Worshipers from around the world coming to Symposium

Calvin College will host the 24th annual Calvin Symposium on Worship from Thursday, January 27, through Saturday, January 29, 2011.

The conference, co-sponsored by the Calvin Theological Seminary's Center for Excellence in Preaching and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship will attract about 1,500 guests from 40 different countries, including more than 300 students and teachers from more than 70 high schools, colleges, and seminaries internationally.

The conference features Calvin philosophy professor James K.A. Smith and Calvin alumna Ruth Padilla deBorst in plenary sessions and offers about 100 different break-out sessions led by more than 80 presenters.
 
One highlight of this year's conference is the expanded number of worship services. This year's theme is "Every Time I Remember You: The letter to the Philippians." The theme is the culmination of this past fall's campus-wide Bible studies, which involved more than 1,800 Calvin students, faculty, and staff studying the letter to the Philippians and using the new publication "Dwelling with Philippians: A conversation with scripture through image and word" (Eerdmans, 2010). Karen Campbell, Scott Hoezee, Denise Kingdom-Grier, Trygve Johnson, Ron Rienstra and Jerry Pillay will be preaching at these services, which are free and open to the public.

In addition to the five plenary services, conferees will be able to attend three of seven vesper services, each with a distinct focus and flavor, and each intended to offer attendees something they can take home for worship in their own congregations.

Emily Brink, program director of the symposium, says that the heart of the event is the fellowship and joy that come from learning and worshiping together with a large and diverse part of the body of Christ. And it is all done with the purpose of encouraging more faithful worship back home at the local level.

Check-in and walk-up registration for the conference will be held at the newly renovated and expanded Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin.

For more info on the conference, including how to still register, visit http://worship.calvin.edu or contact Kristen Verhulst at 616-526-6831.

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Received on Tue Jan 18 09:26:35 2011