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On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Young adults with intellectual disability (ID) often feel left out, even at church. But schools, churches, and agencies can work together to create a sense of belonging that nurtures everyone. Inclusive postsecondary education increases opportunity for employment, independent living, and sharing God-given gifts.
Churches sometimes ignore or separate children and adults with intellectual disability from general church worship and congregational life. But schools, service agencies, and churches can expand one another’s imaginations about what’s possible for and with people with intellectual and development disabilities. Even small congregations can experience the joy of learning to include all abilities in the body of Christ.
Come and join a conversation with knowledgeable and experienced preachers and worship planners as we talk about our best practices for Holy Week worship planning. Bring your questions and ideas as we share and learn together.
Playing his trumpet in worship alongside adult instrumentalists profoundly affected Brian Reichenbach’s Christian faith and church life. He works to help congregations give school band and orchestra students a similar grounding.
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.
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.
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.
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
Theological conversations about faith, work, and worship take on new meaning when they start with the needs, questions, and experiences of workers.
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.
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 offers songs, prayers, liturgies, and visual art to help congregants begin to experience God’s presence in new ways in their daily living.
