Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

1993

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

C. Raymond Holmes

Second Advisor

Raoul F. Dederen

Third Advisor

Lilianne Doukhan

Abstract

Task. In view of significant discussions occurring in the Seventh-day Adventist Church concerning the nature and style of worship, it seems appropriate to address the place the concept of the holiness of God should have in worship. A proposed model worship service incorporating a biblical view of the holiness of God, which could be implemented by the Urbandale, Michigan, Seventh-day Adventist Church, was developed. The term "model" is used in the sense of a pattern to be tried and not a norm to be readily followed.

Method. Four major components of the worship service were identified and described. It was suggested that the fourth component, namely, a sense of the holiness of God, is neglected in many modern worship services. The ideas of various authors regarding the holiness-of-God concept were reviewed. A strong biblical connection between a sense of the holiness of God and worship, and the distinction between the sacred and the secular was demonstrated. The development of a proposed model worship service resulted from a questionnaire, sermons, and worship committee consultations.

Sources. There seems to be limited materials obtainable that address the holiness of God in the context of worship. Some authors give the traditional view while others present a humanistic-secular perspective. A significant source was the Bible usage of the concept of holiness as it pertains to God's nature and worship. The primary source for developing a proposed model worship service came from the Bible, literature review, and the dialogue within the congregation.

Conclusions. The apparent infrequent attention given to the centrality of the holiness of God in modern worship services has provided an opportunity to rediscover its meaning and importance, and then to develop ways in which it can be featured more prominently in worshiping God. The congregation where this model could be gradually implemented has begun to awaken to a new understanding of biblical worship.

Subject Area

Public worship--Seventh-day Adventists

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/156/

Download

Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS