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Words
and the Work of Worship
On the Cutting Edge of Worship Reform
Past and Present
An interim travel course - May 2003
- How can we seek faithfulness, vitality, and depth in worship practices in the next generation?
- How do we evaluate and direct the changes going on in American Protestant worship today?
- Is there anything to be learned from God's work in the history of the Church's worship?
In
May of 2003, Ron and Debra Rienstra led a group of students, staff, and
faculty from Calvin College (and a few visitors) in an interim course
to Great Britain with the support of the Calvin Institute of Christian
Worship. They prayed and worshiped together, read and studied together,
and spent time in retreat thinking and writing about worship - trying
to learn about how the Holy Spirit has fostered revival and reform in
the past and how God might be renewing the church's worship in the next
century.
The
course was designed for participants hoping to become leaders in the continuing
work of reforming Protestant worship. They traveled to the United
Kingdom to ask questions (in some cases literally, in other cases through
historical study) of key figures in worship reform movements past and
present. While focusing in particular on the use of words in worship
- prayers, songs, sermons, litanies - they also considered musical
styles and formats, architecture, and other elements that help compose
a total worship experience.
View
slideshow of Interim Travel Course 2003 in the
United Kingdom. The slideshow offers some visual impressions of various
worship sites in England and Scotland, with some comments and questions
for further thought. There are more questions for discussion on the pages
devoted to each of the worship reformers the group met or studied.
Learn more about the U.K. Interim Travel Course 2003 - who they met, where they went, what they did, how they learned.
Text and photographs are provided by Rev. Ron Rienstra.
* All rights reserved. Photographs may not be reproduced without prior written permission.