Recognition Archives - ÂÜŔňÉç Thu, 21 Dec 2017 17:58:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Rev. Dr. Debra Auger Awarded $10,550 Vital Worship Grant from Calvin Institute /stories/rev-dr-debra-auger-awarded-10550-vital-worship-grant-calvin-institute/ Tue, 09 May 2017 14:12:26 +0000 /?p=20272 Each grant will fund a year-long project (beginning in June) that promotes vital worship and faith formation.

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April 25, 2017 – The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) announced that it will fund another 33 worship renewal projects for 2017-2018 as part of its Vital Worship Grants Program. As one of the award recipients, Rev. Dr. Debra R. Auger, North Park Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Ministry received $10,550.

These projects have a variety of emphases—visual arts, storytelling, music, preaching, contemplation and more—but have as a common purpose a desire to both deepen people’s understanding of worship and strengthen practices of public worship and faith formation.

Said Kathy Smith, director of the Vital Worship Grants Program: “These collaborative projects bring people together to study, plan and create, foster new learning and nourish intergenerational community in worship.”

This year’s recipients are from around North America and include 20 congregations, one high school, four colleges and universities, three seminaries, and five other organizations, including a retirement community, a military ministry, a hospital ministry, a denominational worship committee and a regional synod. They also represent congregations and schools from 18 denominations, 19 states and two Canadian provinces.

Each grant will fund a year-long project (beginning in June) that promotes vital worship and faith formation, and this year’s awards range from $6,000 to $18,000 per project.

John Witvliet, director of the CICW, believes that the 2017 projects will help the Worship Institute in its own work of both the scholarly study of the theology, history and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across North America and beyond.

“We learn a tremendous amount from these programs,” he said, “from the wisdom demonstrated in designing them and the insights gleaned from implementing and adapting them as they unfold. We look forward to sharing insights from these projects with a larger audience in our future programming over the next several years.”

This June, project directors and representatives of all 33 grants will gather on Calvin’s campus to dialogue not only with CICW staff, but also with the recipients of 2016 grants, who will come to campus to share the results of their year-long projects at a poster session that is open to the public.

“We look forward to learning and worshiping together,” said Smith, “and watching the new grant recipients learn from the wisdom of those with experience.  The grants event is always an energizing time of conversation and sharing stories!”

Since it began in the year 2000, the Vital Worship Grants Program has now awarded 784 grants to churches, schools and organizations across North America for projects that generate thoughtfulness and energy for public worship and faith formation at the local, grass-roots level. An advisory board of pastors and teachers from a variety of backgrounds assisted in the grant selections, and the program is generously supported by Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1937, the Endowment’s major areas of programming are religion, education, and community development.

For more information on the grants program, including a complete list of this year’s grants recipients, please see www.calvin.edu/worship.

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Dr. Mary Trujillo, Conflict Transformation Professor, Honored with MLKJ Award /stories/dr-mary-trujillo-conflict-transformation-professor-honored-mlkj-award/ Thu, 26 Jan 2017 11:00:58 +0000 /?p=13831 New award recognizes leader in restorative justice

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New award recognizes leader in restorative justice

CHICAGO (January 26, 2017) — At ÂÜŔňÉç’s January 16 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, called “The Movement Continues,” Dr. Mary Trujillo was honored with the University’s inaugural MLKJ Award.

Dr. Trujillo says she’s “deeply honored to have my work mentioned in the same sentence with Dr. Martin Luther King,” as she’s been greatly influenced by the work, life, and teachings of Dr. King.

Dr. Trujillo is a communication arts professor, focusing on intercultural communication and conflict transformation. Preparing students to examine the idea of community in the context of urban, religious, and international conflict, she’s committed to restorative justice and nonviolence. She teaches students to identify their own approaches to conflict transformation and to apply their strategies to bring peace to Chicago.

“I pray that Dr. King’s commitment to social justice will always be the standard to which North Park aspires,” she added.

The honoree, who has been at North Park since 2002, is currently training to become a certified Kingian nonviolence trainer and practitioner. In 2014, she was selected to attend the James Lawson Institute, where she studied nonviolence with Rev. Lawson, a strategist for Martin Luther King Jr. and leader of desegregation sit-ins in Nashville during the civil rights movement.

Jacqueline Strapp C’08 created the MLKJ Award shortly after joining the staff in fall 2016 to lead the Office of Diversity. She says that she wanted to highlight people on campus and recognize those who are doing exceptional work in the area of restorative justice and racial reconciliation.

Also at the event, Rev. Neichelle Guidry offered a keynote address that reclaimed the prominent role of women in the civil rights movement. Recording artist Corey Barksdale brought inspiration with two songs, and film director and alumna Tanika Carpenter delivered a call to hope after sharing a preview of her documentary film, Farewell Obama.

ÂÜŔňÉç’s Office of Diversity seeks to sustain a campus community that appreciates diversity and embraces differences as well as similarities. It maintains a climate that values diversity through programming, outreach, and support for all members.

More on the Office of Diversity

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