Summary

The physical locations and buildings that we use for worshiping the Triune God are influenced by the theological beliefs and choices of those who have gone before us.

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Details

In this workshop we will consider fundamental influences that have moved church architecture in particular directions in the twentieth century. We will then consider the potential value of these church designs and distill insights that allow us to embrace, maximize and re-vision the gift of our inherited spaces.

Presented at the 2007 Calvin Symposium on Worship.

Recent Media Resources

Andrew Wilkes on Doing the Work of Liberation and Justice with the Psalms as Our Guide

Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.

April 10, 2026 | 14 min listen
W. David O. Taylor on the Psalms and Praying the Unedited Life

Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.

April 10, 2026 | 26 min listen
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford on the Shape and Shaping of the Psalter

Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.

April 10, 2026 | 17 min listen