1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
All congregations experience crises, transitions, and conflicts. Worship will be affected by these difficult times, and can be the place where healing begins and continues.
Worship throughout scripture and history is culturally diverse, not monolithic, reflecting the diversity of God and his creation. True biblical worship is also holistic, involving the soul, the mind, and the body. This workshop explored the culturally diverse and holistic nature of worship, with reference especially to African American, Caribbean, and Hispanic worship.
Justice is an indispensable requirement for Christian worship.
What should preachers keep in mind in composing sermons? This session will hold up the rubrics "Biblical, Authentic, Contextual, and Life-Changing" as goals for preachers and as helpful categories for congregations to use in discussing sermons.
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 interactive seminar explored the cultural forces shaping teenagers' attitudes towards life as well as current research on teenage spirituality, in order to help think strategically about connecting young people with the Christian faith through 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?
How do we find God outside of the sanctuary?
This workshop discussed how contemporary short stories from writers such as Flannery O'Connor, Doris Betts, and Raymond Carver resonate with New Testament themes and how such stories might help preachers find ways to relate contemporary themes to their listeners.
This session delved more deeply into the conference worship theme by probing key scriptural texts on the theme of divine glory, reviewing contributions of influential theological texts, and then exploring the pastoral dimensions of weaving this luminous theme into everyday ministry back home.
This workshop reflected on the rise of Alternative Worship in the United Kingdom over almost two decades, which has led at different times to both sublime and ridiculous innovations in worship practice.
This session investigated possible hymns and choruses in the New Testament and discussed if this material is beneficial in our choice of music today.
