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. 

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