Leading Worship for Workers

“Leading Worship for Workers is a valuable resource for every worship leader who seeks to help extend worship beyond the walls of the church. Offering both theological reflection and practical tools, this book can help you cultivate a gathering that invites people to bring their whole lives to God in worship and sends them back into the world to join God’s mission in the world through their work.”

Matt Rusten

“Leading Worship for Workers is a unique theological handbook on how to minister to all who work and toil. Kaemingk and Roelofs encourage worship leaders to invite people to come as they truly are. What a relief! With service ideas, liturgies, prayers, songs, and more, this book is practical, useful, and hospitable.”

Rachel Wilhelm

“Leading Worship for Workers is a much-needed resource for helping the church reclaim a robust theology of work in its weekly liturgies. With theological depth and practical tools, Kaemingk and Roelofs offer worship leaders a vision for integrating Monday through Friday into Sunday mornings. This book reminds us that God cares deeply about the work done in office buildings, in classrooms, at construction sites, and at kitchen tables—and worship should reflect that truth. A powerful guide for anyone longing to see every square inch of life brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ.”

Jordan Raynor

“Leading Worship for Workers is a timely and needed call to break the habit of telling worshipers, implicitly or explicitly, to leave parts of themselves behind when they enter the sanctuary. Kaemingk and Roelofs compel leaders to see, know, and love the people who come together for corporate worship as whole people. They remind us that congregants gather to worship a God who has been present with them throughout the week. The insights and suggestions in Leading Worship for Workers are wonderfully grounded in the realities of local church life. Refreshingly practical, this book offers words and rhythms for liturgies that affirm the value, difficulty, and dignity of labor.”

Kelsey Kramer McGinnis

“Matthew Kaemingk and Kathryn Roelofs narrow the perilous Sunday to Monday gap between worship and work by providing rich theological reflection as well as helpful and creative practices for any gathered worship experience. Whatever your ecclesial context, I am confident imaginations will be sparked, creativity unleashed, beauty indwelled, and the gathered worship experience wonderfully transformed. Imagine what it would look like if every follower of Jesus was encouraged to bring their work world into their church experience. This excellent book is a great contribution for church leaders and all who love the church to more fully embrace an integral gospel that shapes all of life. I highly recommend it!”

Tom Nelson

“Get ready to laugh, cry, and have your theology and actions formed and transformed by this excellent book! Kaemingk and Roelofs offer robust biblical and historical support for the integration of work and worship. This collaborative book not only guides readers to create original contextualized worship practices but also includes an abundant variety of resources for immediate use. Leading Worship for Workers is a much-needed guide for all churches.”

Amy F. Davis Abdallah

“Simply brilliant. And brilliantly simple. This generous, biblically astute, imagination-expanding, and liberatingly practical book is a tour de force. It offers worship leaders and pastors a life-stage approach to integrating a congregation’s daily work—at home and on the job—into every aspect of gathered worship. Rooted in a deep appreciation of the challenges of contemporary work, it brims with inspiring examples and a joyous call to creative experiment. Bravo!”

Mark Greene

“This book offers instructive, practical wisdom for shaping worship in local congregations, parishes, campus ministries, and other ministry contexts in ways that make seamless connections between what we do together in gathered worship and how we live and serve in the workaday world. Even as the authors present many ready-to-use resources, they are also patiently and creatively teaching us how to perceive, celebrate, and pray for the work of the Holy Spirit in and through God’s people in a wide array of pursuits. This is a book with transformative potential for worship ministries in a variety of circumstances.”

John D. Witvliet

“Our congregations are filled with workers, yet our liturgies, songs, and prayers often lack the imagination to engage them fully. Kaemingk and Roelofs penned this handbook for all of us: ordained or lay, seasoned Christian or occasional practitioner. They invite us to honor our working identities in worship rather than checking them at the door. Leading Worship for Workers is practical. It is theological. And when practiced, it is transformational.”

Nelson Cowan

“Connecting worship and work is not solely a topic for a Labor Day service; it is a way of life. Kaemingk and Roelofs assist local congregations by providing a rich resource for worship architects who wish to help worshipers traverse the border between daily occupation and Lord’s Day worship. This is a handbook filled with biblically grounded, practical examples and exercises that help address the persisting bifurcation between the sacred and the secular.”

Constance M. Cherry