life are welcomed to the table of God. If you have been looking for a way to infuse new life into your faith community, look no further. You must read this book!"

"One of most significant challenges for the next era of evangelicalism is developing unity in the worship life of a multicultural Christian community. Sandra Van Opstal recognizes that multicultural worship is a long journey with many bumps along the way-there are no simple and easy answers. In The Next Worship, Sandra puts forth key principles and helpful models that should inspire us to pursue this noble goal. This book may well become the essential text that helps multiethnic churches turn the corner in their worship life."

"We have lost the language of love in our worship-love for God and love for our neighbor. This is a book for those who want to recover these loves by practicing reconciliation in worship. The Next Worship shows us how to love God and love our neighbor practically in worship, specifically by sharing leadership and guiding others in change. Through her personal relationships and experience in community Sandra teaches us to create spaces of hospitality, solidarity and mutuality through worship. I highly recommend this book, having experienced Sandra's leadership and knowing the wealth she has crossing cultures domestically and globally."

"What Sandra Van Opstal does so importantly here is to help make the arc of this worship transformation clear and practicable. Out of her life experience and rich ministry background, Sandra does for us here what she has done over the years for many of those she has led as worship teams and as worshipers. This book is a vital gift for a changing church that needs to reflect the God of all the nations."

"The Next Worship is an indispensable guide for leaders who want to thoughtfully engage their communities in the worship giftings of many communities. This book is insightful, practical, immensely helpful and profound! Van Opstal blends an academic understanding of peoples and cultures with a pastor's heart and a practitioner's no-nonsense advice. Many claim to value multiethnic worship, but few have journeyed so deeply and so broadly--Van Opstal is one of those few."

--Nikki Toyama-Szeto, executive director of Christians for Social Action and coauthor of God of Justice

"The Next Worship not only crosses boundaries but redefines them. Sandra Van Opstal invites readers to join in a journey of hospitality around the table--Jesus' table. She so beautifully puts the analogy of diverse worship alongside our calling to be both a host and a guest at the table where everyone is welcome and can play a role. The invitation is to learn and draw from one another, experiencing the culinary delights we may not otherwise partake in. Sandra's examples show a richness and necessity of crosscultural community, understanding and participation. This book addresses our spiritual mandate for inclusion and also provides very practical tools, stories and examples from which the reader is able to gain incredible insight, avoid common crosscultural pitfalls, and acquire an increased sensitivity and awareness. I recommend this book not only to anyone seeking to understand and develop multiethnic worship communities, but also to anyone seeking to understand God's heart for diversity and how to engage our neighbors more meaningfully."

--Mark Reddy, chair and cofounder of Chasing Justice

"Because we live in an increasingly diverse, mixed and multicultural reality, The Next Worship is a must-read resource for pastors and worship leaders. Navigating the profound complexities of cultural identity within the life of the church, Sandra Van Opstal equips and compels us toward becoming a more competent, generous and self-aware leader."

--Gail Song Bantum, executive pastor of Quest Church

"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lamented that one of the most segregated hours is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, when the church gathers for worship. Sandra Van Opstal offers a fresh vision where the church reflects the diversity of God's kingdom rather than conforming to the patterns of segregation. The Next Worship reminds us that unity is not about uniformity, but about harmonizing rather than homogenizing. Van Opstal reminds us that what may be just as important as how we worship is who we worship with. This is a beautiful book."

--Shane Claiborne, author and activist, cofounder of Red Letter Christians

"For many years, Sandra Van Opstal has been leading diverse people to do more than sing of love and justice (Psalm 101:1). She has led them to walk, work and worship God together as one beyond the distinctions of this world that so often and otherwise divide. In The Next Worship, Sandra provides competent insight and practical advice for ministry leaders seeking to present a more credible witness of God's love for all people in an increasingly diverse and cynical society."

--Mark DeYmaz, founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, president of Mosaix Global Network, and author of Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church

"I love this book! The Next Worship is theologically and biblically sound, socially and culturally relevant, and extremely current and practical. The truth and experiential wisdom shared by Sandra Van Opstal has the potential to spark a movement that creates inclusive communities of trust where people from every walk of life are welcomed to the table of God. If you have been looking for a way to infuse new life into your faith community, look no further. You must read this book!"

--Brenda Salter McNeil, associate professor of reconciliation studies at Seattle Pacific University and author of Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0

"One of most significant challenges for the next era of evangelicalism is developing unity in the worship life of a multicultural Christian community. Sandra Van Opstal recognizes that multicultural worship is a long journey with many bumps along the way--there are no simple and easy answers. In The Next Worship, Sandra puts forth key principles and helpful models that should inspire us to pursue this noble goal. This book may well become the essential text that helps multiethnic churches turn the corner in their worship life."

--Soong-Chan Rah, Fuller Seminary, author of The Next Evangelicalism and Prophetic Lament

"We have lost the language of love in our worship--love for God and love for our neighbor. This is a book for those who want to recover these loves by practicing reconciliation in worship. The Next Worship shows us how to love God and love our neighbor practically in worship, specifically by sharing leadership and guiding others in change. Through her personal relationships and experience in community Sandra teaches us to create spaces of hospitality, solidarity and mutuality through worship. I highly recommend this book, having experienced Sandra's leadership and knowing the wealth she has crossing cultures domestically and globally."

--John Perkins, cofounder of the Christian Community Development association and founder of the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation

About the Author

Sandra Maria Van Opstal is a second-generation Latina pastor, an activist, an author, and a powerful leading voice on the intersection of faith and justice. She is executive director of Chasing Justice, a movement that mobilizes Christians to live justly. Sandra's distinctiveness comes from working in both local and global contexts as a practitioner and an academic. She has reached audiences around the world on topics of reconciliation, global justice, and worship.