Multisensory worship or multi-sensory worship is a form of alternative worship

Alternative worship

Alternative Worship is "what happens when people create worship for themselves," according to Steve Collins. As a phenomenon it began mainly in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in the late 1980s and early 1990s...

, which has been associated with the Emerging Church

Emerging Church

The emerging church is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants can be described as evangelical, Protestant, Catholic, post-evangelical, anabaptist, adventist, liberal, post-liberal, reformed, charismatic,...

, though one could consider the Early Church and worship in the Old Testament as quite "multisensory". Multisensory worship is part prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

, part worship

Worship

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...

. It usually involves prayer stations that evoke the physical senses. As opposed to just reading a book or hearing a sermon

Sermon

A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...

, a room is set up to have an experience that involves the physical body in the act of worship.

Corporate worship that is multi-sensory is designed to engage the senses or as Bob Rognlien wrote in his book "Experiential Worship" - worship that engages the heart, soul, mind and strength. Leonard Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Leonard I. Sweet is an author, preacher, scholar, and ordained United Methodist clergyman currently serving as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School, in Madison, New Jersey; and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon...

 has a theory called EPIC, where he writes that preaching and worship should be: Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich and Connective. Greg Atkinson speaks and writes on engaging the senses in corporate worship through his seminars and website: Greg Atkinson .com. See also the books "Handbook for MultiSensory Worship" Volumes I and II by Kim Miller of Ginghamsburg Church

Ginghamsburg Church

Ginghamsburg Church is located in Tipp City, Ohio, 13 miles north of Dayton, Ohio. It hosts 4500 people of all ages on its campuses each week and is one of the 10 largest United Methodist Churches in the United States. -Worship and ministries:...

in Tipp City, OH.