1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
In this conversation, Lena Crouso, vice president for Intercultural Learning and Engagement at Southern Nazarene University, talks with Elizabeth Tamez-Mendez about building a culture of inclusion for young people that aims for shalom and provides places and spaces for young people to ask questions and experience courageous conversations in their faith exploration.
In this conversation, Dr. Cristian De La Rosa, national director of the Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy, talks with Elizabeth Tamez-Mendez, executive director of New Generation3, about models of communication that accompany youth in a process of mentorship, leadership, Biblical interpretation, arts exploration, and more so that youth find their agency to share what is meaningful and relevant for their lives and ministries.
A bibliography of resources about children and worship
In this conversation, practical theologian Hosffman Ospino [Boston College] talks with Elizabeth Tamez-Mendez about Latino Catholic youth who constitute the largest sector of the young Catholic population in the U.S. They reflect on how understanding the realities and experiences of this group will help parish and congregational leaders to build a church that is more dynamic and more inclusive in terms of culture and language.
A showcase highlighting the importance of including children in meaningful ways in worship, both in the main worship space and in other age-appropriate, unique worship spaces.
Splitting into age-divided worship each Sunday doesn't necessarily result in kids who go on to choose worship as adults. That's why pastors are talking about intergenerational worship.
In this conversation, Chris Schoon, director of Faith Formation Ministries of the Christian Reformed Church of North America, explores with Elizabeth Tamez Méndez the importance of equipping congregations and parents to embrace children and youth as full image bearers and active participants in worship, for the well-being of the intergenerational community.
When the pandemic prevented in-person worship, First Church of Windsor, Connecticut, learned how to create liturgical art installations and videos that moved hearts and minds even during virtual and hybrid worship.
Your congregation can make worship the work of the people when you use their words in worship. The hymnku form—haiku poetry set to music—works for in-person, hybrid, and online worship and can involve many ages.
Grace Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, often invites members to write words used in worship. They've found that crafting liturgical language, such as calls to worship or stewardship and psalm or song paraphrases, is an easy way to help more people participate in worship and congregational life.
Practical theologian Benjamin T. Conner encourages and challenges congregations and pastors to reorient ministry with youth to fully include and amplifiy the witness of adolescents with developmental disabilities.
Sociologists Amy Adamczyk and Christian Smith co-authored the book "Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation," which explores the research results of more than 200 interview with US parents exploring intergenerational transmission of religious faith and practice between the generations.
