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Calvin Symposium on Worship, January 24-26, 2008

Follow-up Guide
(More resources here)

Meeting people from around the world, participating in worship, and learning new concepts and ideas for worship planning in a compact conference create a wonderful high that can easily fizzle once the routine sets in and you return home.

Consider these ways to extend the life of the conference so that you may continue discussion about worship, implement new ideas, and educate your faith community about the deeper purpose and meaning of worship.*

- Ideas for Group Planning and Study
- Themes and Resources for Reflection and Planning

Ideas for Group Planning and Study

1. Worship retreat: After you attend the conference, schedule a follow-up retreat for those who attended and others involved or interested in worship at your church to share what you learned. Set aside enough time for everyone to share and discuss. Record concrete follow-up questions to discuss, skills to develop, and ideas to implement.

2. Plan meaningful worship committee/team meetings:

a. Consider beginning each gathering with 10-15 minutes of worship, including scripture, song, and prayer. See Worship Insights, monthly discussion guides intended for worship planners and leaders.
b. Occasionally read an article or book on worship that stretches your imagination and thinking about worship. Discuss what you have learned and the implications for worship.
c. Discuss and discern together any of the following questions:

1) How can we pastorally plan and lead worship so that people can pray, praise, lament, confess, and hear God's Word in deeper and more profound ways?
2) What healthy practices and habits do we want to develop in our worship community? How can we pastorally introduce them?
3) What new ways of thinking about worship will impact our planning of worship?
4) What practical things did we learn that will impact our worship planning? (If you gleaned a good idea for Easter or Advent or a future service, develop a system for retrieving that idea when you need it.)

Themes and Resources for Reflection and Planning

• 'With Every Good Thing': Continue to reflect on this year's worship theme, and consider implementing it into your worship.

• Listen again (or for the first time) to a session in our audio archive, and share it with someone who wasn't able to attend.

* If you do follow-up after the conference, we are interested in gleaning from what you have learned. This will help us in planning future conferences and training events. Please email us at worshipsymposium@calvin.edu so we may continue to plan conferences and training events that reflect the questions and issues churches are addressing.

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