Christ the King Sunday Worship Planning
Marking the kingship of Christ makes a healthy transition that leads directly from Ordinary Time into Advent, the Christmas cycle, and the remainder of the Christian year.
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
A YouTube Video Premiere worship service led by Mandy Smith based on Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted
A YouTube Video Premiere worship service led by Setri Nyomi based on Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Ellen Gadberry on Congregations as Communal Visual Choirs
Many worshipers do not see themselves as creative or gifted in the arts. Yet low-risk opportunities to encounter visual art in worship and participate in making liturgical art can strengthen worshipers’ identities as children of the Creator.
Visio Divina: Sacred Seeing to Encounter God
Just as lectio divina invites people to meditate on scripture, visio divina helps people pray with art. Visio divina, which translates as “divine seeing,” uses silence and images to help worshipers reflect and respond to God in ways other than listening to a sermon or singing praise songs.
Kyle Meyaard-Schaap on the Arts as a Climate Tipping Point
Music and the arts have fueled major movements for justice. Evangelical Christians have the potential to shift climate action. That's why Christian leaders and musicians are creating worship songs and candlelight climate vigils to address climate crisis and work toward environmental sustainability.
Kyle Meyaard-Schaap on Earthkeeping, the Church, and Generational Differences
Many young Christians despair of finding communities that view environmental sustainability and justice as biblical mandates. Here is advice for helping churches catch a vision for biblical earthkeeping.
Becoming People of Refugia
Extreme weather, declining church influence, and environmental protests affect Christians around the world. Debra Rienstra explains why the biological concept of refugia offers a metaphor for seeing the Spirit at work despite deep disturbances in God's creation and among God's people.
Everyday Faith: Possibilities, Limits, and Callings, with special guest Tish Harrison Warren
How do worship and prayer practices form and sustain us during times of great suffering and grief? Watch this online conversation with Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest and author of the new book Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep [IVP 2021]. In this video, Warren reflects on themes of suffering and lament, vulnerability and joy, and how the Compline prayer service in the Anglican tradition provides a spiritual anchor in dark times. Warren is interviewed by Noel Snyder, program manager at CICW.
James Abbington on Planning Henry “Hank” Aaron’s Funeral Music
Although news coverage of public figures’ funerals often focuses most on speakers and eulogists, music is crucial. James Abbington thought pastorally while planning music for baseball star Henry Aaron’s homegoing.
Kate Williams on the Coronavirus and Sacred Music
When COVID-19 forced churches and schools to go virtual, GIA Publications helped church music ministers and music educators adjust. Some digital adaptations are here to stay because they help connect music ministers, worshipers, and music educators.
Angelique Havenga and Marnus Havenga on Lament, Community, and Ubuntu in the Dutch Reformed Church of Stellenbosch, South Africa
In this episode, pastor-theologians Angelique and Marnus Havenga share with Maria Cornou about what they are learning about pastoring and serving the community as a whole in the Dutch Reformed Church, located in city-center of Stellenbosch, one of the most unequal towns in the country of South Africa.