1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Throughout church history views of worship have tended toward polarization: Spirit or Word? Planned or spontaneous? Reverent or celebratory? Relevant or historically rooted? For God or for us?
Asaph is hardly a household name, yet he has been impacting worshipers for 3,000 years. Twelve psalms are attributed to Asaph. Scripture reveals that Asaph was a man of integrity as well as a great artist. This workshop explored the man and his art to glean practical applications for us today.
As preachers we commonly assume that preaching and proclamation are synonyms. This workshop will introduce ways in which proclamation has distinct forms that are in contrast to those of teaching. By becoming familiar with them we can be more faithful to the gospel, more creative in our articulation of it, and more effective in making our sermons a joyous witness to the triune God.
This workshop offered practical ways parents and the church can partner together to help engage children in worship.
This session considered a church building as being part of, and contributing to, the neighborhood that surrounds it. We explored how a building connects to a neighborhood in terms of scale and style, helping to shape the public realm, and how threshold points operate between the church and the public.
This session took the Psalms as a case study for considering what it means for the preacher, first, and then the congregation, to be astonished by the biblical text. How might this ancient poetry be surprising, and therefore revelatory, to those who hear it in our contemporary contexts? What sort of preparation is necessary for the preacher who wishes to engage the Psalms as poetry?
The physical locations and buildings that we use for worshiping the Triune God are influenced by the theological beliefs and choices of those who have gone before us.
The 21st century is characterized by people moving and mixing all over the world, trying to fit into new communities that are varied and diverse. That reality is pushing the church to be multiethnic like the church of the 1st century. We'll explore how to plan worship that is inclusive, allowing everyone to feel welcome by including musical gifts from their culture and worship "back home" in their new church home.
The relationship between churches and the news media is too often one of mutual indifference or mistrust. This session explores practical ways of connecting with local reporters and maintaining healthy and beneficial relationships with the media.
Christ is the same "yesterday, today, and tomorrow."
In this workshop for new and emerging, as well as established and evolving congregations, we explored how new Christians and young children learn to relate to God, and what this teaches us about our practices of weekly congregational worship. The workshop featured insights from a number of congregations involved in a new Vertical Habits program hosted by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
Today's hectic pace of life leaves little time for prayer. Daily morning and evening prayer is an ancient treasure of the church that offers a worshipful way to live and pray, no matter how busy our lives feel. Learn more about this classical mode of prayer and how you can incorporate its wisdom into your daily life.
