Experiencing mystery, practicing hospitality, and recovering a sense of drama are among the nine characteristics of vital and faithful worship that Thomas G. Long identified when studying congregations that seemed to have avoided the tensions around worship that are so common today. These “third-way” congregations—neither “traditional” nor “contemporary”—are creating worship that is both vital and faithful.

Through an illuminating analysis of these churches’ practices and experiences, Long calls other churches to genuine hospitality and enlivened worship founded in the yearning for an experience of the mystery and complexity of God.