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On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Kendra Buckwalter Smith is the worship coordinator at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PTS has chapel four days a week, and Smith meets with every person or team that plans a chapel service.
Jeremy Zeyl is an award-winning singer-songwriter and the director of worship at Talbot Street Christian Reformed Church in London, Ontario.
Whether you want to go simple or elaborate with these photo ideas, you can follow three steps to get people talking about worship and faithful living.
Two ideas borrowed from visual sociology researchers—photo elicitation and photovoice—are helping Christians and congregations picture their lived experiences with God.
Roman Williams is a former pastor and church planter who now teaches sociology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He specializes in using visual methods to research the sociology of religion.
To be human is to be aware that life—one’s own life—is a sheer and undeserved gift from God. It is to revel and delight in its giftedness and to return thanks to the Giver. When the Giver hears an echo of gratitude, the circle becomes complete. Thus gratitude is an essential feature of living up to what God intended for his humans creatures when he made them.
An essential aspect of the Christian life is listening to and obeying God's word.
St. Paul calls followers of Jesus Christ who have been resurrected with him to live far better. They must be well-ordered in their priorities and white-hot in their motivation.
Dallas Willard discusses Galatians 5 about what it means to live by the Spirit and how doing so conflicts with the sinful nature that clings to us.
An exploration of some ways that Christian congregations, depending upon the Spirit’s empowering presence, can become generous, welcoming places for tired, thirsty travelers, both guest and host alike, to refresh and bring blessing to one another and thus serve as signposts of the Gospel.
Throughout the average week people talk about their lives and their families and their work through stories about whosaid what, how a certain event came about, and what something looked like and felt like when it happened. But too oftenon Sundays preachers present sermons that are short on vivid stories and long on description and the doling out of facts.In this workshop those who preach sermons and those who listen to sermons will explore both why vividness in sermons is vital and some ideas on how to make this happen in sermons as well.
El culto es una experiencia comunitaria integral, que de manera explícita o aún inconsciente, contribuye a modelar el carácter y la identidad de cada participante.
