1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
What is confirmation or profession of faith for? Does it certify knowledge, open the communion table, affirm acceptance of baptism, mark a milestone in a continuing faith journey? A feature story exploring the meaning behind profession of faith.
How can your Christian school design chapel services that connect with real life? Mustard Seed School in Hoboken, New Jersey, has formed a model called community worship. A feature story exploring worship in one small school in New Jersey.
Churches are talking about spiritual formation and faith formation because they've seen the failure of information to form faith that changes people's inner lives and outward behaviors. A feature story exploring the switch from moralism to faith formation.
Chapel at your seminary is likely different than seminary worship is for your peers at other divinity schools. A feature story exploring different chapel practices and sharing a model for planning worship on campus.
Learn how church dynamics shift as congregations change size. A feature story exploring small churches, like All Nations Christian Reformed Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that are making the most of their size.
This workshop audio will help participants begin to explore the possibilities and homiletical impact of engaging in an ongoing, vigorous program of reading for preaching.
In this presentation, religion journalist Richard Ostling analyzed trends in American faith and culture that worship leaders, pastors and ordinary worshipers need to be aware of.
From the age of the Apostles, to the Early Church Fathers, to the Middle Ages, to the present, we are invited to join that great cloud of witnesses who have worshiped God around the clock from hour to hour, from one time-zone to the next, in ceaseless prayer and praise. This session explored how to incorporate the rhythm of what some call 'The Liturgy of the Hours' into busy contemporary life.
In what unique ways can corporate worship fuel, inspire, and respond to the academic calling of the student and teacher in higher education?
Frederick Buechner writes that people "as a rule see only what they expect to see and little more." The preacher's calling is see beyond what we expect to see and help congregations to do the same. This session discussed what the preacher can do to be faithful to this calling.
This workshop was given for those who want a deeper understanding of racial dynamics in today?s churches. Stories and examples from real congregations showed how race within churches is becoming complicated?and creatively reconstructed?through the post-1965 waves of immigration. Most important, we show how various good-intentioned priorities and programs work --and often don?t work-- in racially diverse churches.
Differing circumstances call forth different liturgical, theological and formational questions and inspire different congregational conversations about what we do in worship and why we do it. The workshop began with a PowerPoint presentation on the history of Christian worship and its relationship to spiritual formation in congregational life, concluding with 'where we are now.' Practices for spiritual formation were described in relation to the congregation's worship life.
