Worship has become a problem.

It is the center of the Christian life, but like so much else in our kaleidoscopic late-modern world, worship has gotten complicated. Confusing. And even controversial. Church leaders and laypeople have joined the debate over "traditional," "contemporary" and a growing array of other worship styles.

Pastor (and professor) Paul Basden believes worship should be the occasion of praise and celebration, not conflict. In this book he gently, insightfully and encouragingly leads all of us bewildered church folk through today's worship maze. First he carefully delineates five prominent approaches to worship

• liturgical
• traditional
• revivalist
• praise
• seeker-sensitive

Then he lays out the essential hallmarks of genuine worship (of any style), sifts out the strengths and weaknesses of each major style, and shows how churches can arrive at a faithful and fitting style for their own worship.

Nothing we do is more important than our gathered praise of God. Basden's sensitive, positive, much-needed book will help confused congregations restore worship to its rightful place. And it will help churches who have yet to encounter conflict over worship to road-check and fine-tune their Sunday-morning "work of the people."