One question, four answers

Nigel Uden
‘Good worship is essentially contextual’

Shaping worship has shaped my week for many years. I realise five things have informed my sense of what shapes good worship.

First, giving it the supreme place in my life and work. I have long been convinced by the Shorter Catechism’s claim that human beings’ ‘chief end’ is to ‘glorify God and to enjoy God forever’. Worship is a vehicle both of giving that glory to God and of experiencing that enjoyment of God. Nothing I do is more important…

Nigel Uden is Minister of Downing Place United Reformed Church

___

Bachelard Kaze Yemtza
‘It is shaped by Christ’s redemptive work’

Good worship enables us to respond to, and celebrate, God’s love and Christ’s grace in the past as well as through the changing seasons of our lives. It is holistic by engaging our thoughts, emotions, senses and decision-making. Good worship is like a lifestyle reflecting our personal relationship with Christ and with the worshipping community. Worship is creatively and sensitively crafted to engage people from all walks of life….

Bachelard Kaze Yemtza is Minister in the Mid Lincolnshire Pastorate and is Children and Youth Family Worker for the Mid Lincolnshire area

___

Maria JY Lee
‘Good worship is like good hospitality’

I love the way that Reformed worship places Scripture at the centre. A good sermon does not need to be long, but it should be real. It should speak into our daily lives, challenge us in ways particular to our context, encourage us with the Word of God, and draw us closer to God…

Maria JY Lee is Minister of Bolton and Salford Missional Partnership

___

Lawrence Heath-Moore
‘Worship is where we get our bearings back’

I am writing this on a morning when the Chief Rabbi has branded an anti-IDF rant at Glastonbury an example of ‘vile Jew-hating and a national shame’; over 500 starving Palestinians have been shot while gathering at Israeli-designated aid points; Parliament has just passed a bill authorising £2bn in welfare cuts with 700,000 people losing out on Universal Credit; Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ has imposed deep cuts to health and nutrition programmes while offering $4.5tn in tax reductions to the wealthiest; and the world’s richest 1% raised their wealth by $34tn during the past ten years – enough to eradicate global poverty 22 times over….

Lawrence Heath-Moore is a Mission and Discipleship Mentor in the North West Synod

___

This is an extract from an article published in the Issue 5 – 2025 edition of Reform

Subscribe to Reform