Worship Resources
FAQs about Hymnals and Streaming/Copyright Laws
Lots of congregations have jumped into online ministry this past year in ways they never anticipated. This raises questions of how to use content from hymnals online properly. Not sure what streaming and copyright law requires? Read this document from Heather Kimmell, General Counsel to the UCC, to better understand.
Music
Hymnary: An online hymn and worship music database for worship leaders, hymnologists, and hymn lovers alike. You can search or browse hymns by title, tune, meter, key, scripture reference, and more.
Songs for the Holy Other: This collection emerged from a desire to make queer hymns — hymns by, for, or about the LGBTQIA2S+ community — accessible to a wider range of congregations.
Lectionaries
African-American Lectionary: A four year process for preaching on Sacred Scripture, developed by African-American scripture scholars, preachers, and liturgists. Bible study, worship, and song suggestions are available on their site.
Narrative Lectionary: A four year process for preaching on Sacred Scripture, developed by Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. The Working Preacher site offers an introduction to the Narrative Lectionary, sermon preparation, and worship service planning preparation.
Revised Common Lectionary: A three year rotation of scriptures for preaching developed by protestant churches. Link here to weekly scripture readings, prayers, and public domain art based on weekly texts.
View the national setting’s collection of resources
Virtual Worship Services
Over the past several years, the Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota Conferences and Council of Conference Ministers have created several worship services for your congregation’s use. They are available in full and in pieces. Bulletins and read-only versions of the service are also availalbe. All materials can be found on the Conferences’ Vimeo channel. Questions? Contact Aidan Spencer.
Sermon Resources and Liturgies
re:Worship
Scripturally-based, crowd-sourced, and curated set of resources for worship planners and leaders.
Text Week
Ecumenical website offering approaches, exegesis, art on the week’s readings in RCL.
United Church of canada
A comprehensive set of worship resources from our sister denomination.
Day1
The long standing voice of the historic Protestant churches. Their website features an extensive library of lectionary-based sermons in text and audio, video resources, and helpful blog posts, along with other helpful information for lay persons and pastors.
Worship Ways
A variety of prayers, liturgies, and “how-to” articles for use on Sundays, Festivals, and special UCC calendar days. These resources come from all settings of the UCC; they are written by pastors, educators, musicians and covenanted ministry staff members.
RevGalBlogPals
RevGalBlogPals creates support, resources, and community for women in ministry via our website, Facebook group and Continuing Education events. We are international and broadly ecumenical, committed to the work of anti-racism, and open to and affirming of LGBTQIA+ people.
Sermon Seeds
A sermon preparation resource designed for use with the Revised Common Lectionary. Each week, you’ll find that Sunday’s Lectionary texts and “Sermon Seeds,” a reflection on the focus text from the Seasons of the Spirit curriculum.
Working Preacher
A ministry of Luther Seminary, Working Preacher works to inspire better preaching by offering timely, compelling, and trustworthy content for working preachers — all for free. It includes exegetical material geared to the weekly lectionary.
A Sermon for Every Sunday
Lectionary-based video sermons by some of America’s best preachers for use in worship, Bible study, small groups, Sunday school classes, or for individual use. Manuscripts of sermons are also available on their site.