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© 2024 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
On Wednesday, August 9, 2017, before the violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, someone broke into a church near Waco, Texas, a historically African American congregation, and vandalized the property with hateful graffiti. The pastor of the church is a student at Baylor’s Truett Seminary. At the request of Baylor President Dr. Linda Livingstone, the Office of Spiritual Life at Baylor developed this prayer guide which will be used at community-wide gatherings on Friday, August 18.
The fact remains that most American Christians remain startlingly ignorant of critical aspects of their church’s history. Learning this history can help us more faithfully know ourselves, love others, and follow Christ.
Is it possible to work in international development without hurting those we are helping?
Soong-Chan Rah argues that the deeply rooted triumphalism and exceptionalism in the American society are causing the absence of lament in the American churches.
When Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church near Boston, he began with a series of sermons on the Book of Lamentations, a radical counter-cultural approach to ministry that later became the basis for his book Prophetic Lament.
Defining “worship” is an essential step for churches that want to start including youth in planning and leading worship. Teenagers long for worship that connects to life issues such as justice, imagination, and the arts.
When she moved to Northern Ireland, Kiran Young Wimberly was surprised to discover how few Presbyterians there knew the Irish and Scottish melodies she’d grown to love in the U.S. Her Celtic Psalms project is helping Protestants and Catholics reconnect with their shared heritage.
Kiran Young Wimberly and Karen Campbell are musically gifted Presbyterian pastors who have seen how singing Celtic psalms helps bridge communities in troubled places.
Tony Alonso notices gaps between what we sing in worship and how we live, including how we choose bilingual songs.
Bethany Hanke Hoang and Kristen Deede Johnson co-wrote The Justice Calling: Where Passion Meets Perseverance. They explain how weekly worship helps congregations keep working with, and waiting on, God to make all things new.
Some churches care deeply about studying the Bible. Others are passionate about justice. Authors Bethany Hanke Hoang and Kristen Deede Johnson offer help for congregations that care or want to care about both.
Artist, writer and teacher Deborah Sokolove explains why humans need art as much as they need food, water or air.
