1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
When preachers and churches talk about improving the quality of preaching, many approaches are considered, but one is frequently missing: the participation of elders. This workshop explores both the why and how questions of involving elders in supporting and encouraging preachers in their congregations.
This presentation addressed practical ways congregations can have a real impact on the lives of people with disabilities and their families living in their community and to make worship more accessible to everyone.
Our faith formation is marked by certain milestones. One milestone is public profession of faith or confirmation. When this occurs might vary, but at whatever age, this milestone needs to be vital. This session explored how to recapture a sense of the privilege of professing your faith, make it a celebration, and regularly reaffirm it.
Psalms allow us to express a whole range of emotions in powerful ways and at the same time, they tell us a lot about God. This workshop will examine how worship song writers can learn from the psalms as they work on their own craft.
The session presented several practical tools for building a church community that welcomes and embraces diversity in membership. Highlighting examples from churches including members with disabilities, this session offered ideas that allow people to see one another through God's eyes.
Discover ways that the prayer of thanksgiving at the Lord's Supper provides a shape and vocabulary to guide us in lives of gratitude as well as connect our practices in church with the actions in our daily lives.
This session featured stories, prayers, and insights from the first year of the Stockbridge Boiler Room, a simple Christian community that practices a daily rhythm of prayer, study, and celebration while caring actively for the poor and the lost.
Many worshipers suffer from chronic illnesses, sudden crises, stresses from work and/or family life, losses of loved ones or of personal abilities, discouragement from situations in the local community or the world.
Abraham Kuyper said that Christ is Lord over every "square inch" of life. Thanks to Our Worship, translated by Harry Boonstra and augmented by scholars' essays, you can now read Kuyper's perceptive writings on public worship.
Singing Scripture songs and hymns sinks the words of the Bible into your heart, mind, and muscle memory. A feature story on the hymnal, Singing the New Testament.
The Kent County Congregational Study of 2007 is a comprehensive study of religious congregations and how they contribute to the quality of life in Kent County.
Touching the Altar, edited by Carol M. Bechtel, shows how the often-neglected Old Testament is essential to understand the purpose of worship, giving practical ideas any church can apply. A feature story on using Old Testament values in worship.
