Why We Worship
Experiencing Heaven on Earth at Church
IVP · Worship / Christian Living · Paperback, 216 pages
Published September 22, 2026 · ISBN 9781514010754 · $21.99
From the publisher
"Do I have to go to church?" Whether we've fielded this question from others or wondered it ourselves, pastor Adriel Sanchez invites us to consider afresh why Sunday corporate worship matters. Why We Worship reenchants our spiritual imagination, helping us rediscover the beauty of worship in Scripture and draw on the richness of Christian liturgy through the ages.
Sanchez delves into the biblical underpinnings and historical development of the core parts of a worship service — music, the sermon, Communion, baptism, confession, prayer, and the benediction. Church isn't meant to be a dull routine or an entertainment-driven spectacle, he argues; it's a weekly heavenly ascent that transforms us to live the Christian life here on earth.
Description adapted from the publisher, IVP.
What reviewers are saying
"This is a book that every person planning corporate worship and, in fact, every person participating in corporate worship should read — not simply to evaluate, understand, and perhaps refine the various elements of the service of worship but to expand your sense of wonder over what it means that we enter into the worship of heaven when we gather with our brothers and sisters week by week."
— Nancy Guthrie, author and Bible teacher
"This is the go-to book on God's service to his assembled saints. What do we do in church? And why? Adriel Sanchez explores these questions with a rigorously biblical approach, uncommon clarity, and wise application. I can't think of a better book out there on this important topic."
— Michael Horton, J. G. Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California
"Sanchez makes a compelling case for the necessity of Reformed worship. But this is not a dry historical study… The result is a book that is at once very readable and expertly presented… this book helped me worship God with more love, more devotion, and more urgency!"
— Gabriel N. E. Fluhrer, senior minister, First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and adjunct professor at Reformed Theological Seminary
Endorsements published by IVP; more on the publisher's page.
Pulpit & Page note: we'll add our own take once we've read it. For now, this page gathers the publisher's description and what named reviewers have said.
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