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Sessions related to mental health are not a common feature of many conferences on worship. Yet mental-health-related concerns affect as many as one in five people at any given time, with one of every twenty-five people living with serious mental health challenges. More than four in ten people in the United States experiences a psychological disorder in their lifetime. What we say or fail to say about these challenges in worship settings can be profoundly formative for how Christian communities respond to these challenges
This creed professes the Christian faith through the experience of an immigrant.
We hear a lot about using person-first language. Yet it is still common to label people with their mental health diagnosis. Christians and churches can offer another way to describe our common human identity.
It is far more common to hear about physical ailments than mental ones in congregational prayers and worship. Psychiatrist Warren Kinghorn explains why mental health issues and people with mental illness should be acknowledged in Christian worship.
It is important for financially stable churches and Christians to build relationships with those in poverty. But the reason may be different than what you might assume.
TOGETHER is a new Bible study curriculum designed to include, appeal to, and challenge adults of varying abilities. The new curriculum is building community in ways that enrich worship in congregations and congregation members with dementia.
People treated as the last and the least often feel unwelcome inside churches. That is why some church plants create a worshiping community outdoors. Many of their discoveries also apply to indoor churches.
Because human beings are embodied creatures, the shape of the material world—in particular, the shape of the built environment—will affect their spiritual lives, both in relation to God and to each other.
Worshiping outdoors and bringing nature into worship helped one church experience more connections between God’s creation, worship, and neighbors.
TOGETHER is a new Bible study curriculum designed to include, appeal to, and challenge adults of varying abilities. It aims to build community in ways that may enrich congregational worship.
Isaac Wardell, Director of Worship Arts at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, shares reflections from his experience shepherding their Charlottesville congregation in Sunday worship through the trauma of hatred, bigotry, and violence that took place in their small town less than one day before they gathered for worship.
Providing charitable support and development assistance to people in need can and does work, but, like any important activity, we must learn how to do it well.
