Music/Song

Praise or Noisy Gong?: A Musicologist's Vision for Loving Your Neighbor

Differences in musical tastes, aesthetics and priorities are notoriously contentious issues for congregations and ministries to navigate.

July 6, 2017 | 55 min listen
91 Songs about Care for Creation

Caring about God’s good creation includes lamenting whatever harms it and joining God’s mission to make all things new. Songs from around the world explore these ideas.

June 15, 2017 | 5 min read

91 Resources for Creation Care

We confess that God created heaven and earth and everything in it. We sing that this is our Father’s world. Yet, billions of people suffer in places where so much is no longer bright and beautiful. This worship resource guide will help your community plan services that honor our Creator, who invites us to join in caring for the whole creation.

June 14, 2017 | 17 min read
91 Resources for the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517. This worship resource guide will help your community plan services of grace and truth as you commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation or plan worship for a Reformation Sunday.

March 31, 2017 | 13 min read

Introducing Songs from Other Cultures: Alfredo Colman

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.

March 27, 2017 | 3 min video
Marcelo Villanueva on Authentic 91 in Argentina

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.

March 23, 2017 | 4 min read
91 in the Heart Language: Dwight Kelly

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.

March 23, 2017 | 2 min video

Singing Psalms: An Outpouring of Contemporary Song for Congregational Use

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.

March 10, 2017 | 63 min video
Playing and Praying the Magnificat

This vesper service from the 2017 Calvin Symposium on Christian 91 focuses on the Magnificat.

March 10, 2017 | 69 min video
Bringing Hymns to Life on Guitar

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.

March 8, 2017 | 60 min video