The Ministry Lab supports worship leaders with robust resources.
Check out these resources to help clergy, sacristans, musician, and other leaders prepare and facilitate meaningful worship.
Liturgy and Music
- We are excited to offer our own Summer Worship Series, featuring Rev. Tyler Sit, Rev. Karen Larson, and Rev. Jia Starr Brown preaching, with liturgy from United Theological Seminary students and music from some fabulous guest artists. Learn more here.
- Hybrid Know-How webinars – such as Convergence’s 3-Week Cohort, How to Do Hybrid Church and The Indiana-Kentucky Conference (UCC) two-session So You Want to Build a Hybrid Worship Experience – are available on-demand.
- See our Worship: Covid Considerations and Online Hospitality & Participation and our Reimagining Church: Rethinking Worship lib guides for Emerging-from-Covid resources, tips, and inspiration.
- The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area Anti-Racism Coordinator, Anna Kendig Flores, has created resources to support a conversation with worship teams around bringing a justice and equity lens to Sunday, July 4th. The document will be updated with further links and resources.
Preaching
- For prompts, sample sermons, preparatory study and more, for preaching about antiracism, diversity, and social transformation, see our lib guides on:
- Worship: Lectionary & Preaching
- Worship: Racism/LGBTQ+/Diversity-Specific
- Racism: Spirituality, Identity, & Healing: Preaching about…
- Racism: Restorative Justice
Children & Youth
- We are developing a Worship: Pentecost with Children & Youth lib guide.
- Find story books for developing Faith, Love, Compassion, & Forgiveness and/or Cultivating Gratitude and Hope in our lib guides.
Technology
As we glimpse an emergence from gathering restrictions, find inspirations, support, and tips for hybrid worship in our Worship: Covid Considerations and Reimagining Church: Post-Covid lib guides.
Hard Copy Resources
Hard copy resources—including how-tos, liturgical elements, and music—are available for preview or to borrow. Contact Rev. Emily Meyer to access these resources.
Great Idea
Generated by The Ministry Lab’s partners, congregational leaders and director. If you have a Great Idea to share, let us know!
RE-GATHERING: A 2-STEP PROCESS (AT LEAST)
Laura Stephens-Reed, invites congregations to “[challenge] the pandemic’s lingering power over us by getting playful with the absurdity and isolation of the past year”. We’ve added to her list to create a plethora of “it’s-great-to-be-back-together” fun and games.
But there is also real work that needs to happen. Conversations that inform every aspect of congregational life will help folks transition – together – from pre-pandemic “normal” to post-pandemic transformation – with greater grace and ease than pretending we can just get back to the way things were.
Find tips for the fun – and the serious work – here.
VISUAL WORD
Visual Word videos—created by gifted United Theological Seminary, judicatory and community artists—provide theologically sound, artistically rich resources for a variety of parts of worship.
They enrich local expressions of church by providing diverse perspectives and creative elements. The videos are appropriate to seasons of the church year and are shareable online or in person.
Learn More
Have something you’d like to discuss? Need to check out resources? Share questions, interests and ideas with The Ministry Lab’s Executive Director, Rev. Emily Meyer.