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Birgitta Johnson on Praise and Worship Music

Praise and worship music can lift worshipers’ hearts to God and unite people across culture, religious tradition, and background. But the genre is not meant to be the only kind of music in a congregation’s repertoire.

January 7, 2019 | 7 min read
Birgitta Johnson on New African American Ecumenical Hymnal

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism is a new Protestant hymnal compiled by a core committee of worship arts ministers and scholars. It goes deep and wide into the multiple streams of black Christian music and worship.

January 7, 2019 | 6 min read
Amanda Benckhuysen on Preaching from the Minor Prophets

Most congregations have never heard a sermon preached from the prophetic books of Nahum or Obadiah. Other than a few choice passages in Jeremiah or Isaiah, the major prophets are mainly ignored too. That means worshipers are missing out on more than a quarter of inspired Scripture.

December 12, 2018 | 7 min read

John McClure on How Liturgical Practices Can Shape Conversations in a Pluralistic World

Christian liturgical practices—confession, intercession, and preaching—contain wisdom that can bring compassion and consensus to public conversations around contentious moral issues.

December 4, 2018 | 5 min read
Rosa Cándida Ramírez y Analisse Reyes comentan sobre cantar coritos

Cantar coritos - cantos breves - en español e inglés en el culto ofrece hospitalidad y facilita que la congregación aprenda nuevos conceptos sobre quién es Dios.

December 4, 2018 | 8 min read
Teacher-Scholars awarded Vital Worship Grants for 2019 by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship announced today that it will fund 14 grants to Teacher-Scholars for 2019-2020 as part of its Vital Worship Grants Program.

November 30, 2018 | 2 min read

Reconciling All Things 2018

A service of lessons and carols that invites people to approach Advent and Christmas with songs that sing about both forgiveness and justice, healing and correction, personal serenity and cultural reconciliation, human flourishing and the flourishing of all creation.

November 20, 2018 | 8 min read
Duane Kelderman on the Challenge of Preaching in a Fragile Europe

A Dominican preaching colloquium addresses the challenge of preaching in contemporary Europe, where secularism, individualism, and a lack of cultural consensus have given rise to fear, division, and xenophobia.

November 16, 2018 | 7 min read
Four Types of Advent and Christmas Eve Services: Which Have You Tried?

Experimenting with a different Advent or Christmas Eve worship format may help worshipers connect with the joy and wonder of Christ’s birth. Blue Christmas, Christmas pageants, Las Posadas, or lessons and carols make room for emotions, movement, culture, and people’s gifts.

November 15, 2018 | 11 min read

Joyce Ann Zimmerman on 14 Years of Evaluating Vital Worship Grants

During her 14 years on Calvin Institute of Christian Worship’s Grants Advisory Board, Joyce Ann Zimmerman evaluated 1,345 grant proposals. She describes essentials of a good grant project.

November 9, 2018 | 5 min read
Mental Illness and Christian Worship

This topic showcase highlights resources for including people with mental illnesses in worship. Congregations that renew their worship to become more inclusive discover that everyone benefits.

October 30, 2018 | 8 min read