Wednesday, June 24, 2009

from the Calvin Institute Conference

I just finished the poster session at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Grant Colloquium. This was a time for recipients of grants from last year and this to talk about their projects.

Our project attracted a lot of interest; I had dozens of great conversations with people curious and excited about Convergence. Several people are trying to do similar things with artists, and with collaborative worship planning, and are eager to learn from us.

I made several connections that I'm sure will continue into the future.

This morning we talked about expressive worship v. formative worship--expressive worship being when we express thoughts, feelings, ideas, beliefs in our worship. Formative worship being when we are spiritually formed as we worship--learning about God, our relationship with him.

Expressive worship reflects, but formative worship also shapes our thoughts and emotions.

From a Barna study: 47% of worshipers understand worship as activity undertaken for their personal benefit...Only 29% indicated that they view worship as something that is focused primarily on God.

I think we've done a good job of experiencing formative worship at Convergence. I know the language I use to express my faith and my understanding of worshiping God has grown in these three years.

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