What do we mean when we say Whitworth Presbyterian’s style of worship is SHARED?

In worship on January 11, 2026, Rev. Dr. Jamie Fiorino outlined shared worship and with the assistance of the Worship Team, led by Stefan Prescott, and organist Debby McConnell, we saw and heard for ourselves the beauty of Shared Worship.

Worship is not just the music we sing. Worship is what we offer God in the form of connection—it is praise and prayer, it is music and movement, it is formula and it is free form, it is response and it is reaction. Worship is what we offer God to maintain connection. HOW we do that is often the source of many church fractures.

Whitworth Presbyterian utilizes a style of worship we call Shared Worship—it is not one or the other and it is not blended. A shared worship style, like ours, gives both traditional and modern styles a chance to stand side-by-side, inviting us to mature in the faith as we learn from one another, and shared worship allows for a more whole and holy offering of worship. To share worship is to offer both word and work, reflection and experiential, power as stillness and emotion as energy. Shared Worship is an offering of mind (Traditional) and Heart (modern).

Blended worship often leads to chunky and disjointed offerings of praise music but ignores the history and liturgy of the church; worship is not just the music we raise to God. Blended worship is often an uneven mix without appreciation for each style, what it offers and how it challenges us. Our music director, Stefan Prescott, said, “There was a time when I viewed ‘blended worship’ purely as an attempt to, at best, build a bridge and at worst, to appease two warring camps. My experience with this methodology and mindset is much like your food analogy. Blending tuna fish and apple pie together doesn't ever satisfy either camp and, as a worship leader, it never felt good.”

Instead of a chopped salad of music and prayers, pastors and musicians work hard at discerning how to share thoughtfulness and action every week. We understand that a traditional worship style emphasizes our history, liturgy, and the songs of our ancestors. Traditional worship focuses on the unchanging truth of the love of God found in the grace of Christ. A modern worship service emphasizes the emotional interaction of words and rhythms. Modern (or contemporary, if you will) focuses on experiencing God’s presence through community and spiritual disciplines like singing, prayer, and reflection. Out of respect for our history and bold optimism for the future, we choose to share both styles.

What Does It Look Like?

Using 2 Samuel 6 and 7 as example, here’s what it would look like. After waiting more than 20 years, the ark of God is paraded through the streets of Jerusalem and installed in its new home—the Temple. A traditional worship service would focus on what it means that the ark (the ceremonial box thought to contain the presence of God) is brought into Jerusalem: the

unity of Israel, the culmination of Jerusalem as a place of power, and the affixing of God Divine within the reach of God’s people.

Traditional worship would center around David’s covenant with God, establishing the Davidic line from which we get Jesus of Nazareth. It will also invite you to reflect on the prayer David offers before the Lord, including verse 22: “Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” You could expect to sing Heber’s classic Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! or Wesley’s Rejoice the Lord is King.

Traditional worship would help worshippers lean into their intellect and focus on liturgy from the Book of Confessions, perhaps the Westminster Confession which reminds us that because of God Incarnate’s sacrificial love, the Davidic covenant is fulfilled (6.042). It would also be appropriate to participate in one of the two sacraments—communion or baptism—as an affirmation or re-affirmation of faith. “It was at Whitworth that I developed a love and deep appreciation for the traditional, liturgical elements that make up our shared experience,” said Stefan. “It only became valuable to me when I experienced it in a very genuine expression; one that wasn't forced. Nor was it apologized for. It was, and is, beautiful to me to see people connect with God THROUGH these elements and that was what I had either totally missed or had never genuinely seen in my personal past.”

Modern worship, however, would focus more on chapter 6: David dancing before the Lord. It took all night to move it across town and David got a little sweaty and overheated (6:14). When he returned home, an angry wife greeted him at the door, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!” (6:20). His reply? “I will dance before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be humbled in my own eyes, but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor” (6:22-23).

A modern worship service would lean into the humanity—the heart—of this experience. The repetition of phrases and melodies would encourage worshippers to feel the joy David felt celebrating God’s (literal) homecoming. Prayers from the joyful Psalms would be used in a responsive manner; again, repetition. The Joy by The Belonging Co. and Andrew Holt and Praise or Only King Forever by Elevation Worship, all of which repeat the word joy or praise. Worshippers are encouraged to remember a time they wanted to dance before the Lord—to feel so overcome they lose reservation. And they are encouraged to exhibit an act of praise—stand without being asked, raise their hands (even just to their hearts), clap, exclaim, etc.

“As I think about it, both traditional and modern worship can be reduced down to this sterile, formulaic, status quo where the Spirit is utterly absent: sit, stand, kneel, say this thing, repeat this in unison, etc. Just a schedule to follow,” said Stefan. “Neither expression (traditional or modern) is inherently better and they both can fall victim to this.” Whitworth

Presbyterian Church does not want to be a cold tomb of empty worship, but rather a vibrant community who demonstrate respect for church history and personal preference. It’s about connecting both our heart AND mind in worship. “If we are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength, what better way than in a shared worship service where both our hearts and our minds are engaged?”