How the Building Blocks of Faith Can Support Your Worship Ministry

The Building Blocks of Faith provide simple language for describing four basic spiritual needs that all people have. Because the Building Blocks are meant to shape your church’s faith formation culture, worship is a good place to introduce the Building Blocks and to experience how God is shaping and molding your congregation through the four Building Blocks “lenses.” 

Here you will find a variety of resources to help with your worship planning, including sermon support, orders of worship, songs, and children’s sermons. 

The Building Blocks and Scripture

While the Building Blocks aren’t specifically cited in Scripture, the themes are evident throughout the Bible. 

• Check out Syd Hielema’s reflection on The Biblical Basis of the Building Blocks of Faith: Christ Formed in Us.

• Here’s a collection of Scripture passages that touch on the Building Blocks themes.

Sermons and Sermon Resources

The use of Building Blocks language in preaching can help create a communal language and vision for holistic faith formation beyond the worship service. 

• Building Blocks-related sermon outlines for Luke 24: Emmaus Road and Genesis 3: The Lord’s Response to the Fall

• Ushering Us Back to Eden, a post-Easter series of four sermons based on the Building Blocks of Faith, preached at Fellowship CRC in Etobicoke, Ontario.

• Ezekiel—recordings of a four-part sermon series on faith formation by Erick Schuringa at Immanuel CRC in Brampton, Ontario.

• Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1—recordings of a four-part sermon series by Erick Schuringa when he served as pastor at Immanuel Christian Reformed Church in Brampton, Ontario 

• Isaiah 43: "Do Not Be Afraid" a sermon by Mary Hulst, chaplain at Calvin University, that fits with the Building Block of belonging

Children’s Sermons

Members of the Faith Formation Ministries team wrote these children’s sermons and have granted permission for their use.

1. I Belong to God

2. I Know and Understand: Saved by Grace

3. I Know and Understand: Guided on Our Journey

4. I Have Hope: Jehoshaphat Prays

5. I Am Called and Equipped: Moses, Joshua, David, and Me

Order of Worship/Worship Series

• Willoughby CRC in Langley, British Columbia, developed an order of worship for each Building Block:

  • I Belong

  • I Know and Understand

  • I Have Hope

  • I Am Called and Equipped

• Community CRC in Kitchener, Ontario, developed a Lenten series called "Living Our Baptism" that works well with the Building Blocks themes.

Communion 

Think about highlighting how the celebration of the Lord’s Supper helps participants experience belonging and hope. How does this meal equip us for our calling? How does participation in the liturgy help us know God’s salvation story and our place in it? These questions offer wonderful opportunities for reflection and testimony. Here are some other resources: 

Belonging:

• And the Table Will Be Wide

• A Maundy Thursday Liturgy

Knowing God’s Story

• For many congregations, the Lord’s table is where we regularly hear and rehearse the core of the gospel story. Here is a blog that reminds us why liturgy is important to knowing God’s story.

Hope

• Where the Eucharist Points Us to Hope

Songs

• We’ve compiled a list of songs that correspond with the Building Blocks themes.

Other

• Question of the Week: Invite people by email or during worship to respond in one sentence to a Building Blocks of Faith Question of the Week. Gather the responses to use in a word cloud or make a list that can be part of your newsletter, projection, or bulletin.

• Nametag Sunday: Being called by name creates a feeling of belonging. Consider having a Nametag Sunday once a month. At Covenant CRC in Sioux Center, Iowa, fourth- to sixth-graders created custom nametags for everyone in the church. They met as a group to talk about each person and their interests; then they prayed for each person as they customized the nametags. After worship the people in the congregation were encouraged to find the artist who had signed the back of their nametag, thank them, and get to know them better.

• Marva J. Dawn suggests that being a community of people who belong is more than emotion; it is an act of will. Read more in the article Body Building: Worship That Develops Strong Community. 

Want to know more? We’ve gathered a wealth of resources in our free Building Blocks of Faith toolkit.