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On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2024 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Whether your church goes solar, diverts money from utilities to missions or plants a community garden, you can find creative and sustainable ways to model that the earth is the Lord’s.
Calvin College and Calvin Seminary have teamed up to bring the voices of scientists into the consciousness of the church. Through “The Ministry Theorem” website and the new book Delight in Creation, Deborah Haarsma and Scott Hoezee have worked to foster fruitful conversations that connect the wonders of what science reveals about God’s creation with the ministries of the church.
Hospitality is a way of life, and when we offer hospitality, especially to folks who are usually overlooked or undervalued by the larger society, we make a strong statement about who is valuable and good to be with.
Kathy Smith is associate director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and manager of grant programs. She speaks at conferences, seminars, and churches around the world. In this edited conversation, she explains how to prepare for, experience, and benefit from the annual Calvin Symposium on Worship.
Musician David M. Bailey is the music director at East End Fellowship in Richmond, Virginia. In this edited conversation, he talks about becoming aware of power dynamics in multicultural congregations and neighborhoods. He lives in Church Hill, a neighborhood hard hit by economic decline.
Randy Weener co-leads Wyoming Kingdom Enterprise Zone, a church multiplication initiative by Reformed and Christian Reformed churches in Wyoming, Michigan. In 2000 he planted a Reformed Church in America congregation in Allendale, Michigan. In this edited conversation, he talks about multisensory worship in that congregation that welcomes neighbors.
Here is the uncomfortable truth about becoming a congregation that loves your neighbors as you love yourselves: You have to go out and meet them.
Representing the love of God to neighbors works best in congregations that have a clear vision reflected in worship and prayer.
Acting on sermons about loving your neighbors is easier if you see yourself as able to give, join others in serving, and see your loving service as an act of worship.
Do your church’s sermons disciple worshipers to love God and their neighbors with all they have? What does that love look like in your neighborhood?
Lisa De Boer summarizes her research on the changing role of visual arts in North American churches since World War II. Knowing a bit of this history may help you introduce or strengthen the arts in your congregation.
A Spanish translation of part II of The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship by John D. Witvliet
