Resource Search Results

Celebrating Christian Worship with Lament in Nepal

Nepali Reformed Churches pastor Arbin Pokharel often describes worship as helping worshipers reenact their identity as God’s people. Doing so honestly means including hospitality, healing, prayer, celebration, and lament.

Feature Story | September 02, 2024

Being the Bridge Between Community and Church in Nepal

Higher Ground Nepal is a social enterprise that includes people from all walks of life in Nepal. Proselytizing is not allowed in Nepal, but when people see others living as the genuine presence of Christ in people’s situations, it makes a difference.

Feature Story | September 02, 2024

Luke A. Powery on Living the Questions of the Bible

Luke Powery encourages preachers and worshipers to embrace the space and place the church provides to ask questions as a faithful way of Christian discipleship and engaging with God.

Audio | Podcast | December 18, 2023

Kevin J. Adams on the Gospel in a Handshake

Kevin Adams explores the beautiful gifts of framing words for worship—the “conversation of worship”—that are lifegiving and engaging.

Audio | Podcast | December 18, 2023

The Practice of Lament

A panel of Calvin Seminary faculty with a variety of research and ministry experiences will reflect on the practice of lament. What are the different faces of lament? What is the goal of lament? How can pastoral leaders facilitate lament? What does lament reveal about the nature of God and what it means to be human? Those attending the panel will also be able to raise questions and join the discussion. 

Video | July 19, 2023

Lamentation as Pedagogy

This panel will discuss ongoing research on the practice of lamentation in the Black church tradition as a formative pedagogical tool for both theological education and the broader community. Special attention will be given to the value of embodied learning with a cohort of seminarians, religious practitioners, scholars, and faith leaders who have visited sites where massacres and atrocities against Black life have occurred.  

Video | July 19, 2023

New Worship Songs for Climate Change and Creation Care

Our 2017 annotated list of worship songs about care for creation remains so popular that we have compiled a new list of worship songs to lament climate change and encourage creation care. Many of these songs and hymns have been released since 2018. Others are new to various English-speaking audiences because they come from international hymnals and organizations.

Feature Story | November 07, 2022

Nikki Toyama-Szeto on Hoping in God Despite Injustice

Individuals and congregations sometimes despair while working for justice. Sometimes they forget that although God invites us to join in justice work, God remains in charge of changing the world. That’s why it’s crucial for justice seekers to stay rooted in Christian community and worship.

Conversation | September 19, 2022

Rebekah Eklund on Practicing Lament

Congregations become more relevant and biblical when they follow the Bible’s lead in bringing lament into worship. Rebekah Eklund’s book "Practicing Lament" shows churches, small groups, and individuals how to voice penitential lament and protesting lament. Learning to practice lament can reconnect people with God and help churches grow in “members of one body” solidarity.

Conversation | August 22, 2022

Mary Aluel Garang: The Charles Wesley of South Sudan

Since the mid-1980s, Mary Aluel Garang's theologically rich hymns have helped Sudanese Christians maintain faith and hope in God despite decades of war, conflict, and hardship. Her songs are known and sung beyond her Dinka people, her Episcopal tradition, and her nation of South Sudan.

Feature Story | March 31, 2022

Karen Campbell on Dinka Gospel Songs

Meeting Dinka Christians and musicians decades ago in East Africa made a lasting impression on Karen Campbell, a pastor and musician. She reflects on what we can learn about God through the lens of other cultures.

Conversation | March 28, 2022

Dinka Christian Infrastructure: Song and Prayer Ministries

During decades of Sudanese civil war, the Jol Wo Lieech song ministry and Thiec Nhialic prayer ministry gave refugees and refugee congregations a sense of family and purpose. Both still work to unite Christians, whether or not they belong to the Dinka tribe or still live in South Sudan.

Feature Story | March 28, 2022

Kyle Meyaard-Schaap on the Arts as a Climate Tipping Point

Music and the arts have fueled major movements for justice. Evangelical Christians have the potential to shift climate action. That's why Christian leaders and musicians are creating worship songs and candlelight climate vigils to address climate crisis and work toward environmental sustainability.

Conversation | October 08, 2021

Becoming People of Refugia

Extreme weather, declining church influence, and environmental protests affect Christians around the world. Debra Rienstra explains why the biological concept of refugia offers a metaphor for seeing the Spirit at work despite deep disturbances in God's creation and among God's people.

Feature Story | August 30, 2021

Everyday Faith: Possibilities, Limits, and Callings, with special guest Tish Harrison Warren

How do worship and prayer practices form and sustain us during times of great suffering and grief? Watch this online conversation with Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest and author of the new book Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep [IVP 2021]. In this video, Warren reflects on themes of suffering and lament, vulnerability and joy, and how the Compline prayer service in the Anglican tradition provides a spiritual anchor in dark times. Warren is interviewed by Noel Snyder, program manager at CICW.

Video | July 26, 2021

James Abbington on Planning Henry “Hank” Aaron’s Funeral Music

Although news coverage of public figures’ funerals often focuses most on speakers and eulogists, music is crucial. James Abbington thought pastorally while planning music for baseball star Henry Aaron’s homegoing.

Conversation | May 11, 2021

Angelique Havenga and Marnus Havenga on Lament, Community, and Ubuntu in the Dutch Reformed Church of Stellenbosch, South Africa

In this episode, pastor-theologians Angelique and Marnus Havenga share with Maria Cornou about what they are learning about pastoring and serving the community as a whole in the Dutch Reformed Church, located in city-center of Stellenbosch, one of the most unequal towns in the country of South Africa.

Audio | Podcast | April 05, 2021

J. Todd Billings on Embracing Our Mortality

Unless we are very ill or old, many of us avoid thinking about our deaths. J. Todd Billings’s new book, The End of the Christian Life, explains that remembering our mortality and learning to die well will give us a more profound view of true Christian resurrection hope.

Conversation | January 19, 2021

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

Church Responses to Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy Loss

After decades of silence, church leaders and congregations have begun accompanying people who mourn losing children before or soon after birth or letting go of dreams to form a family.

Feature Story | June 02, 2020