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On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Do your church’s sermons disciple worshipers to love God and their neighbors with all they have? What does that love look like in your neighborhood?
Acting on sermons about loving your neighbors is easier if you see yourself as able to give, join others in serving, and see your loving service as an act of worship.
You don’t need a large choir, paid staff, or huge budget to plan music for worship in your small congregation.
Elizabeth “Beth” Broschart is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church, a small congregation in Boyne City, Michigan. Before that, she pastored a small church in Pennsylvania and helped lead music in churches where her husband was the pastor. In this edited email conversation, she talks about the joys and challenges of planning music in small congregations.
If you worship in a church where the music reflects the CCLI Top 25, then you may be surprised to hear that many Christians still love singing and praying from hymnals.
The written communication of your congregation has great potential to bless members, newcomers, and the community. Your congregation has unique stories of the love and care of God. It is worth your while to evaluate and tweak current church content and write new materials. Doing so will help people grow together in becoming more like Christ.
Welcoming multiple translations can help you move from your first Bible ever deeper into God’s Word, so it shapes your life and conversations with neighbors.
God designed the gospel to be translated into every language. English speakers have created hundreds of Bible translations, versions, and updates. Here’s help for finding blessings in the bewildering variety.
How well do your Christian high school chapels, liturgies, or all-school worship times help students grow in faith? Are your staff and faculty planning chapels for or with students?
Ben Dykhouse teaches computer applications and church history at Ontario Christian High School in Ontario, California. He also co-teaches a daily chapel class for the school’s weekly chapel worship. In this edited conversation he talks about a chapel planning model that focuses on glorifying God together.
Hannah Huisman is a senior at Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Michigan. As a member of the school’s spiritual life committee, she helps plan and lead chapels. In the edited conversation below, she explains how teens at her church, Immanuel Christian Reformed Church, have begun planning and leading one worship service per month.
Christian high school students, staff, and teachers at Calvin Symposium on Worship 2012 began a chapel planning seminar seated around tables. They introduced themselves and described common questions in their school’s chapel planning process. One person at each table summarized responses to share with the entire seminar.
