What Is Worship? (DVD)

 Review

There are as many definitions of "worship" in the church as there are teachers, which results in a myriad of reflection, study and teachings on the topic.  Captivating this topic in a helpful video symposium, Vineyard Worship resources and host Dan Wilt have gathered some of the most insightful and influential voices in the global church.  The new DVD entitled "What is Worship ?" serves as a panorama of expression from scholars like Peter Fitch, N.T. Wright, Peter Davids and Don Williams.  Adding pastors and writers such as John Wimber, Derek Morphew, and John Eldredge, along with worship leaders Matt Redman, Brian Doerksen, David Ruis, Tim Hughes, Kathryn Scott and Nigel Briggs this DVD teaching tool is an hour and ten minutes of coordinated walk through many topics centered around a culturally-current definition of worship.

"What is Worship?" walks through topics such as "Who we worship", "Why we worship" and "how we worship" as it prepares the viewer by laying the groundwork for its thesis. In the 5th chapter of the DVD (about 12minutes into it) Dan Wilt frames a definition of worship that is expanded up in the remaining 11 chapters of the DVD.   In listening and watching a DVD like this, I started off thinking, " I already know what worship is.  I am not going to learn much here."  I was wrong.  I found myself learning a lot, and then re-watching the DVD two more times to soak in.

What I enjoyed most about the DVD was the teaching from N.T. Wright, who's scriptural understanding of the throne room scene in Revelation 4 and 5 is particularly insightful.  Discussion with scholar Peter Fitch and Don Williams were also excellent, as was a genuinely personal interview with Matt Redman.  I found the pastoral contributions of John Wimber and David Ruis to be both well thought and challenging.  Noted author John Eldredge (whose books include "Wild at Heart", "Sacred Romance", and others) contributes a short, but very welcomed warning for our church culture to remain clear on the balance of major and minor messages in the Christian life.

The DVD has the nuance of a 60-minutes style interview/monologue interlaced with a teaching style outline framing the chapters and their transitions by Dan Wilt.  It is a viewing experience that is very easy to enjoy and learn.  The videography is well done, save a couple of clips of archive footage that were integrated into the DVD.  The DVD has options for Spanish and Dutch subtitles, as well.

This DVD could easily be the basis for a 3 or 4 week small group, and it is nicely segmented for stop and start viewing, if needed.  In fact, one thing you should be aware of is that its likely you can't digest the material in the hour and ten minutes in which it is presented.  This is simply because the points are rendered quickly and the presentation moves on.  If you aren't watching it carefully, you will miss points made along the way, which is a great argument for watching it multiple times. Alternatively, viewing this DVD in segments (4 chapters at a time) would be a great way to walk through it in a group.  A good application of this would be for a worship leader to present 15 minutes of this DVD to their worship/praise team as a teaching tool during a rehearsal or team meeting.  Not only would it fuel discussion, but would expose the team to some excellent teaching.

This DVD is a very well-thought, well-presented tool, that is useful in any church. I highly recommend it.  You can view online details (chapter titles) and an extended online video of the DVD by clicking on/viewing the clip above.

Review by Kim Gentes