The Hope College Worship Team has been honored by being invited to lead worship for the second year in a row at the global Symposium on Worship at Calvin College, taking place this year on Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 26-28, with Chaplain Bruce Benedict and Hinga-Boersma Dean of the Chapel Trygve Johnson also among those leading workshops during the three-day event.
More than 1,700 from 23 countries as well as from across the United States are attending the conference, which is sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and the Center for Excellence in Preaching and features multiple worship services and concurrent plenary addresses, seminars and workshops. The event brings together a wide audience of artists, musicians, pastors, scholars, students, worship leaders and planners, and other interested worshipers for a time of fellowship, worship and learning together.
The conference’s worship theme is “The Faithful Witness: Being Christ’s Church in an Apocalyptic World,” which is using key texts from Revelation. The college’s Worship Team is leading the opening day’s services on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., presenting “The Songs in the Heavenly Throne Room” based on Revelation 4-5. A total of 15 students and multiple members of the Campus Ministries staff will be participating. Johnson will be preaching.
“Last year we were asked to demonstrate how an organ and contemporary worship band could be integrated in a worship service, and this year we’ll show how a contemporary worship band can play with a small instrumental ensemble. It’ll be fun,” said Benedict, who as chaplain of worship and the arts at Hope directs the Hope College Worship Team.
The student members of the Hope College Worship Team who are participating in services are Sarah Carpenter, Lane Ellens, Jake Helder, Kelsey King, Seth McCall, Courtney Myers, Christian Roberts and Lauren Sweers. Students from the Department of Music participating are Katherine Baldwin, Caroline Barrett, Erin Brophy, Jack Burrows, Hannah Dirkse, Irene Gerrish and Caleb Stuckey. In addition to Benedict and Johnson, Campus Ministries staff members who will be participating are Lauren Taylor and James Ellis, each of whom is a chaplain of discipleship at Hope.
Also during the conference, Benedict is co-presenting “Here Are My Hands: A Practical Workshop on Affirming Vocation in Weekly Worship Practices” on both Friday and Saturday. In addition to his work with Hope, Benedict is also the founder of Cardiphonia, an ongoing collaboration of artists and musicians who provide original music to churches. His co-presenter is Isaac Wardell, who is director of Bifrost Arts and develops worship resources for his home congregation in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Johnson presenting “The Preacher as Liturgical Artist” on Friday and Saturday. He is the author of a 2014 book of the same title, subtitled “Metaphor, Identity, and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ,” which considers that the metaphorical association of the preacher and artist understood within the artistic ministry of Jesus Christ frees the full range of human capacities, including the imagination, to bear upon the arts of Christian proclamation.
More information about the symposium is available here.