Symposium from a Student's Perspective

Natalie Miller (far right) with OC Chapel Team members and
other high school students attending the Symposium.

Hi everyone! My name is Natalie Miller and I am a student of Mrs. Kraut and Mr. Dykhouse in Chapel Leadership Class. I attended the Symposium this year and had an awesome time! Here is my experience in more of a journal form:

Thursday: Morning Worship, Session 8: A New Song a Skillful Song, Vesper**: Ancient Words and Modern Music: A Fresh Musical Interpretation of the Heidelberg Catechism

Graham Kendrick (image courtesy
of www.calvin.edu/worship)

On Thursday, I learned how certain songs are easier to sing for congregations when there is a reachable range for all of the people in the audience, when there is repetition in a song, and when it is an easier tune to sing. This session was geared toward songwriters and being in the room with so many of them gave me awesome ideas. Heading the session was Graham Kendrick, who has written and co-written many popular songs sung in the church. We were able to some of his songs, as well as other songs that people in the room had written. The vesper on Thursday was very interesting as well due to the fact that all of the songs sung by the congregation were based on the catechism.

Friday: Morning Worship, Plenary Address: Church History as an Indispensable Source of Wisdom for Contemporary Ministry, Workshop A: Sticky Liturgies-Worship, Youth Ministry, and the Faith of American Teenagers, Workshop B: Resources in the Ancient Church for Today’s Worship, Vesper: Worship & Reconciliation across Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Cultural Lines

On Friday, I learned the reasons why teenagers were not staying in the church. The most interesting reason to me was because the church is not encouraging students to use their talents in a Christian environment where they can be encouraged to continue using their gifts for God. In a different session, I became aware that other denominations do not believe in communion until one is baptized and say a proclamation of their faith in front of the congregation. This made me aware of the different practices of denominations in the Christian Church as a whole. The vesper** on Friday was very interesting as well because the songs were geared towards people of all different types of ethnic groups (The Urban Doxology Band: http://www.makingamelody.com/urban-doxology-project/ check them out they are fantastic!).

Some of the practices in the worship services that I already see at Ontario Christian are the congregational singing, invites to worship, call and response pieces, and the interactive aspects between the leaders and the students. The most interesting things that I learned and came to my attention was that there are a variety of practices at different denominations of Christianity. Because of this, I have decided  to gear my planning in more of a way so that everyone will be able to feel comfortable in attending chapel.

**A vesper is an evening service that was provided each night during the Symposium at Calvin College. It was more of a worship setting, but there were call and response pieces as well as readings from scripture.*