1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This workshop focused on understanding the latest social scientific research on the religious beliefs and practices of young people as they transition to adulthood.
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While defenders of Christianity attempt to barge through the front door of reason by arguing the case for Christ, the Holy Spirit has been slipping through the back door of the imagination without the church's permission or even notice.
Sermons usually say in other words what Scripture says, and do in other words what Scripture does --assure, warn, encourage, inform, inspire--. But they say and do Scripture in a great many ways and they can sound very different from each other depending on the acoustics of time, place, and audience.
In a post-postmodern, high-tech, super-hyped, and anti-institutional world, how should we be Church and how should we be the Church at worship and in mission? How will our means match the ends so that worship is faithful to the Jesus of the cross?
Preachers are always searching for illustrations, and if you know where to look, short stories are an excellent resource.
Although it has swept across the nation in the last 25 years, contemporary worship didn't just pop out of nowhere. Have you ever wondered where it came from? This workshop reviewed some of its origins with particular attention to the important Anaheim Vineyard congregation in the 1970s and 1980s.
Find out how the psalms bring hope to suffering Christians in Pakistan and how the psalms can challenge theologians, poets, and musicians around the world to strengthen faith, ministry, and worship.
Faith formation is not just for children—all of us are shaped in our faith by the way we come to God in worship. This session considered what it might mean if we have a faith formation focus as we plan worship.
An absentee father with a son of blistering hate; a frightened man pimping his wife; a penniless mother left to die; a husband beaten down by his wily woman. The stories from Genesis read like last night's news.
Where else in their multitasking 24/7 lives can youth find loving adults who join them in meaningful prayer, silence, and conversation to connect with God? A feature story exploring what makes an effective youth ministry program.
Worship helps us answer fundamental questions of human existence regarding our identity, calling, main purpose in life, and how to be empowered for service to God?
It is all too easy for worship leaders--preachers and musicians alike-to--slip into "mere professionalism." When that happens, we settle into dull habit, holy things no longer stir our soul, and God becomes distant and even abstract? This session examined that spiritual danger and suggested some practices to "guard our souls."
In what ways can the church's worshiping life equip people for the patterns of civility-public politeness-that make for good citizenship? Should we even care about the question?
