Book Review: How Can I Make the Most of Sunday Services?

I received a copy of How Can I Make the Most of Sunday Services? by Erin Wheeler early this week. This was perfect timing, as it allowed me to read it in preparation for Sunday—which is exactly the point! (Plus, due to its brevity, it helped me get ahead on my GoodReads Challenge.)

About & Author

How Can I Make the Most of Sunday Services? is part of Crossway’s “Church Questions” series, which includes 34 volumes on common and important questions such as:

What Should I Do Now That I’m a Christian? by Sam Emadi
How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics? by Jonathan Leeman
Why Should I Join a Church? by Mark Dever
How Can I Get More Out of My Bible Reading? by Jeremy Kimble
What If I’ve Been Hurt by My Church? by Daniel P. Miller

I love this series because each volume is somewhere between a pamphlet and a book, meaning that they are accessible without compromising depth. Each provides an overview of the question at hand and invites readers to do further digging and application.

As you might have guessed, How Can I Make the Most of Sunday Services? is about exactly that: engaging more fully and fruitfully in Sunday worship. The author, Erin Wheeler, is a pastor’s wife and nurse. I was especially excited to read a book on worship by another pastor’s wife. Pastors’ wives have have a unique point of view on Sunday services since we see both the behind-the-scenes preparation and day-of execution.

As Wheeler answers the core question, “How can I make the most of Sunday services?”, she addresses the following related questions:

Why do we gather for Sunday services?
What elements are essential to our Sunday services?
How might there be different expressions of these essential elements?
What steps can we take to prepare for corporate worship?
What is Sunday worship ultimately preparing us for?

Filled with practical tips and relatable illustrations, this book reminded me to think of my daily spiritual disciplines as my “practice time” and to view Sunday services as “ensemble rehearsals” (my phrases). Just as musicians must prepare individually before group rehearsals, we need to prepare our hearts throughout the week so that we can contribute to Sunday worship as participants rather than spectators.

When it comes to Sunday services, we as church members are not the audience. We are the choir. Wheeler quotes author Matt Merker, who writes:

“Singing is part of each member’s ministry to the whole body. When you join a church, you join a choir.” (p. 31)

This choir-member mindset ought to apply to every facet of our church life. We should gather ready to contribute, to be functioning members of a healthy and harmonious body—singing and listening, serving and being served, filling and being filled, inhaling and exhaling.

As you can tell, I truly loved this book. As a pastor’s wife and church musician, I already have to live each day with Sunday in mind, but this book revived my joy and sense of purpose. It made me genuinely excited to gather with my church family tomorrow.

Admittedly, this book does not expound at length on any sub-question, but that isn’t the point. It is not meant to be a comprehensive theology of congregational gatherings. Instead, consider it an invitation to dig deeper by doing exactly what it suggests: seeking to prepare well and make the most of Sunday services.

Recommendation & How to Purchase

Logically enough, this book is for anyone who has wondered, “How Can I Make the Most of Sunday Services?” If you have ever felt lackluster in your worship engagement, thought about just skipping in-person worship, avoided joining a church because it did not 100% align with your preferences, or just wished you understood what gathering on Sunday was all about, then this compelling little book is for you.

I realize that posting this review on Saturday afternoon does not give you enough time to order and read this prior to tomorrow’s services. However, you can prepare to prepare for next Sunday by ordering a copy now.

If you work in ministry and think that this book would prove useful to your church body, consider creating a free Crossway+ account and place a bulk order directly from the publisher. This book is a wonderful option to have on hand at your church’s welcome desk to give to visitors who are curious about the purpose behind Sunday gatherings or members who are looking to better understand and engage in Sunday services. It is not so long that it will intimidate readers, but it does an excellent job explaining why Sunday services matter and how we should engage in them.

You can also purchase this book (and the others in the “Church Questions” series) from Amazon. I am now registered as an Amazon associate, which I hope will help mitigate the cost of running this blog. If you are interested in buying a copy or two of this book and supporting my work, you can do so using this link. You can also visit this link to explore the rest of my Amazon storefront.

NOTE: I received a copy of How Can I Make the Most of Sunday Services? from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.