At the 2024 General Assembly, I was tasked with coordinating our times of corporate worship. I wanted different generations and cultures to have a voice, and it was important for me to find ways of worshiping that would encourage everyone to participate.
When we gather, what ways of worshiping do we have in common?
But we are a diverse group of people across the denomination. Each church has its own preferred style of worship. When we gather, what ways of worshiping do we have in common? How can we celebrate who God has created us to be when we gather and lift our hearts to him?
Over the last three years, several resources and initiatives have come out to reaffirm our BIC identity and 10 Core Values: the Compelling Convictions book, the BIC Songwriting Initiative, and the Compelling Worship resource and album.
I’ve been blessed to be involved in several of these, and it is our prayer that the time and effort invested in these resources will be an answer to some of those questions I asked when planning worship for General Assembly.
It’s inspiring to see how God’s Spirit has brought so many seemingly disjointed projects into one shared goal; here’s the timeline:
June 2024 – Compelling Convictions Book Launch
Prior to the 2024 General Assembly, BIC folks from across the planet were invited to contribute to Compelling Convictions, a book that would highlight the Core Values of who we say we are as a unique family of God. This was a book born out of the big-picture call of Project 250’s first priority: “Reaffirming our identity as a community of Christ-followers.”
Bryan Leaman (worship pastor at Lancaster BIC, Pa.) heard about the project and wondered if companion materials could be developed to help BIC congregations incorporate the values into how we worship together. When he read Alan Claassen-Thrush’s chapter about worship in the book’s manuscript, he saw that Alan was asking for the same type of resources. That looked like confirmation that God wanted to do something new!
Bryan and his wife, Karah, connected with Alan and Beth Claassen-Thrush (Crest Community Church, Calif.). Together they formed a grassroots team and began to brainstorm resources that would be helpful to the church.
July 2024 – General Assembly
At General Assembly in 2024, the grassroots team invited more people to add their voices and perspectives to the conversation. That is where I joined the adventure! Connecting with people in meaningful ways brings me joy. Seeing how ideas connect with other ideas energizes me. And finding just the right worship element to incorporate in a gathering of worshipers and turn our hearts together toward Jesus fills my heart. An opportunity to combine three things I love? I’m in!
It was an exciting time of seeing God at work across the church.
The group grew to include over a dozen people representing English and Spanish speakers and regional conferences from coast to coast. Over the course of five months, our group met regularly online to share and compile songs, prayers, and practices that aligned with the BIC Core Values. It was an exciting time of seeing God at work across the church.
Also at General Assembly 2024, inspired by their conversations with Alan and Beth, the Leamans and others launched a Songwriting Initiative, inviting BIC musicians from across the country to share songs they had composed related to the Core Values.
December 2024 – Intergenerational Worship Grant Awarded
While all this was taking place, Jennifer Lancaster (Project 250 Coordinator) was working with Christina Embree (Open Doors Fellowship, Ky., and Refocus Ministries) and others in the BIC U.S. Denomination Offices to apply for grants to provide more resources for intergenerational worship in the church.
Jennifer attends Lancaster BIC, where Bryan Leaman serves. As they started chatting about the grant application and the work being done by the grassroots group, Jennifer realized the two initiatives could be combined into a single grant application. There was celebration when a generous Calvin Institute of Worship Vital Worship Grant was awarded to the denomination for that goal!
January 2025 – Compelling Worship Task Force Begins Work
With the grant awarded, Jennifer asked Bryan to lead a grant task force to combine the work of the two groups into a single worship resource for the whole denomination. This resource came to be known as Compelling Worship.
This task force included myself, Bryan Leaman, Christina Embree, Caleb Nowell (Paramount BIC, Md.), Nick Pine (The Meeting House – Dillsburg, Pa.), and Joy Brown (Amherst BIC, Ohio). Over the course of a year, this team created worship supplement materials that could be used by every BIC church in the United States.
February 2025 – Worship Arts Conference
This gathering helped further develop these new songs and strengthen relationships between creative BIC people.
In response to the Songwriting Initiative’s invitation at General Assembly, nearly 50 songwriters contributed 68 original songs throughout 2024. These songwriters came from 22 congregations in five conferences.
In February 2025, the songwriters were invited to a conference at Messiah University with special guest The Porter’s Gate, an ecumenical worship arts collective. I joined many worship leaders at the conference and was encouraged to hear some of the songs born from our BIC family during that time. This gathering helped further develop these new songs and strengthen relationships between creative BIC people.
March & April 2026 – Compelling Worship Resources Released
The Compelling Worship resource officially launched in March and April this year, with physical copies being handed out at Regional Conference meetings and digital resources published online.
A Compelling Worship album was also released this spring. Bryan and Karah Leaman collaborated with musicians from the BIC Songwriting Initiative and a Mennonite worship collective (The Soil and The Seed Project) to record an album of refreshed classic hymns and original worship songs by BIC songwriters. I cherish hearing the familiar voices of friends from across the church on that album.
Into the Future
So why is it important to do this work when there are already many worship materials available online? It can be challenging to find worship resources that remind us of the importance of being peacemakers, of walking together with Jesus in community, of living simply, or of witnessing to the entire world. These are distinctive markers of who we are as a people of God.
We have something to share with the wider Church through the way we feel God calling us to walk with him.
We have something to share with the wider Church through the way we feel God calling us to walk with him. There is great value in singing our faith, and our songs and the ways we worship are a big part of how we find identity as God’s people. Sharing creative ways in which different churches are living out God’s calling brings encouragement and connection to the wider Church. We want to bless the Church and the heart of God with this offering of praise.
Recently, on Good Friday, I was asked to lead music for a combined service between two BIC congregations. I visited the Compelling Worship page on the BIC U.S. website, found sheet music, learned, and led one of the original songs from a BIC songwriter. What a joy it is to sing rich text that flows from the faith experience of my brothers and sisters across the church!
I look forward to discovering other new and refreshed songs and practices that the Holy Spirit will give to his church. May we continue to find meaningful ways to worship our Lord together in spirit and truth.
Kara Kacmar is a musician, teacher, wife, and mom of two who lives out her faith intentionally wherever God leads her. For 16 years, that was in Spain. Kara and her family now live in Ohio, and she serves as worship pastor at Fairview BIC, her home church. Kara enjoys using her love of communication and connection to build bridges between people who would not naturally cross paths. When not making music, spending time with friends and family, or substitute teaching, Kara can be found happily occupied in her garden.
