Over the past forty years, a growing body of literature has emerged to provide theological and practical guidance for evangelical worship. In response to A.W. Tozer’s famous complaint that worship is evangelicalism’s “missing jewel,” evangelical theologians have sought to define and offer a more theologically robust foundation for the practice of worship. This paper surveys this literature, analyzing how it has envisioned the role and function of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds in evangelical worship, as well as the broader liturgical act of affirming the faith.
While the use of the creeds in worship has been a recurrent element in this literature, evangelical theologians have not articulated a uniform position on how the creeds should be incorporated into worship. This lack of uniformity reflects both the broad theological and liturgical diversity within evangelicalism itself, as well as a longer historical ambiguity regarding the role of creedal confession in Christian worship—an ambiguity particularly pronounced among Protestants. Accordingly, recent evangelical writings present varying perspectives: some, such as Robert Rayburn, have argued that the recitation of the creeds is indispensable when the sacraments are celebrated; others, like Ronald Allen, have regarded creedal recitation as a permissible and beneficial practice; still others, such as Sally Morgenthaler, have cautioned that corporate creedal recitation may hinder meaningful and participatory worship.
Exploring this diversity of approaches to the function and practice of creedal confession offers a lens through which to examine some of the recurrent motivations, concerns, and tensions that have existed in the evangelical worship literature. For example, there is a tension in this discussion between worship’s catechetical function and worship’s experiential dimension. Thus, although theologians have argued that creedal confession is formative as a practice because it enacts the church’s theological worldview (Robert Webber, Worship Old and New), others have questioned whether this practice is effective if the congregation is disengaged or uncommitted to the words they are declaring. (This places a responsibility on pastors to not only incorporate creedal confession but to make these old words ever meaningful and fresh.) By analyzing this body of literature, this paper illuminates some of the broader theological and liturgical dynamics at play in contemporary evangelical worship.