What is presented here are outlines of ideas your church might adapt to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed for your own context. You can keep things very simple or make activities as complex as your setting, budget, and time allow. We hope you will send photos, recordings, or printed materials to editors@ReformedWorship.org so we can share them via the website or social media to inspire others! (See instructions at ReformedWorship.org.)
Do you have other ideas for commemorating the creed’s anniversary? Send those in too!
Creed Walk
- Assemble a group of your congregation’s creatives. Don’t forget to include people of all giftings and all ages, including youths.
- Spend time studying the creed together, making sure that those gathered have a basic understanding of it before doing any planning or creative work.
- Based on how many people you have available, create small groups, give each a portion of the creed, and task each group with creating a creed walk station to help those who visit it explore the meaning of that portion of the creed.
- The entire group of creatives should decide the goals and parameters of the creed walk by asking questions such as: How much time are people expected to spend at each station? What is the age range for activities? How many people should interact with a station at one time?
- How much time are people expected to spend at each station?
- What is the age range for activities?
- How many people should interact with a station at one time?
- Will the stations be set up for a while for people to experience on their own, or will there be a single event with a host and possibly helpers present at each station?
- When assigning spaces for each station, consider the following:
- How will the location reflect the meaning of the assigned portion of the creed? For example, the opening of the creed reflects on God as the maker of heaven and earth, so should that station be outdoors?
- What are the needs of the activity planned for each station? If one group wants to project slides, for example, the station will need to be in a dark room.
- What might the walk’s traffic pattern look like? How easy will it be for participants to move from station to station? Will there be any accessibility issues?
- Once your walk is designed and set up, be sure to give all participants copies of the creed (see p. 29) and instructions. If you are holding this as an event, also provide the instructions verbally, and have people on hand to provide hospitality and direct people to their next station.
- Have clear signage to lead people from station to station. Affix arrows to walls or hang them from the ceiling, or create a path to follow on the floor.
- At each station, have:
- a large sign with the station number and title clearly visible,
- a laminated copy of the section of the creed for that station, and
- all necessary supplies, instructions, and handouts.
Lessons and Songs
This isn’t really a novel idea. The outline of the Nicene Creed lends itself to a song service progressing from creation to the new creation, with the Christian year playing a central role. Many hymnals have tables of contents or indexes that will help you select songs fitting for each theme from the creed you choose to highlight. If you have a subscription to CCLI SongSelect, its catalog is searchable by theme and the liturgical calendar. Hymnary.org is also a tried and true resource—its advanced search feature allows you to search by Scripture passage or topic, among other things. The Nicene Creed reflects on theological truths that have been celebrated by Christian songwriters throughout time and still today. Any church’s existing repertoire would include many selections that would fit such a service.
Sermon Series
Create a sermon series about each section of the Nicene Creed. Pair each pericope with a Bible passage that reflects that same truth about God. Need ideas? Several annotations of the creed with Bible references can be found online, including a very easy-to-navigate one by St. Paul’s Orthodox Church in Irvine, California (tinyurl.com/CreedScripture). Encourage your congregation to memorize the highlighted section of the creed each week so by the end of the series they have the whole creed memorized.