Sacraments

Shaping Worship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ministry of Presence at St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, Roseville, California

Greek Orthodox Christian worship is consciously embodied. Christopher Flesoras, a Greek Orthodox priest, discusses pastoral discernment for serving the faithful when public health needs require social distancing, also known as physical distancing.

April 7, 2020
Church Polity and Online Sacraments in the Christian Reformed Church

Kathy Smith, Adjunct Professor of Church Polity at Calvin Theological Seminary, reflects on the administration of sacraments in the unique context of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. She advises Christian Reformed churches to practice pastoral flexibility while still abiding by church polity, and provides a historical example from World War II, related by her predecessor Henry De Moor.

March 27, 2020


Derek Elmi-Buursma on Communion and Context

Whether you call it Communion, Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, or something else, you may wonder how to connect this sacrament with real life. Learn how one small urban congregation creates eucharistic liturgies for living in a broken world.

June 4, 2019

Serious Play: Insights from Augustine and Other Friends from the Early Church on Leading Worship and Administering Sacraments

Led by Lester Ruth, this workshop explored insights from Augustine and others in the early church that can break open playful, Scriptural imagination for leading in worship.

May 9, 2018
Means of Grace: Forming New and Sustaining “Renewing” Congregations and Church Plants

In this seminar, veteran practitioners discussed how mission-shaped preaching and sacramental life function as means of grace in their communities. Audience engaged a discussion that sees evangelism and robust worship as beautifully integrated elements of every congregation’s ministry.

May 4, 2018
Ron Rienstra on the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

Christian traditions refer to the prayer before communion as the eucharistic prayer, the Great Thanksgiving, or the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving. If your Lord’s Suppers don’t include this prayer, then you very well may be missing out on a rich opportunity for faith formation.

July 21, 2017