Ben Peltz on Indigenous Justice and Worship in Canada
Joining a racial justice pilgrimage in the American South helped a Canadian pastor see parallels to the experiences of Indigenous and settler peoples in his congregation. These insights are helping his church become more appreciative of God’s incarnation in Indigenous people.
June 20, 2025
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9 min read
Jemar Tisby on The Spirit of Justice
The Black church has deep experience of suffering and being denied God-given and legal rights. As turbulent times affect more people, Jemar Tisby’s book The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance describes how Black Christians have kept the faith.
June 3, 2025
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6 min read
Worship and Other Resources for Celebrating Juneteenth
You don’t have to be Black or attend a predominantly Black church to celebrate Juneteenth with appreciation and respect. Many resources are available for your congregation to cosponsor or plan a God-honoring Juneteenth event or worship service.
May 12, 2025
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13 min read
Juneteenth: Celebrating Faith and Freedom
Pastor and educator Rasool Berry hosted and coproduced the award-winning documentary Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom. He explains why US Christians of every race and culture can and should celebrate God’s work through people to announce and enforce freedom from slavery.
May 6, 2025
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11 min read
Sarah Travis on Worship, Playfulness, and Trauma
While completing a grant on playfulness in worship, Sarah Travis began to see connections between play and trauma. Worshiping God through embodied, imaginative, and story-based practices helps people and congregations stuck in trauma begin to move toward healing and new life.
April 23, 2025
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8 min read
Translating Korean Heart Music into English Songs for Worship
An emerging initiative to translate contemporary Korean worship songs into English is yielding fruitful questions and collaborations. The project is building ecumenical and generational community while introducing English speakers to Korean Christians’ ardent commitment to God, both personally and communally.
April 17, 2025
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10 min read
Welcoming Contemporary Korean English Songs in Sunday Worship
Korean Christians worldwide enjoy contemporary worship songs by Korean composers, but these are seldom sung in the main Sunday liturgies of Korean Protestant churches. An emerging initiative to translate Korean heart songs to English can unite different worshiping generations and cultures. This initiative can also help Korean and English-speaking churches identify, appreciate, and question their cultural views on worship.
April 14, 2025
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11 min read
Becoming a Trauma-Informed Faith Community
Resources to help churches and other faith communities do ministry with people affected by adverse childhood experiences or other trauma.
April 7, 2025
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6 min read
Reuben Kigame on Music that Expresses the Full Gospel
Not many churches in Africa or elsewhere often include songs about social justice in worship. Kenyan scholar and musician Reuben Kigame believes that re-examining what the Bible says about justice and the good news should shift what we define as music appropriate for worship.
February 3, 2025
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8 min read
Nurturing Intergenerational Worship through Song
Lilly Endowment Inc. encourages intergenerational worship through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. Worshiping together can include not only music, but prayer, scripture, drama, visual arts, movement, testimony, and sacraments. However, these three grant projects include or spotlight children’s songs or songwriting for children.
January 28, 2025
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9 min read
Ten Tips for Writing Worship Songs for Children
Lilly Endowment Inc. encourages intergenerational worship through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. Worshiping together can include prayer, music, scripture, drama, visual arts, movement, testimony, and sacraments. Three grant projects include children’s worship music or songwriting for children to create immersive intergenerational worship experiences.
January 28, 2025
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10 min read
Demetrius K. Williams: African American Christians Enlarged the Meaning of the Cross
Through spirituals, freedom narratives, conversion accounts, and Black preaching, enslaved African Americans shared the embodied hope of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Like Paul, they proclaimed that the power of the cross of Christ should advance how the church participates in and quests for a more just and equitable world.
January 14, 2025
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8 min read
