Worship:
Webinars, Podcasts, Opportunities:
- The Call to Dangerous Worship: Leaning Into the Risks, Rewards, and Rebellions of Sunday Morning, Thursday, A free webinar from PRC on demand: Click here
- A Year With Matthew (4 webinars), Purpose is to help worship planners prepare worship Advent through Transfiguration; focus is on Matthew, connection to church’s Matthew 25 vision: Webinar #1
- A Messy Church for a Messy World, PRC webinar, 3/2022 recorded webinar – Messy Church is a global movement that focuses on a way to be church for all-ages together to engage in faith formative activities celebrating the centrality of the love of Jesus Christ.: Click here
- Spirit Inspired Worship, 9/2021 Vital Conversations Webinar: Click here
- Metamorphosis Moment, a free webinar on worship design for these times, Dr. Marcia Mcfee & Worship Design Studio: Click here
Articles, Resource Pages:
- Sensory-rich worship: Creating memorable and meaningful worship experiences, a 11/2023 article from the Outlook: Click here
- 10 Tips For Crafting Inclusive Worship Experiences, an article by Donald Griggs, 10/2023: Click here
- Spill The Beans, worship and learning resources for all ages: Click here
- The Steps of Lectio Divina card: Click here
- Faith Storytelling Toolkit from Christian Reformed Church: Click here
- Everything You Need for an Interactive Series on the Faith Practices from Family Faith Formation: Click here
- PRIDE Resources for Worship from Worship Design Studio: Click here
- Pentecost Visual Pinterest page: Click here
- New PC(USA) resources on presiding at the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper
- In Praise of Messy Church, a 1/2024 Outlook article: Click here
- Baptism & Baptismal Remembrance Service, 1/2022 from Worship Design Studio: Click here
- Here are 5 Confessions of a Pastor About Online Church Attendance, 6/2021 (Carey Nieuwhof article): Click here
- Welcome to ‘phygital’ worship: The challenge of blending physical and digital worlds is real, 6/2021 (Presbyterians Today article): Click here
- Presbyterian Outlook article document basics: Click here
- Special days and emphases: Click here
- Looking Into The Lectionary, (Presbyterian Outlook): Click here
Opportunities:
- Celebrate the Mess! Annual Messy Church conference in Chicago, IL, April 18-24, 2024: Click here
- 2024 Worship & Music Conference in Montreat, June 16–21 and June 23–28. Registration and housing are open now. More information about the conference can be found here, or you can see all of the resources offered by PAM here.
Children in Worship:
- Welcoming Young Children to Worship Milestone Module Download from Milestones Ministry, $9.95: Click here
- All the World Needs Our Witness: Celebrating Laity Sunday with Children, a 10/2023 article by Elizabeth Christie (UMC) about involving children in worship: Click here
- Worshipping With Children website by certified PC(USA) educator Carolyn Brown: Click here
- Worship Notes For Kids Booklet, a pdf: Click here
- Kids in Worship, a PRC webinar 8/2023: Click here
- Worshiping With Children: Including Children In The Congregation’s Worship, Using The Revised Common Lectionary: Click here
- Setting Up a “Play Church” to Create Worship Wonder, 8/2022 CRC article: Click here
- Kids in Worship: The Prayground, April, 2023 PRC webinar: Click here
- Church “Pray-Grounds:” Eight Stories And Inspiring Examples #Kidmin, an article by PC(USA) MSW Traci Smith: Click here
Suggested Resources:
- The Work of The People: What We Do in Worship and Why ($24) by Marlea Gilbert & Christopher Grundy, Eric T. Myers, and Stephanie Perdew
- Pray The Day, 2023, from Vibrant Church Communications: Click here
- com, free worship resources from PC(USA) pastor, Carol Holbrook Prickett: Click here
- Pentecost Ideas: “Dance, Then, Wherever You May Be!”: Click here
- and here
- A Worship Service on the Faith Practice of Celebrating, Christian Reformed Church: Click here
- 2022 Special offering information: Click here
- The Worship Workshop: Creative Ways to Design Worship Together by Dr. Marcia McFee, 2002 Abingdon
- A Liturgy for Healing and Moving Forward (out of the pandemic): Click here
- The Work of The People: What We Do in Worship and Why ($24) by Marlea Gilbert & Christopher Grundy, Eric T. Myers, and Stephanie Perdew – This is one in a series of books on Vital Worship, Healthy Congregations. The authors come from different disciplines and include liturgists, musicians, and more. Having this combination of authors helps to put together a good resource to understand what to look at in designing worship and why as congregations we do what we do within the worship setting. The book itself is not long and would be useful for a worship team to use; the bibliography would be useful in continuing to work on worship.
- How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon ($13.49) by Frank A. Thomas, introduction by William J. Barber II: This book is laid out to be helpful for preachers working on sermons during difficult times. Mainly the author explores the idea of “moral imagination and diabolic imagination” and lays the groundwork for prophetic preaching. In addition, the author explores several speeches and sermons by Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Prathia L. Hall. The goal is to help a preacher or leader develop their own voice in this area. The author led a webinar for PRC about the book; you can register to watch the recording by clicking here.
- Finding Words for Worship: A Guide for Leaders ($25) by Ruth C. Duck – If you are working on writing your own liturgy, this book would be very helpful. Instead of liturgy already written out, this book teaches how to find your voice in designing liturgy for worship services. Though published in 1995, the information is not outdated and can be adapted to the times we live in. The author takes a leader seeking to write their own liturgy through the process including the process itself, finding images to help, and the different forms of prayers. The final chapter focuses on “Bringing It All Together.” This work could be used by individuals seeking to write their own liturgy or read separately and then used by a worship team to craft a service together.
- Reinventing Worship: Prayers, Readings, Special Services and More ($15) by Brad Berglund – This book starts with laying out the importance of leading worship and working as a team. The author explains how working together to lead worship develops less into a committee and more into a connected team (p. 2). The author takes time to explore each part of worship, including praying, lamenting, responding, and going forth. Then there are several good examples for a worship team to explore and figure out what may work best for their congregation. In the back of the book, the multiple contributors are listed, which would be helpful for team building and continuing to find new resources.
- Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship ($18) edited by Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi – The editors of Touch Holiness are both well known in the field of liturgical resources. Although this book was written a while ago, the resources are still quite helpful.