Upcoming Event
February 5 - 7, 2025
Grand Rapids
,
Michigan
Worship for Workers: Come as You Are
Worship for Workers offers songs, prayers, liturgies, and visual art to help congregants begin to experience God’s presence in new ways in their daily living.
February 21, 2024
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9 min read
Reynolds Chapman: Local History Matters to God
You might not think often about the land your church sits on or the community beyond your church property. But finding ways to learn local history and include it in worship may help church members become more faithful disciples, more meaningfully draw near to God, and reach people who are disconnected from the church.
January 23, 2024
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7 min read
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.
December 18, 2023
Bibliography - Children's Books About Worship
An annotated list of excellent children's books about worship
December 8, 2023
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5 min read
Preaching Conversations that Connect Pulpit and Pew
Whether churches call it a message, teaching, homily, or sermon, there’s often a big gap between what preachers think they are saying and what listeners hear. Preaching can become more effective when ministers, priests, deacons, and laypeople learn how to talk together. This two-way preaching conversation requires a cultural shift.
October 5, 2023
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10 min read
Karla J. Bellinger on Lay Contributions to Compelling Preaching
Have you ever gone home from worship disappointed that the preacher or Sunday homily didn’t seem very effective? Recent research reveals that listeners can help preachers help their peers grow closer to God.
October 5, 2023
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10 min read
Psalms Retreats Invite Vulnerability, Build Hope and Trust
When a congregation in Long Beach, California, designed a psalms retreat as part of a worship renewal grant, they had no idea how it would grow and blossom. Engaging with psalms of confession, praise and thanksgiving, lament, and hope and trust has helped hundreds of Christians develop a new language of prayer.
September 12, 2023
Keith M. Douds on Creating Safe Space for Church Groups
Church retreats, church governance meetings, and church small groups require honesty, vulnerability, and transparency to collectively draw closer to God. Psychologist Keith M. Douds explains how and when to step in with grace and preserve safety so that everyone has a chance to share and be listened to.
September 1, 2023
Dwelling in the Word: Simple Practice Leads to Spirit-led Mission
Explore Dwelling in the Word, a communal way of engaging Scripture that helps people encounter God, fellow dwellers, and other neighbors. The change happens over time as people repeatedly listen to and discuss the same passage.
August 18, 2023
Children and Youth Can Dwell in the Word Too
Dwelling in the Word is a tool for helping people of all ages—even children—to read and reflect on the Bible together. Doing so helps them to see the Bible as an ongoing story in which God invites us to participate in God’s mission for the world.
August 18, 2023
Nine Tips to Effectively Embed Dwelling in the Word
The communal practice of Dwelling in the Word has great potential for building congregational bonds with God, each other, and neighbors. These nine tips can help your church discern God’s promised and preferred future for you as you wait for Christ to return and make all things new.
August 18, 2023
Re-forming the Liturgies of Our Daily Life and Work
A lot has been written about the importance of Sunday liturgies and their role in forming the life and worldview of worshipers. This session will focus on helping Christians identify the rituals and liturgies in their workplaces and daily lives and discern how to reform, reject, or reconstruct new rituals that facilitate tangible expressions of love for God, neighbor, and creation.
July 19, 2023
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73 min video