History

What Hath Silicon Valley to Do with Jerusalem? Technological Innovation and Ancient Practice in Worship

Certainly advances in presentation technology provide opportunities to do new things in worship. But they can also enhance our ability to do the ancient things of worship. This session discusses integrating presentation technologies both into the worship space and the worship service.

January 1, 2008
Praying with the Early Church: Crucial Lessons about Intercessory Prayer

This session reviewed several prayer texts from the third to the fifth century, and then probed the very practical ways they might challenge us to pray more deeply in worship today.

January 1, 2008
Beauty Will Save the World: Jonathan Edwards and Abraham Kuyper on Glory and Beauty

Should Christian worship explicitly call our attention to and direct us toward the world and its need, to social action? Or does such worship in fact turn us away from the triune God, the proper focus of our worship? This workshop will explore some ways Abraham Kuyper and Jonathan Edwards?both theologians of beauty and glory, and both very socially engaged?might point us in the right direction.

January 1, 2008

Spiritual Formation in Worship-Centered Congregations

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.

January 1, 2008
Lord's Supper Practice in the Reformed and Presbyterian Tradition

Though John Calvin favored weekly communion, many churches in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition are just starting to renew Lord's Supper practices. A feature story exploring Lord's Supper practices in the Reformed and Presbyterian Traditions.

July 24, 2007
Robert E Webber's Legacy: Ancient future faith and worship

Ancient future worship is about rooting our worship as the early church did--in God's story--so we embody not our culture but God's mission. A feature story exploring ancient future faith and worship.

May 18, 2007

Church Anniversaries Worth Celebrating

As good as it is to reconnect with former pastors and see old church photos, there's a lot more you can do to plan a meaningful church anniversary in your congregation or denomination. A feature story exploring the celebration of church anniversaries.

January 23, 2007
Sports and Mennonites Don’t Mix. Or Do They?

As good as it is to reconnect with former pastors and see old church photos, there's a lot more you can do to plan a meaningful church anniversary in your congregation or denomination. A feature story exploring the celebration of church anniversaries.

January 23, 2007
What Can the Early Christians Teach Us about Music?

This session considered what we can learn from the early Christians about dealing with musical problems in the midst of a pagan culture.

January 1, 2007

Reformation Worship and the Psalms

This session introduced participants to the world of 16th century printing and focused on books used in early Reformed worship. Participants were able to look closely at these rare books and to gain a better sense of the impact of printing on the faith and practice of early modern Christians.

January 1, 2007
Ideas for Using Creeds in Worship

Here are ideas for how to incorporate the creeds into a series of services, music, art, and specific places within the order of worship.

March 31, 2006