One of the great tragedies of the Enlightenment era is that the Bible, God’s story, has been turned into a book of propositional statements. The modern method of learning is to set forth facts and then seek to prove those facts by reason and science. So we turned the elements of God’s story into factual...Read More
Jump to Lent • Holy Week • Palm/Passion Sunday • Eastertide Lent Pie Jesu (from Requiem), Andrew Lloyd Webber SATB—Hal Leonard HL 08603519 Need exceptional soprano I and II (youth) for duet. Choir part is easy. I have also orchestrated it per the recording with Sarah Brightman. Holy Week Beneath the Cross of Jesus, arr....Read More
For the last several weeks, Athanasius’s On the Incarnation has been displacing a lot of other reading I had hoped to do. In part, with much sadness in world news and in the lives of close friends, it was Bono’s Christmas-time question that got me here: “Hope and history don’t rhyme, so what’s it worth,...Read More
IWS faculty member Mark Torgerson presented a workshop at the 2007 Calvin Symposium on Worship on the fundamental influences in church architecture during the twentieth century and the potential value of these designs. Read more for workshop audio, notes and a link to Dr. Torgerson's book.Read More
Northern seminary’s Bob Webber likes to tell this story. One day during his tenure at Wheaton College, a colleague remarked, “Webber, you act like there never was a Reformation.” Bob recalls saying, “You act like there never was an ancient church.” The trick for Protestants, of course, is to hold these two sources of our...Read More
Therefore, I am compelled to pursue the ancient traditions believing that in them the Church will rediscover the processes and essential foundations upon which it can return to transforming converts into disciples of Jesus Christ. However, in which of the ancient catechumenates will I find them? As will be observed, the contours of the catechumenate...Read More
The Phos Hilaron, (literally, light of hilarity, or gladdening light) is probably the most ancient piece of non-scriptural hymnology or ecclesial poetry to have made its way into regular Christian liturgical praxis. It is quite simply a hymn of thanksgiving for light, itself, composed to accompany the daily ritual of the lighting of the lamps...Read More
In every age the Holy Spirit calls the Church to examine its faithfulness to God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, authoritatively recorded in Scripture and handed down through the Church. Thus, while we affirm the global strength and vitality of worldwide Evangelicalism in our day, we believe the North American expression of Evangelicalism needs to be...Read More
The following is the text from a session Connie presented at the Symposium on Worship at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, January 2006. Session Description: How engaged are the worshipers in your congregation? Do they tend to function as observers or active participants? Learn how to design worship services that invite dynamic participation. Introduction...Read More
Learn how to re-think the meaning of blended worship. No more quotas of hymns and choruses! Instead, learn practical ways to add fullness and depth to your worship by integrating a wide variety of worship expressions, both old and new.Read More
Let this piece serve as an earnest appeal to songwriters: please don’t lose the Trinity as you write songs! Why would I say such a thing? Because my study of the most used contemporary worship songs in the last fifteen years shows that there is a danger our songs reflect love for a god who...Read More
When you study the significance of Christ’s ascension, you have to wrestle with the absence and the presence of Christ. In his human nature Christ is absent, ascended to heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father. He is in heaven today. But ‘in his divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit, Christ is not...Read More
