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Reflections on planning high school chapel by Ben Dykhouse of Ontario Christian School
The Rehoboth Christian School choir sings at the Calvin College Chapel on March 27, 2012 as part of their Face to Face tour. They are joined by members of the Grand Rapids Christian Middle School Choir and Maple Avenue's Tabernacle of Praise. This free event is co-sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and is open to the public.
This article identifies some insights about worship that influence our work with Christian schools and shares what we are learning from students and teachers through their experiences of chapel planning and leading. All the comments come directly from feedback we have collected. This collective wisdom is presented in the form of proverbs—wise sayings, or words of advice—in the hope that this will encourage learning over time and across contexts, and spark conversation and further thinking on these topics.
Hannah Huisman is a senior at Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Michigan. As a member of the school’s spiritual life committee, she helps plan and lead chapels. In the edited conversation below, she explains how teens at her church, Immanuel Christian Reformed Church, have begun planning and leading one worship service per month.
Ben Dykhouse teaches computer applications and church history at Ontario Christian High School in Ontario, California. He also co-teaches a daily chapel class for the school’s weekly chapel worship. In this edited conversation he talks about a chapel planning model that focuses on glorifying God together.
How well do your Christian high school chapels, liturgies, or all-school worship times help students grow in faith? Are your staff and faculty planning chapels for or with students?
We are currently observing a new phenomenon within the development of young adults: emerging adulthood, which spans the ages of 18 to 29, marked by unprecedented options for education, work and career choices, delayed marriage and family life, and remarkable geographic mobility.
These two mothers of young children have a particular interest in helping children understand what it means to be baptized and to participate in the Lord’s Supper.
They are the emerging leaders in our congregations. They are only a few years away from serving as deacons, elders, or preachers themselves. What are they listening for in sermons? What are they hungry for? What bores them?
Worship today often stresses the nearness of God, on God as our personal friend. But God is much more. This session explored the setting and practices of worship in 6th century Constantinople to learn how they can contribute to our worship practices and larger understanding of the greatness of God.
This seminar is for students, staff, teachers, and any others interested in deepening and renewing worship in Christian High school chapel services through thoughtful worship planning and leading.
How studying a book or sermons together in a small group knits church members together in worship, fellowship, and discipleship.
