I was privileged to exhort often throughout my seminary life. Now that I am a pastor who has the same privilege of preaching each week I wanted to be sure that every element of the worship service was somehow cataloged for reference and research. I looked in vain for exactly what I wanted to include in a database. Therefore I wrote my own using Access. I am no expert in Access and the database I created is quite simple, but it does capture all the items I want for each worship service. The list of items I capture are:
- The location, date and time of the service (AM or PM)
- Call to Worship — The text of scripture that I used for the call to worship
- Hymns — We have three hymns in our worship. The first is immediately after the invocation/prayer of adoration. The second is immediately after the confession of sin and assurance of pardon. The last is immediately after the sermon.
- Confession of Sin — I write the confession of sin that will be used in the worship service structured around the reading of the law (first Scripture reading) used in the worship service.
- Confession of Faith — Utilizing the historic creed and confessions, (i.e. The Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, etc.).
- Scripture readings — We have two. The first is the “Reading of the Law” which precedes the confession of sin. The second is the sermon text.
- Sermon notes — I attach the outline used for that worship service to the database.
- Sermon quotes — I attach quotes that were used for that worship service if any were used. If I use quotes, they are always on a separate sheet of paper other than my outline.
- Sermon text — the passage of Scripture that is immediately related to the sermon. It may or may not be the second Scripture reading. Sometimes I read more than the sermon text in the second reading to offer the full context.
- Sermon outline — the two or three points only.
- Notes — my database has a section for my own notes, unrelated to the sermon notes, if needed.
The advantage of having a database structured in this way is that I am now able to search by Scripture or hymn or other items and have the results immediately. For instance, if I search for a sermon text it will give me the hymns that were used in the worship service. I can share the database I wrote in which you can use and modify as needed. If you want it, let me know. The database I send will have all of my material, but you can easily delete things and start fresh with your own.
I can share the database I wrote in which you can use and modify as needed. If you want it, let me know. The database I send will have all of my material, but you can easily delete things and start fresh with your own.
