Thinking about Catholic Diversity as a Migrant Church (Salsa Style!)
How does one think about diversity as a Christian or as the church? How might working with and among—or even just thinking about—migrant neighbors contribute to our ecclesial identity? The language of catholicity allows us to imagine the unity of the church not in a monocultural way, but rather as a community inclusive of people of all languages and ethnicities. Migration and migrants today especially remind the church of its own catholic identity. How does the church's identity as a migrant church foster a healthy catholicity in the church's worship? This session will include the use of salsa music to invite participation in a more catholic way of life, asking what multicultural, cross cultural, and intercultural ways of being a church on the move might look like in worship.
September 14, 2026
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79 min video
Bilingual Korean-English Songs for Congregational Singing
Songs from the people of Korea can deeply enrich your liturgy whether you have Korean-speaking members in your congregation or not. This workshop will introduce a variety of bilingual Korean-English songs that have been newly translated in the past few years as well as strategies to lead them effectively in your own worshiping context.
September 14, 2026
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70 min video
Psalms We Love to Sing
Modern song writers are continually setting the psalms to new music for band-led worship contexts. Join Paul Ryan, Nate Glasper, and the Calvin University Worship Apprentices to sing contemporary psalm settings sung in public worship at Calvin.
August 7, 2026
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85 min video
Storytelling and Narrative Worship in Small Churches
Small churches often mourn what they no longer have. But the relationships and stories they still have can be a source of awe and renewed faith and mission. Learning about storytelling, narrative worship, and story maps has blessed many congregations that had once considered disbanding.
August 6, 2026
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8 min read
O Rest, My Soul: Campus Choir & Woodlawn Choir
This chapel service is a festival of psalms centered on Psalm 42. This service originally took place as part of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship’s “Dwelling in the Psalms” year. This event was a partnership between the Calvin University Campus Choir, under the direction of Dr. Mark Stover, and the Woodlawn Church choir, directed by Chan Gyu Jang.
July 28, 2026
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1 min read
Singing the Psalms as a Spiritual Practice for Resilience
In this workshop, the McGrath family and Kiran Young Wimberly will discuss how spiritual practices, particularly singing the psalms, can build resilience in our lives. In a retreat-like experience, interwoven with psalms set to Celtic music, we will sing together as we reflect on what brings us joy, strength, and hope so we can flourish in the face of daily challenges.
July 22, 2026
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65 min video
Hwarang Moon on Worship in Conversation: Learning from the Church’s Diverse Worship Traditions
Hwarang Moon’s recent book Worship in Conversation: Dialogues with Leading Liturgical Theologians (Baylor University Press, 2025) is the culmination of years of engagement with some of the most influential voices in contemporary liturgical studies. Through conversations with scholars from Anglican, Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian traditions, Moon explores how worship shapes Christian faith, forms ecclesial identity, and enriches the life of the church.In this interview, Moon reflects on the origins of the project, what he learned from engaging theologians across Christian traditions, and why listening across traditions remains an essential task for the church today.
July 15, 2026
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8 min read
I Will Give You Rest
“Trauma” is not a word we are likely to find in any Bible translation, but it has seemed to frequently appear everywhere else in recent years. Perhaps that began in 2020 with the COVID pandemic. Resonances of that trauma reverberated through churches, too, while many denominations were already facing internal difficulties and the loss of members and congregations. Pastors have been wounded, and many have had to leave beloved ministries. The global political scene seems more fiercely riven than any other time in our memory. Just watching the daily news these days can feel traumatic.
July 7, 2026
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2 min read
Psalm Festival Reflections
In the fall of 2025, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship invited worshiping communities to join together in dwelling in Psalms, the prayer book and songbook of the Bible. Each psalm festival that resulted is unique and crafted for its individual context. What follows are examples of psalm festivals from these communities. These examples are for your inspiration and encouragement. If you borrow ideas, litanies, or music from these resources, please provide proper attribution and make sure those items are not copyrighted. You must secure your own permission to use any copyrighted material from these examples.
July 2, 2026
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2 min read
Seeing Christ in the Face of the Other: Singing the Psalms for Reconciliation with Karen Campbell
In 2020, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland published the book Considering Grace, which narrates the stories of 120 people and their proximity to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Though clergy were applauded for often acting as first responders to the victims, wider questions regarding the denomination were raised. Could they have spoken up more and been a prophetic voice? In response, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland commissioned Karen Campbell to convene groups to produce a suite of songs, prayers, and liturgies from the psalms of lament to be used in congregational settings to voice lament, confess complicity, and raise deeper questions surrounding justice. This workshop will discuss the process involved and the questions raised and will include some of the songs, liturgies, and prayers that were produced.In 2020, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland published the book Considering Grace, which narrates the stories of 120 people and their proximity to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Though clergy were applauded for often acting as first responders to the victims, wider questions regarding the denomination were raised. Could they have spoken up more and been a prophetic voice?
June 29, 2026
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87 min video
Lamenting in Polarized Times
Eight churches in Birmingham, Alabama, took part in a worship renewal grant on using lament in worship. Three years later, leaders from some of those churches talked about how hard it is to practice lament during divided times. Their advice may help your church bring real suffering to God with honesty, protest, petition, and trust.
May 12, 2026
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8 min read
Recovering the “Lost Art of Lament” in Worship
Worship that is faithful to the whole Bible must include lament. A worship renewal grant on making lament a normal part of worship brought together eight churches in metro Birmingham, Alabama. It yielded ideas and practices that can be adapted to any church tradition and context.
