Coquitlam, British Columbia
2021
To engage in hymn singing in worship that facilitates the participation of worshipers of multiple abilities, generations, and languages.
Summarize your grant project and how it will address a need in your worshiping community.
Many churches are still under the pandemic restrictions in Canada. Our project creates a space to promote the necessity of intergenerational worship. Many congregations struggling from their week-to-week activities, but congregation members most impacted by the isolation are seniors with memory, cognitive, or physical challenges. Our theme is “Memory and Hope,” we hope to implement a project that brings together seniors and young adults to worship together using the mini-hymn-festival format.
What two questions might you ask about worship in the coming year that will generate theological reflection and shape your project?
1) How can we recover the formative aspect of Christian worship through singing from the core repertoires of Christian hymns?
2) With the idea of universal design in worship, what are the key elements that can facilitate worship leaders to lead worship for people of different ages and abilities?
How will your project impact the worship life and habits of the congregation?
We hope to encourage and equip worship leaders to lead worship for people of different ages and abilities. Because of the Church Music Ministry of Canada's long history and experience collaborating with local churches in Vancouver, BC, Canada, this project's impact will be beyond a single congregation. CMMC facilitates gatherings with the leaders from various churches, which other organizations or a single church cannot easily accomplish. In the past, we organized seminars often with ~100 people to participate.
What might be your greatest challenges (or challenging opportunities)?
We are not worried about recruiting senior that are willing to participate because, from our initial contacts, seniors are eager to participate. However, we may face challenges to recruit some young adults to be engaged with the concept of worshiping and singing with seniors.
What do you hope to learn from the Grants Event and other grant recipients?
I hope to learn how to be an effective leader during the pandemic and online environment. Explore and learn about the challenge of running the project in the current health restrictions.
