J. Michael Jordan

Worship in an Age of Anxiety
IVP Academic, 2024
By J. Michael Jordan

WHO: J. Michael Jordan, dean of the chapel and associate professor of religion at Houghton College. 

HE SAYS: “It’s crucial that worship is informed by the experience of anxiety, and that Christians regularly encounter worship spaces as healing spaces.”

THE BIG IDEA: This book offers a practical theolog of worship within a healing framework that acknowledges and accepts anxiety and offers it to God.

THE PROGRESSION: Chapter 1, “Anxiety Today,” focuses on what anxiety means for evangelical young people. In Chapter 2, “Anxiety, Repentance, Relief, Repeat,” the author shows how anxiety has historically been woven into the gospel in American church life in ways that have distorted the good news.

Chapters 3-8 examine concrete worship practices that can be healing, looking at one liturgical element in each chapter.

“A healing approach [to worship] can help to form worshipers who understand the world as it is, accept and embrace that world, and engage with it in a way that honors God.”

J. Michael Jordan
J. Michael Jordan

J. Michael Jordan is dean of the chapel and associate professor of religion at Houghton College. He is the author of Worship in an Age of Anxiety (IVP Academic).

Ohio Church Makeover

This move would not only give them room to grow, but also would enable them to do a lot more to fulfill their mission of being a church focused on “building the kingdom, one life at a time.”

How Much Tech Do You Actually Need?

Because you cannot do this alone, you are going to have to trust the right individuals who know more about tech than you do. Your calling is to shepherd. Do that.

Gene Appel: Do Less Ministry; Reach More People

None of the programs at our church were bad in and of themselves. The volume of it just prevented us from being focused on building relationships with those who are far from God. So, we had to do less ministry to reach more people. It sounds funny, but people had to be trained in how to do life with nonbelievers or people spiritually disinterested.