The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is committed to supporting and developing resources for worshiping communities that provide information, inspiration, and strategies to build capacity in congregations, individuals, communities, and other organizations to value diversity, embody inclusion, and engage across lines of difference in informed, respectful, and effective ways. Christian worship practices both implicitly embody and explicitly express powerful cultural values, and it is a life-giving challenge to align them with the vision of Revelation 7 and 21:
I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ...
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
We are grateful to draw upon the expertise and work of many people, including Calvin faculty and staff from a variety of fields and disciplines. The insights gathered here aim to inform and strengthen congregational, parish, and denominational ministries without limiting the scope of their influence in other sectors of society.
