Resource Search Results

Worship Resources for Pregnancy Loss and Infertility

Many church members stay silent about miscarriages and other common reproductive losses. Yet Christian traditions contain many helpful books and worship resources to aid those who have experienced reproductive loss. Your church can start with these resources to engage this issue more directly and care for those who mourn.

Article | June 02, 2020

Festival of Psalms at Calvin University with Wendell Kimbrough

Wendell Kimbrough led a festival of psalms at the Calvin Symposium on Worship in January 2020.

Musical Composition | Worship Service | Video | April 09, 2020

Mark L. MacDonald on Gospel-Based Discipleship and Indigenous Christians

Archbishop Mark L. MacDonald speaks and writes about gospel inculturation in Indigenous ministries, especially among First Nations Anglicans in Canada. Churches everywhere can learn from the Indigenous Gospel-Based Discipleship model for worship, governance, and community life.

Conversation | March 24, 2020

Indigenous Christian Worship Resources: Where to Start

Many congregations are beginning to realize that they live, work, and worship on land taken from Indigenous people. Learning about First Nations and Native American Christians can help worshipers from other cultures see the gospel with new eyes.

Article | March 19, 2020

Songs That Welcome and Songs That Send

Calvin Symposium of Worship 2020 | Vesper

Worship Service | February 10, 2020

Seven Self-Care Tips for Clergy Who Engage Trauma

Clergy and other church leaders called to engage trauma must also practice self-care, or they will burn out and be less effective in helping those who need to address and heal from trauma. These tips help congregants as well, relieving pressure on clergy and church leaders.

Article | October 30, 2019

Angie Hong on Imagining Worship as an Egalitarian Zone

Christian worship services can support or contradict the biblical vision of the church as one body with many parts. Here’s how corporate worship can help worshipers practice equity across lines of gender, race, ability, socioeconomics, and sexuality.

Conversation | May 24, 2019

Constance Cherry on Small Church Worship and Identity

Small churches sometimes feel weak or irrelevant. Intentional worship practices can help them discover their value before God and to the community.

Conversation | February 15, 2019

Four Types of Advent and Christmas Eve Services: Which Have You Tried?

Experimenting with a different Advent or Christmas Eve worship format may help worshipers connect with the joy and wonder of Christ’s birth. Blue Christmas, Christmas pageants, Las Posadas, or lessons and carols make room for emotions, movement, culture, and people’s gifts.

Feature Story | November 15, 2018

Seven Challenges in Multicultural, Multi-congregational Worship

Worshiping regularly with a congregation culturally dissimilar from yours is challenging but worth it. Understanding these challenges can also help you change worship to better include different cultural groups within your church.

Article | July 06, 2018

Multicultural Congregations Meet for Combined Worship Services

Three church groups started out as separate congregations sharing one building. Now regularly-scheduled joint worship helps them see themselves as members of one body in Christ.

Feature Story | July 06, 2018

Beyond “Contemporary” and “Traditional”: Clues to Finding a Third Way

The gulf between “contemporary” and “traditional” worship is sometimes bridged through the pursuit of what some might call the “awkwardly blended” service.

Audio | April 12, 2018

Reggie Smith on Churches Called to Become Multicultural

Considering the “Joseph question” and the “Jonah question” can help congregations overcome fear of talking about race, culture, and how God might be calling them to change

Conversation | March 08, 2018

Jaewoo Kim on Making Room for Multicultural Worship

To worship in line with the Lord’s Prayer—on earth as it is in heaven—requires making room in worship for stories, songs, and gifts from many cultures. Doing so depends in part on how churches form their views about refugees and immigrants.

Conversation | February 28, 2018

David Bailey and Erin Rose on Charlottesville, Violence, and Preaching

Seeing violence and racism up close is ugly. Two Presbyterians discuss how to help congregations prepare for and respond to divisive events.

Conversation | February 26, 2018

Worship and Mental Health

What we say or fail to say about mental health concerns in worship settings can be profoundly formative for how Christian communities respond to these challenges.

Article | January 04, 2018

Stephanie Smith on Raising Lay Leaders from the Margins

Those who experience homelessness, poverty, physical or mental illness, or addiction understand things that more privileged people may never know. Raising up peer chaplains from within this group can lead to renewal in both outdoor and building-based Christian communities.

Conversation | December 05, 2017

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship