Brian Hehn on an Ecumenical CCLI Top Songs List
CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc.) hugely influences what many congregations sing, so the United Methodist Church began vetting CCLI Top 100 songs in 2015. Since then, song leader Brian Hehn has been encouraging other denominations to vet these popular contemporary worship songs so he can eventually create an ecumenically approved list of CCLI Top 100 songs.
Robert Feduccia on the CCLI Song Select Liturgy Section
Churches around the world seek permission to use contemporary worship music from Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc., or CCLI. Late in 2018, CCLI Song Select quietly introduced a liturgical section to help churches select contemporary music that fits the classic ordo, the four-fold pattern of worship. Robert Feduccia explains why.
Vetting CCLI Worship Songs for Faith Formation
Several denominations have created or are creating rubrics for vetting CCLI Top 100 contemporary worship songs. Vetting sparks conversations that help worship leaders make faithful decisions about which songs to put on congregations’ lips.
Tamil Christians Revive Keerthanai Music
Christians in South India are reviving keerthanais, poems of Christian praise and devotion sung in the Tamil language. They are working to bring this cultural expression back into church worship
Cory B. Willson on the Faith/Work/Worship Ecosystem
Theological conversations about faith, work, and worship take on new meaning when they start with the needs, questions, and experiences of workers.
Lindsay Wieland Capel on Disability and Universal Design
Many ideas for welcoming and including people with disabilities are remarkably simple. These changes turn out to be good for everyone in church worship and congregational life.
Lindsay Wieland Capel on Recognizing and Overcoming Ableism in Churches
Many congregations don’t realize that the way they arrange their space, talk in worship, or define giftedness and leadership speaks volumes to people with different bodies and minds. The message is: “We don’t see you as a welcomed and valued member of Christ’s body.”
Worship for Workers: Come as You Are
Worship for Workers offers songs, prayers, liturgies, and visual art to help congregants begin to experience God’s presence in new ways in their daily living.
Decades-Long Spiritual Formation
An international pastoral leader, a public theologian, and a young scholar explain how the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship has impacted them—and made room for them to influence CICW and others.
Lisa Allen-McLaurin on the OneWord Worship Model
Lisa Allen offers an approach to worship planning that centers on the transformative power of holistic biblical worship.
Paul Louis Metzger on Setting the Spiritual Clock
Paul Louis Metzger shares about the formative nature of the church calendar, which emphasizes that Christ in the fullness of time is what shapes us and how we inhabit time.
Luke A. Powery on Living the Questions of the Bible
Luke Powery encourages preachers and worshipers to embrace the space and place the church provides to ask questions as a faithful way of Christian discipleship and engaging with God.