Diversity, Difference, and Global Cultures

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.

Explore resources tagged diversity

• Ronnie Farmer Jr. on Positively Addressing Racial Difference
• Ronnie Farmer Jr. on Visual Arts and Reconciliation
• Szabina Sztojka on the Ministry of Reconciliation
• Kizombo Kalumbula and Artie M. Lindsay Sr. on Work and Worship 
• Lamar Hardwick on Disability as Diversity and Full Participation
• Diversity & Inclusion for All
• Cultural Intelligence and Youth Ministry: Creating Safe Spaces for Questions and Community
• Intergenerational Church as a Space for Opportunity, Change, and Learning
• One Generation Calls to the Next: Youth Agency and Leadership Development
• Mentors to the Next Generation of Leaders

View all resources tagged diversity

• Kenneth L. Wallace Jr. on Multiethnic Worship
• Multicultural Worship Reflecting All of God's People
• Christian Worship and Cultural Identities
• Kai Ton Chau on Worship and Culture Worldwide
• What Is the Color of Compromise?
• Worship, Cultural Difference, and a Kingdom Vision for Life Together
• Mark L. MacDonald on Gospel-Based Discipleship and Indigenous Christians
• Janice McLean-Farrell on a Pastoral Approach to Research
• What Is the Color of Compromise?
• How to Adapt Race, Class, and the Kingdom of God to Your Setting

View all resources tagged culture

• Dileep Athaide on the Coronavirus and Port Chaplaincy
• Christine McAteer on the Coronavirus and Bus Chaplaincy
• How to Learn Well in Online Courses: An Invitation to Conversation
• Online Discipleship and Mindfulness
• Drawing from the Deep and Wide Waters of Christian History
• Psalms and Islam: Reimagining Interfaith Friendship in an Islamic Context
• Duane Kelderman on the Challenge of Preaching in a Fragile Europe
• Gregory Heille on the Dominican View of Preaching
• Gregory Heille on the Dominican Preaching Network
• Gregory Heille on Pope Francis: ‘Instantly on Message’

View all resources tagged global