The worship of Jesus forms believers according to his ways, opposing the formation of secular liturgies. James K. A. Smith sees the primary means for this to occur is by implementing a historic church liturgy. Meanwhile, Steven Félix-Jäger, a Renewal movement theologian, sees the spontaneous move of the Holy Spirit empowering and transforming the worshiper as the primary means. Contemporary Renewal Worship experiences have been critiqued as individualistic, consumeristic, and emotive, while a liturgy stemming from a historic church can tend to have practices that are out of touch with the modern worshiper. Each expression is susceptible to the pit falls of their practice and can no longer achieve its intention, worshiping God, and reforming the worshiper.
This thesis explores how the Renewal Worship experience can appropriate aspects of Smith’s cultural liturgy while maintaining its ideals of the spontaneous move of the Holy Spirit and contextuality. Through a hypothetical conversation between James K. A. Smith, supposing a premodern liturgy counter-forms, and Steven Félix-Jäger, rooted in the free movement of the Holy Spirit, we uncover how the two can come together in a contextual ritualized play to produce a counter-forming worship experience for the Pentecostal church.