Resource Search Results

Tom Swieringa on Cooperating in Intercessory Prayer

Tom Swieringa co-leads Wyoming Kingdom Enterprise Zone, a church multiplication initiative by Reformed and Christian Reformed churches in Wyoming, Michigan. He has pastored and planted churches in Iowa, Michigan, South Dakota, and Texas. In this edited conversation, he talks about cooperating with God in intercessory prayer, during worship and beyond.

Conversation | October 26, 2012

Coop's Column - Pentecost

Pentecost Sunday is a day to celebrate, with full-throated thanksgiving and joy, Jesus' sending of his Holy Spirit. And, Pentecost Monday and the entire succession of days during Pentecost season, are a time of summons and challenge. Pentecost season is a time for the church to remind believers of their daily, lifelong call to bear witness to their Lord and to engage in his mission.

Reflection | May 25, 2012

Steven R. Guthrie on How the Holy Spirit Makes Us Fully Human

Steve Guthrie founded the religion and arts major at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. For the first half of 2012, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship hosted Guthrie as a visiting scholar.

Conversation | May 01, 2012

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: The Transformer's Instruments

God’s Word teaches that the Spirit employs four principal means for shaping Christians: Scripture, the sacraments, a person’s life experiences, and time.

Reflection | October 05, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: The Transformer's Aim

The Spirit’s aim is to give people aim in life. He seeks to direct them along a path which shall enable them, at their life’s close, to have marked progress in learning Christ’s deeper ways, in growing to love him more and more.

Reflection | September 20, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Transformer

“The Holy Spirit is writing us into the revelation, the story of salvation. We find ourselves in the story as followers of Jesus. … Our task is to obey—believingly, trustingly obey.”

Reflection | September 20, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Guide

With “two hands,” said St. Irenaeus, third-century bishop of Lyons, God teaches and guides his people—with the Word and the Spirit. In the last column we focused on the Spirit’s role in writing the Word. In this column we look at the Spirit’s work in guiding God’s people as they read and apply it.

Reflection | September 01, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Revealer

How do we humans know what we know or, at least what we think we know? The question of knowledge is one of the most centrally important—and vexingly complex—issues facing humankind today, and cries out for a solid, appropriate answer.

Reflection | August 18, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Protector

The source of this sturdy confidence, this quiet tranquility and hope? It is anchored in the confident trust Jesus’ community puts in his promise to them: “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

Reflection | August 05, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Illuminator

In order for God’s Word to achieve its Divinely intended purpose and effect, such an “Aha! That’s me!” response must happen within the hearts of those who read and hear it.

Reflection | July 18, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Exceptional

We focus on the Spirit’s work in creation—more specifically, on his act of creating each human being as a mirror of God.

Reflection | June 17, 2011

Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Power to Make Our Lives Anew

When, as part of their Sunday worship, Jesus' followers join to declare, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," they’re saying a mouthful - a large mouthful.

Reflection | May 31, 2011

Songs for Pentecost & the Holy Spirit

A list of songs to use during Pentecost or sermons on the Holy Spirit

Article | May 12, 2011

Weekday Chapel: The Wind of the Spirit

Because the first Pentecost was such a dramatic multi-sensory event, with surprising sights and sounds and experiences, we celebrated it in worship accompanied by visuals and sound effects.

Worship Service | May 12, 2011

Coop's Column - Not as Orphans

To acknowledge that the Immortal God, the very Creator of the entire universe, is Father; and to affirm that this Father’s firstborn Son, Jesus Christ, once came to dwell on earth, to suffer, to die, and then to rise victoriously over death.

Reflection | May 11, 2011

Meeting the Holy Spirit through Preaching and the Arts

Learn how one congregation used sermons and group creativity to help all ages become alive to the Spirit and more fully celebrate Pentecost.

Feature Story | May 05, 2011

Worship: A Spring of Life and Shalom

Worship helps us answer fundamental questions of human existence regarding our identity, calling, main purpose in life, and how to be empowered for service to God?

Audio | March 22, 2010

Simon Chan on the Life of the Holy Spirit in the Church

Simon Chan says that bad worship produces bad theology, which leads to an unhealthy church. That's why he suggests that churches make more room for the Holy Spirit to work in worship. A feature story exploring the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

Feature Story | July 08, 2009

Rediscovering the Lord's Supper: Growing Deeper into the Gospel

A renewed theology and practice of the Lord's Supper can help believers grow into a deeper and multifaceted vision of salvation. Come and explore the ways in which the Lord's Supper illuminates the gospel as participation in Christ by the Spirit.

Audio | January 01, 2009

A Theological Understanding of the Liturgy as the Work of the Spirit

The intimate connection between the Spirit and the Church has deep roots in Christian tradition, such that the liturgy, i.e., "the work of the people," is also the work of the Spirit. This presentation will explore the relationship of the Spirit to the liturgy in terms of the Trinitarian economy and the Orthodox doctrine of synergy.