Faith Formation

Work, Worship, and Mission: Overlooked First Steps of Missional Ministry

There is a lot of talk about missional communities in North American churches today. These important conversations are helpful as we think about the church’s witness to society.

April 21, 2016
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.

April 13, 2016

Worship and Citizenship in an Age of Divisive Politics

One of our callings as Christians is to live as resourceful and redemptive citizens of the countries in which we live—a vexing challenge in an age of political division in so many countries around the world represented at the Symposium.

April 4, 2016
What I Learned about Teaching Worship from a Chemistry Professor

"What’s a POGIL?” I asked, half-seriously, half-laughingly. My wife, Sheila, a chemistry instructor in a university was attending a conference for chemistry educators about a pedagogy growing in popularity in science classrooms around the United States. She explained that POGIL is a method for teaching both class content and important skills such as critical thinking and teamwork without using a lecture format.

March 30, 2016
Cory Willson on Inhabiting the Liturgy

Maybe you feel like a bad Christian when you catch yourself thinking about work or weekday concerns during corporate worship. But doing so can help you worship more deeply and faithfully.

March 21, 2016

The Worship Pastor: Thinking Through the Pastoral Dimensions of Worship Leading

Whether we know it or not, as worship leaders, we are pastors. The services we plan and lead have a formative effect on the worshipers with whom we gather weekly. The question is not if people are being formed by our leadership, but how.

March 14, 2016
Faith Formation, Cradle to Grave

Churches have a variety of faith forming activities. It can be difficult to see how they fit together to form the faith of young and older members of the congregation. Worship is one of the few activities that many churches do with all ages.

March 14, 2016

What Does World Christianity Mean for Your Church?

The remarkable story of Christianity's growth as a world religion has implications not only for mission work in the far corners of the globe but also for ministry in each local congregation.

March 4, 2016
Incorporating Faith and Work into the Worship Service

How do we help people connect their faith to their work in our worship services? For many Christians, bringing faith into the workplace falls into two main categories—evangelism and ethics.

March 3, 2016