The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader

The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader is a fine resource by Mark Pierson, a Protestant minister in New Zealand who has been doing pioneer work in worship as art for 15 years.

He has little patience for many of the so-called experimental worship services that use popular music, dance or videos as gimmicks to jazz up the experience.

Pierson sees himself as a "worship curator" who puts the elements of the service in a creative setting and chooses the right context for praise, wonder, awe, silence and any other element deemed appropriate.He seeks to appeal to a large cross section of people and is adverse to a "one size fits all" approach to worship.

Pierson's curator philosophy includes participation, open-endedness, slow worship, integrity, failure and questions. He also lays out a new language for worship, including silence and other spiritual practices, segues and takeaways/takeouts. Pierson's theological, pastoral and creative admonitions are followed by concrete examples, including community worship, transitional worship, guerilla worship and the stations of the cross (Sparkhouse Press).