1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Exploring Worship and Grief
An Application-Based Summer Seminar Directed by John Swinton and Isaac Wardell
Service of Lament
Join us on Thursday, June 12th in the chapel at Calvin Theological Seminary for a special evening service of prayer and worship on the theme of lament and grief. This service will be led by Isaac Wardell, director of The Porter’s Gate Worship Project, and John Swinton, pastoral theologian from Aberdeen, Scotland. They will be joined by other musicians and church leaders from around the country who are gathered at The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to study the biblical theme of grief and lament.
2025 Black Religious Autobiography Seminar
The office of Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School is sponsoring a week-long seminar exploring the autobiographical writings of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Howard Thurman, Ida B. Wells, and other Black autobiographers and memoirists who used their life stories as weapons in the quest for freedom and humanization.
Faith Formation in the Digital Age
An Application-Based Summer Seminar Directed by Felicia Wu Song
Loneliness: A Casualty of AI as Human Substitute
This public lecture with Felicia Wu Song highlights the impacts of AI on human interactions and how faith communities should respond.
Ministry in a Secular Age
An Application-Based Summer Seminar Directed by Andrew Root
The Waiting Church: How to Face the Crisis
It feels like the church is in an unquestioned crisis. But what is the shape of this crisis? And have we misunderstood it?
An application-based seminar on insights for pastoral and worship ministries
Join us for a celebration and discussion of Dr. Danjuma Gibson’s new book, Through the Eyes of Titans: Finding Courage to Redeem the Soul of a Nation (Cascade, 2024). Hosted by Dr. John Witvliet, we will hear reflections from Dr. Lisa Weaver, Dr. Stephanie Boddie, and Dr. James Abbington with a response from Dr. Gibson. Come and explore what we can learn about pastoral care, leadership, self-care, and radical love by examining the lives of some titans of African American history. Held in the Calvin Theological Seminary Auditorium space. There will be a reception and book signing following the event.
An application-based seminar on faithful ministry to, with, and by people with intellectual/developmental disabilities
Join us for a fun and interactive conversation about making church more welcoming and accessible for people with developmental disabilities and their families and friends. Together, we will explore creative ways churches can be places of belonging for every member of the body! Meet others and learn new ideas to take back to your congregation, parish or organization. Coffee, tea and desserts will be provided. This event is FREE but registration is requested.
American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin wrote, “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us” ('I Am Not Your Negro'). Our current reality is shaped by the histories that have led us here, and we can’t seek to build a better future without taking seriously where we are now. So thinking about how people with intellectual disabilities should be treated in the church—what our ministries with, to, and from people with disabilities should be like—requires us to think carefully about the past and present in ways that are perhaps unpleasant. Many people with intellectual disabilities, their families, and their caregivers do not presently feel welcome in local congregations because of the history of cultural and social exclusion of those with such disabilities.
