Is there anyone who know how the AME Church came up with our Call to Worship? I know that it consists of various Scriptures, mostly from the Book of Psalms; but I would like to know how it came to be. Thank you for any responses and leads.

-- Anonymous, November 17, 2000

Answers

The Call to Worship is a part of the Episcopal form of liturgy. In Allen's autobiography you will find that he says he chose this form of worship because it was the closed thing in keeping his people together.

Now, for a deeper understand of the Call to Worship you will have to do some research on liturgy in the Christian church. There you will find all the different forms of worship/liturgy developed by communties to express their faith and feelings towards God. This is just a small note to get you started. If you look in the AME Hymnal you will find more than one form of worship/liturgy. Some AME churches that have a music department with trained musicians uses these different forms of worship in their congregations. You must be well versed in reading music and the history of church music to use these tools but it is a refreshing feeling when your church is able to use these different forms of worship.

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2001