Engaging Methods for Enhancing & Enriching Spiritual Growth

Exploring Worship with All Our Senses

In the twenty-first century, most of us easily recognize that there multiple ways of experiencing and understanding the world, using all of our senses, multiple ways of understanding and encountering the presence of God. Yet for most Protestant Christians on most Sunday mornings, worship is primarily an intellectual exercise—despite the fact that, five centuries ago, John Calvin recognized the importance of the sensory as well as the intellectual when he called for the Supper to be celebrated as often as the Word is preached.

Linda Van Soest Tintle, a former special education teacher and teacher of teachers, has been exploring the use of multiple senses in spirituality for a number of years. In her work as the 2024-2025 Poppen-Young Fellow in Reformed Worship, she is seeking to encourage the use of more engaging ways of connecting with God.  She is developing techniques that can be implemented in large group worship settings, in small group study/prayer sessions, or in individual devotional times.  She has found that more active and varied spiritual learning methods have resulted in a more meaningful relationship with God, and she will share her experience and ideas in her presentation “Engaging Methods for Enhancing & Enriching Spiritual Growth” on Thursday, February 27, 2025, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm Eastern Time on Zoom.

In her online program, she will ask “Can we bring our spiritual learning and worship practices into the twenty-first century, revitalizing spiritual practices with effective evidence-based methods that are currently used in the academic setting?” She will also share the results of workshops she has done in local congregations utilizing what she has been learning. Suzanne Duschene, Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching and Director of the Chapel at NBTS, will respond to the presentation and prime the pump with questions before we open up the conversation to all participants.

Linda Van Soest Tintle, our 2024-2025 Poppen Young Fellow in Reformed Worship, holds degrees in Special Education from Jersey City, New Jersey, State College and the State University of New York at New Paltz. She spent thirty-five years as a special education teacher and over a decade as an adjunct teacher of teachers. Her work exploring the use of multiple senses in engaging God is published in her book Multi-Sensory God Connections (Covenant Book Publishing, 2022).

Suzanne Wenonah Duschene is Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching and Director of the Chapel at NBTS, with degrees from Rowan University, Palmer Theological Seminary, and Drew University Theological School. She is a United Methodist pastor who has done extensive work helping the church appreciate, understand, and welcome indigenous peoples.

As with all Reformed Church Center programs, the Poppen-Young lecture is free and open to everyone, but all participants must register by clicking here.