The latest book in the Building Healthy Churches series, Corporate Worship is a wonderful short examination of what happens when the local church family gathers together.

Merker’s argument is simply that our corporate worship is our church in shared worship. The church gathers to pray, read, listen, sing and fellowship together. Whilst it would be easy to think that Merker would focus on the musical element of corporate worship, the author actually shows that there is much more to our times of shared worship, and there is a great wealth of Christian encouragement to be gained by meeting together and glorifying God as one.

This is an excellent addition to the Nine Marks series, and would be fruitful reading for any church member. Scripture is helpfully expounded, alongside contemporary examples from Merker’s own church family in the US. This book left me wonderfully encouraged for the time when churches in the UK can fully meet once again, and has given me plenty of food for thought as to how I can better love my own church as we gather in corporate worship.

If you want to be challenged to better love (and be loved by) your church family as you gather together, I would warmly commend this title.

Edward Creedy, Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge