Apply for the Vital 91ÁÔÆæ, Vital Preaching Grants Program to support and enhance Christian worship practices. We encourage proposals on universal design, cultural engagement, preaching, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and more. Two grant streams are available.
Join us for our Symposium on 91ÁÔÆæ and Summer Seminars. Engage in inspiring sessions, workshops, and intensive seminars to deepen your understanding and practice of Christian worship.
The office of Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School is sponsoring a week-long seminar exploring the autobiographical writings of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Howard Thurman, Ida B. Wells, and other Black autobiographers and memoirists who used their life stories as weapons in the quest for freedom and humanization.
The 91ÁÔÆæ at Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary advances Christian worship through resources, events, and grants. Since 1997, we have partnered with congregations and organizations to fulfill our mission.
How does worship relate to culture? How is worship in culture, but not of it? This video and accompanying Nairobi Statement on 91ÁÔÆæ and Culture explore four central principles for an open and discerning approach to culture.
: #5 in a series on the "10 Core Convictions about 91ÁÔÆæ" from Calvin 91ÁÔÆæ Institute on Vimeo.
How does worship relate to culture? How is worship in culture, but not of it? The Lutheran World Federation's Study Team on 91ÁÔÆæ and Culture met in Nairobi in January of 1996 and produced the . The statement presents four central principles of the relationship between worship and culture:
1) 91ÁÔÆæ is transcultural (91ÁÔÆæ has certain dynamics that are beyond culture).
2) 91ÁÔÆæ is contextual (91ÁÔÆæ reflects local patterns of speech, dress, and other cultural characteristics).
3) 91ÁÔÆæ is counter-cultural (91ÁÔÆæ resists the idolatries of a given culture).
4) 91ÁÔÆæ is cross-cultural (91ÁÔÆæ reflects the fact that the body of Christ transcends time and space).
We have found that the most meaningful worship - and the wisest worshiping community - does not just choose one of these four as its defining principle, but instead is invigorated by the truth of all four.
Note how this statement nuances the model of being "in but not of" culture, and calls us to a more sophisticated understanding of worship's relationship to culture.
is posted at the Lutheran World Federation website. It was also published in Christian 91ÁÔÆæ: Unity in Cultural Diversity, ed. S. Anita Stauffer (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1996).
We encourage worshipers and worship leaders to reflect on it as they consider the context and challenges of their culture, and answer God's call to worship within it and minister to it.
Jared Ortiz on the Dramatic Nature of the Nicene Creed
Jared Ortiz, professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, describes the Nicene Creed as a dramatic and powerful statement where every word is like a declaration of war, saying yes to the truth and no to many falsehoods.
Jane Williams on the Nicene Creed as a Creative and Exciting Description of Who God Is
Jane Williams, professor of theology at St. Mellitus College in London, England, sees the Nicene Creed, crafted 1700 years ago, as an extraordinary creative and exciting description of who God is and therefore what we trust in as Christians in God's world.
Maria Eugenia Cornou and Mikie Roberts on the Doxological and Historical Significance of the Nicene Creed
Maria Eugenia Cornou and Mikie Roberts serve on a planning team for an October worship event in Egypt to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the ecumenical creed that emerged in the year 325 and remains firmly embedded in the worship practices of the church today.
Jared Ortiz on the Dramatic Nature of the Nicene Creed
Jared Ortiz, professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, describes the Nicene Creed as a dramatic and powerful statement where every word is like a declaration of war, saying yes to the truth and no to many falsehoods.
Jane Williams on the Nicene Creed as a Creative and Exciting Description of Who God Is
Jane Williams, professor of theology at St. Mellitus College in London, England, sees the Nicene Creed, crafted 1700 years ago, as an extraordinary creative and exciting description of who God is and therefore what we trust in as Christians in God's world.
Maria Eugenia Cornou and Mikie Roberts on the Doxological and Historical Significance of the Nicene Creed
Maria Eugenia Cornou and Mikie Roberts serve on a planning team for an October worship event in Egypt to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the ecumenical creed that emerged in the year 325 and remains firmly embedded in the worship practices of the church today.
This expression of Psalm 148 was submitted by Ed Willmington, who wrote it with Clayton J. Schmit. The nature of Psalm 148 is total exuberance as all of nature offers praise to God.
