by Dan Kimball and Lilly Lewin
Zondervan, 2008, 176 pp., $29.99, www.zondervan.com

The thesis of Sacred Space is that worship can be transformed from a spectator activity with nominal interaction to a communal experience of everyone becoming involved with every fiber of his or her being.

The opening chapters challenge us to shift paradigms and accept the notion that worship—at its best—is created in and through community. “It flows from the life of your group and all the gifts and imagination that your group members bring” (p.8). While teaching and singing are important elements in worship, Kimball and Lewin offer a full palette of possibilities for consideration with an emphasis on developing experiential prayer stations and communal art.

Prayer stations are places set aside with visuals, props, signs, images and instructions for people to engage in a tangible response to the message or Scripture. The communal art experience moves beyond a single person creating a work of art during the sermon and engages the whole group in creating an art piece or mosaic based on the Scripture or teaching.

After a few introductory chapters, the majority of the book offers practical ideas for designing prayer stations and communal art experiences, including the theme, Scripture, activity, supply list, station set-up, etc. The book even comes with a CD of visual artwork, including photographs and signage that can be edited for your particular use.

For those who resist radical change, Chapter 6 is a real gift. This chapter offers eight simple ideas that can supplement your current worship practices. Without a big budget or a lot of resources you can implement one idea at a time and gradually develop a multisensory experience.

Sacred Space is promoted as “a hands-on guide to creating multisensory worship experiences for youth ministry,” and this description is true to the product.