Advent and Christmas Resource Guide
This is a guide to Advent and Christmas worship planning resources from our website and our ministry partners' websites.
Helen Rhee on Early Christianity’s Views on Wealth and Poverty
Many Christians think that how they acquire and use money is peripheral to the gospel. Relatively few preachers address wealth and poverty in their sermons. Yet early Christianity proclaimed and practiced the countercultural value of caring for the poor. Their worship services reflected this value.
The Parables of Luke
In Luke’s gospel we find several of Jesus’ best-known parables—stories that despite their renown are found nowhere else in scripture.
After
Have you thought about what you are going to say to your congregation the day after? The Sunday after?
Helen Rhee on Illness, Pain, and Health Care in Early Christianity
Accounts from ancient historians and early church fathers show that caring for and visiting the sick was an essential marker of what it means to be a Christian. Their example of addressing illness, pain, and health care for everyone, not just Christians, holds lessons for today’s worship planners.
Kate Strater on Including Young Adults with Intellectual Disability
Young adults with intellectual disability (ID) often feel left out, even at church. But schools, churches, and agencies can work together to create a sense of belonging that nurtures everyone. Inclusive postsecondary education increases opportunity for employment, independent living, and sharing God-given gifts.
Kate Strater on Ministry with and by People with Intellectual Disability
Churches sometimes ignore or separate children and adults with intellectual disability from general church worship and congregational life. But schools, service agencies, and churches can expand one another’s imaginations about what’s possible for and with people with intellectual and development disabilities. Even small congregations can experience the joy of learning to include all abilities in the body of Christ.
Practical Worship Planning for Holy Week
Come and join a conversation with knowledgeable and experienced preachers and worship planners as we talk about our best practices for Holy Week worship planning. Bring your questions and ideas as we share and learn together.
Brian Reichenbach on Including Band and Orchestra Students in Church Music
Playing his trumpet in worship alongside adult instrumentalists profoundly affected Brian Reichenbach’s Christian faith and church life. He works to help congregations give school band and orchestra students a similar grounding.
Vetting CCLI Worship Songs for Faith Formation
Several denominations have created or are creating rubrics for vetting CCLI Top 100 contemporary worship songs. Vetting sparks conversations that help worship leaders make faithful decisions about which songs to put on congregations’ lips.
Brian Hehn on an Ecumenical CCLI Top Songs List
CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc.) hugely influences what many congregations sing, so the United Methodist Church began vetting CCLI Top 100 songs in 2015. Since then, song leader Brian Hehn has been encouraging other denominations to vet these popular contemporary worship songs so he can eventually create an ecumenically approved list of CCLI Top 100 songs.
Robert Feduccia on the CCLI Song Select Liturgy Section
Churches around the world seek permission to use contemporary worship music from Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc., or CCLI. Late in 2018, CCLI Song Select quietly introduced a liturgical section to help churches select contemporary music that fits the classic ordo, the four-fold pattern of worship. Robert Feduccia explains why.