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
Ethnomusicologist Alfredo Colman encourages musicians who lead congregational songs from other cultures to engage with someone from that culture in order to understand and find ways in introduce songs in worship that respect and honor God and the culture.
More people are training to lead music and worship in Protestant churches in Argentina. As in churches elsewhere, they must balance using popular songs from other cultures with creating music that helps worshipers live out their faith in the real world.
Jamaican pastor, Dwight Kelly, reflects on how scripture songs can be written in the language of the worshiper's heart. Heartsongs use words that reflect the context and language of those who are singing them.
Remarkably, even since the publication of Psalms for All Seasons just a few years ago, over 30 new Psalm-based songwriting and recording projects have emerged from a variety of contemporary worship leaders across North America and beyond. While some of these settings are designed for solo voices, many are well-suited to congregational use, and are worthy heirs to the legacy of congregation-based Psalms re-established by Luther and Calvin.
This vesper service from the 2017 Calvin Symposium on Christian Worship focuses on the Magnificat.
Two hymn writers and collaborators, one Roman Catholic and one Protestant, representing different generations, explore how the demographic, ethnic and denominational differences of contemporary American culture offer challenges and opportunities in crafting new, relevant and faithful song for Christian communities.
We’ve heard many of the great old hymns played beautifully with organs, pianos, and choirs, but their journey into the world of guitar-led worship can be awkward. Old tunes are often abandoned or significantly altered in the name of modernization, but such revision is not always necessary.
This seminar explores a rich variety of music that reflects deeply on the life of Jesus, and it is appropriate for any service based on one of the four New Testament gospels, including some songs that focus on "telling the story," others that are adept at "unpacking the meaning of the story," and still others that "help us see ourselves taken up into the story."
Read this viewing guide to find out how you might benefit from watching a one-hour session by Alison Adam, “Short Songs: Deepening Our Participation in Worship.”
In North America, we have a splendid opportunity in the years and decades ahead to learn to sing bilingually, transcending a language divide in ways that help us all learn and grow together as we discover scripturally inspired songs from a variety of contexts and cultures.
A regular discipline of writing psalm refrains helped one musician notice psalms in which creation and God’s people call each other to worship the Creator.
Alumni of the James Abbington Church Music Academy of the Hampton Ministers' Conference lead a festival of congregation songs.
