1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2024 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Susheila Williams, a scholar, painter, and music enthusiast, draws on her native language and culture to express Tamil Christianity in India. She uses her education, privilege, and biblical faith to improve the lives of women, especially those who are most marginalized.
This Manamahizh Keerthani Kuzhu concert in India includes Tamil-language Christian keerthanai praise and devotional songs sung in the traditional manner. Group members sang in Tamil but translated the lyrics into English.
Even when denominations try their best to compile culturally sensitive hymnals, not every congregation can or should use that hymnal. That’s why Anabaptist Worship Network works to include more people and cultures in creating new songs for use in worship.
Anabaptist Worship Network used a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship to host a songwriting retreat. A diverse group of Anabaptist songwriters gathered for three days to collaboratively write songs, raising questions around copyright justice and remuneration.
In a world filled with violence, injustice, and despair, the Advent and Christmas gospel comes, wondrously, with two strands of promise: one that touches neighborhoods racked in violence, one that is as intimate as our own interior lives, so often hidden from everyone but God. Both strands of promise are conveyed in a single common word with breathtaking scope: “Peace.”
En un ambiente de confianza, respeto, y celebración, culminó el Programa de Becas para Congregaciones Hispanas que organizó el Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) en la ciudad de Orlando, Florida.
The psalms were written to be sung. But if your church favors guitar and band-led modern worship, how do you sing the psalms? Songwriter Wendell Kimbrough answers this question through the use of short antiphonal psalm refrains that are singable and memorable for his congregation and provide a musical entry point into a psalm. They have become a beloved staple in his home congregation’s worship. In this workshop, Wendell will share some favorite psalm refrains, discuss the mechanics of their use, and respond to questions from attendees. The goal is for all attendees to go home with a plan for regularly incorporating musical psalms into their worship services.
This session is for organists, aspiring organists, the curious, and the inquisitive. No one person has as many sounds at their disposal [or as many keys and buttons!] as an organist. Let's discover new sounds together in this session by listening to new organ music for worship, learning ways to incorporate the organ into your services [even if you don't have a regular organist], and exploring some of the many tonal possibilities the organ has to offer.
What a gift to have in a single conversation leading experts on the rich history of Christian worship music in the continent of Africa as well as from African diaspora communities in the United States and England! What treasures and insights from this rich history should be more celebrated and cherished? What misunderstandings should be corrected? How can we learn from this rich history without misappropriating it? What signature examples of congregational song should we all learn more about and from? How can we all continue to learn more and explore more deeply connections across continents and Christian traditions?
Come learn and sing through a selection of choral pieces for use in worship. Packets provided by GIA Publications, Inc.
Drawing from Psalms, Colossians, Revelation, and the global church, Carlos Colón invites us to write texts and songs of lament, protest, and hope. We will examine ways to give voice in our worship and prayer gatherings to our pain, our questions, and our desire for deep hope and the healing of all creation. We will examine songs with these themes in the "Santo, Santo, Santo / Holy, Holy, Holy" hymnal and in classical and contemporary sources.
What makes a song singable? Meet with Paul Ryan and Wendell Kimbrough as they discuss the morning worship service held in the chapel [10:30–10:50 a.m.] and the qualities of congregational song that help the church join its voices as one.
