The Art of Curating Worship Paperback

Mark Pierson has been involved in curating worship for over a decade, living on the blurry lines between art, installation, stations and traditional church based worship, whilst seeking to provide a safe place for experiencing God in the midst of them all. The Art of Curating Worship is his rallying cry to the church to begin to dip its toes into the water he has well trod. The basic premise Pierson is presenting is several-fold: the church needs to embrace artists and the arts in worship; the church needs to think deeper and better about how they curate (not lead) worship events; the church needs to take seriously the fact that God engages with people through ways which the church has traditionally ignored. This is a very helpful book, full of illustrations and examples of how Pierson and his church have learned to engage the arts whilst creating space for people to meet with God - whether they be Christians or not. Even though it reads as if it were slightly rushed into publication, and some of the examples lend themselves to being both expensive and time consuming, overall, this is a very important book with a very important message. Key to his thinking is that too often we invite people to come to a set worship event each week, with no understanding or deep thinking into what we do with them whilst they are there. His questions throughout the book are helpful for all who are involved in bringing people into the presence of the living God: ‘What do I want to say?’ and ‘How do I want to say it?’ This book needs to be read.