Faith Formation

Artie Lindsay on Working as One Church in the Neighborhood

Artie Lindsay is the teaching pastor at Tabernacle Community Church, a multiracial congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In this edited conversation, he talks about the joys and challenges of serving the Alger Heights neighborhood.

March 20, 2023 | 4 min read
LaTonya McIver Penny on Inclusion in Black Churches

The common thread in LaTonya McIver Penny’s pastoral and professional lives has been God’s calling to help faith communities, especially Black churches, become more inclusive. Learn why she sees inclusion as broader than welcoming people with cognitive or physical disabilities.

January 31, 2023 | 8 min read

Two Pastors on God at Work in Ordinary People and Places

Moses Chung and Christopher Meehan cowrote the book "Joining Jesus: Ordinary People at the Edges of the Church." They hope these stories will give people and congregations hope, encouragement, and imagination to see what God is already doing in their neighborhoods.

January 23, 2023 | 6 min read
Kevin Secundino on Knowing You’re Not Alone

Participating in Calvin University’s Ministry Leadership Cohort and doing a summer ministry internship at his church taught one pre-med student a lot about God’s promises. You can apply some of what he learned to your own congregation.

December 5, 2022 | 6 min read
Katie Ritsema-Roelofs on Intentional Work for Intergenerational 91ÁÔÆæ and Community

In this episode, worship planner and musician Katie Ritsema-Roelofs shares about the importance of thoughtful and intentional ways the whole congregation can join in the formational work of intergenerational, corporate worship.

December 5, 2022 | 18 min listen

La Verne Tolbert on the Vital Role of Parents and the Church in Raising Children in the Faith

In this episode, Christian educator Dr. La Verne Tolbert shares her hopes and desires for renewed connections between parents and the church in the formative work of raising children in the faith and including children in the worship life of the church.

November 29, 2022 | 26 min listen
Developing Leaders Every Pastor Wants in the Congregation

Calvin University’s Ministry Leadership Cohort offers pathways for students of all majors who want to live out their faith in all of life. This practical program helps them learn how to build community, love the church, and practice leadership no matter where they eventually work, worship, and serve.

November 28, 2022 | 7 min read
‘By the People for the Good of the People’: A Conversation with Matthew Sigler

In this edited conversation, Matthew Sigler discusses how contemporary youth can find their place in worship by exploring historical church practices.

November 17, 2022 | 13 min read

Liturgical Practices of Enslaved Africana People in the American Colonial Period As Witnessed in Select [En]slave[d] Narratives

This recording from the African American Religious Autobiographies Seminar, held in July 2022, presents an examination of enslaved narratives as a genre and primary source of the experiences of enslaved Africana people in the American context and presents select excerpts reflective of their theology and liturgical practice. Reverend Weaver joined us for a night of learning, presenting on her current historical research into the worship practices of early enslaved Americans.

November 10, 2022 | 79 min video
Unfinished Business: From the Great Migration to Black Lives Matter

This recording from the African American Religious Autobiographies Seminar, held in July 2022, includes the viewing and discussion of a musical documentary that showcases untold Great Migration [1916-1970] stories of elders from Black churches in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and connects their distinctive history to the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement.

November 9, 2022 | 1 min video
A Coherent Ritual Life

What do our daily habits of home and work have to do with weddings, baptisms, or the Lord’s Supper? Dru Johnson and Cory Willson trace the biblical lines of ritual thinking, from the field, office, and factory to worship in the sanctuary and waters of baptism. Recording from the session held in July 2022.

November 9, 2022 | 75 min video