Worship that Calls Us to Reflect God’s Heart for Justice
Bethany Hanke Hoang and Kristen Deede Johnson co-wrote The Justice Calling: Where Passion Meets Perseverance. They explain how weekly worship helps congregations keep working with, and waiting on, God to make all things new.
“The Justice Calling” Authors on Becoming a Just Church
Some churches care deeply about studying the Bible. Others are passionate about justice. Authors Bethany Hanke Hoang and Kristen Deede Johnson offer help for congregations that care or want to care about both.
Church Year Visual Art: A Q&A with Deborah Sokolove
Artist, writer and teacher Deborah Sokolove shares images of liturgical visual arts that don’t need words to help worshipers experience the Christian church’s calendar cycle.
Deborah Sokolove on Sanctifying Art
Artist, writer and teacher Deborah Sokolove explains why humans need art as much as they need food, water or air.
Tom Hoeksema on a Bibliography of Disability and Inclusion
Too many pastors and churches fail to see the wholeness of people who live with disability. Tom Hoeksema recommends books that can help preachers and churches become more inclusive.
Rejoicing in Lament
Four pastors and scholars discuss wrestling with incurable cancer, cancerous racism and life in Christ. They offer insights into how congregations can follow the lead of the Psalms in practicing candid lament as an essential part of deeply joyful worship.
Canyon Reflection
For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and hills before you shall burst into song… Isaiah 55:12, NRSV
Betsy Steele Halstead on Hospitable Projection in Worship
Maybe you are in charge of visuals at your church and you knock yourself out looking for cool images. But you would be better off thinking about how your chosen images assure worshipers that God welcomes them.
Best Resources for Teaching Worship
Seven college and seminary professors list their top short reads for teaching worship and say which resources would be most helpful for church worship and liturgy committees.
What You Can Learn from Visiting Churches
College and seminary professors offer church observation guides for their students. You can use their insights to learn more when you visit other churches. This process can also help you understand how people experience liturgical practices in your own congregation.
Jane Rogers Vann on Trusting the Liturgy
Many worship leaders wear themselves out trying to make worship new, fresh, relevant and, above all, different than it was last year or even last week. Maybe they don’t need to change so much and so often.
Sandra Van Opstal on Multicultural Preaching
A majority of U.S. Christians born before 1965 are white. However, the fastest growing groups in the U.S. as a whole and in its churches are people of color. Preaching must change to reflect this diversity so that all generations and nations can encounter God through the Word