1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian 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."
Many people have a vision for pastoral care that takes place in homes, hospitals, and institutions, often in times of crisis. But the prime place for pastoral care is in the community gathered for worship, when all who are able gather under the care of the Good Shepherd, and those who cannot attend are still remembered and named.
Get ideas from other congregations for using local photography and other images in church worship. A feature story exploring some of the many possibilities for visuals in worship.
In "Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation", James K. A. Smith explains how what we love, imagine, and desire shapes who we become. He urges congregations to reclaim worship practices that train our hearts through our bodies.
It's time for the church to reclaim and apply the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins or Capital Vices to spiritual formation. A feature story exploring the Seven Deadly Sins.
So many churches have recently done a series of worship services on the seven deadly sins that you can find ample ideas for your setting. You can plan the whole service to help worshipers frame their experience of vice within the overarching story of God’s forgiveness and reconciling grace.
Jesus told parables that were far more than simple stories with one heavenly meaning. Here's how preachers, musicians, and worship leaders can plan parable-based worship that lingers in people's lives.
Leading worship requires attending to the specifics of a worshiping congregation, and yet many classrooms tend toward the general. This workshop looked at a new multi-media resource documenting the life of one Chicago congregation and designed to be a kind of “flight simulator” for worship leaders. It explored teaching worship leadership with a dual emphasis on theological content and congregational context.
It didn't happen every day, but was frequent enough that I clearly remember it. I would be sitting with my grandparents, in their house, around their kitchen table. We would be finishing a meal or even just a simple snack, and the conversation would come to a lull….
