What Is the Center for Worship Resourcing and What Do We Do?

Our Mission

The Center for Worship Resourcing at the Discipleship Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee, provides worship leaders with quality United Methodist music, liturgy, and preaching resources for faithful and vital local church worship. We are committed to working with worship and music leaders throughout the church. Resources, toll-free telephone lines, web pages, conferences, conversations, consultations, workshops -- these are ways we seek to be available as partners with you in making disciples for Jesus Christ.

Welcome to the Discipleship Ministries Worship-Preaching-Music Web Pages

We are continually working to improve our web presence, making our area more accessible and user-friendly and organizing the already substantial and ever-growing number of resources available here. Both the quality and quantity of material on the site have made it a remarkably successful method of delivering worship, preaching, and music resources to the church. We continue to expand our coverage to include drama, dance, use of film clips in worship, Wesleyan resources, calendar, articles, and music downloads. There also are abundant links to articles, resources, and related organizations and sites.

Lectionary Worship -- Preaching -- Hymns: An extensive set of worship, preaching, and music planning helps in support of The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) are available for each Sunday and major day of the Christian year. Here you will find suggestions and resources for planning sermons, selecting appropriate hymns and songs from the various United Methodist hymnals and The Faith We Sing, worship and liturgical resources, and more.

Noteworthy: This feature on our homepage lists new and featured items on our web pages. In addition, there is a separate "Noteworthy" section under the Music and Preaching sections.

Wesley Resources: 2003 was the 300th anniversary of the birth of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism; and 2007 was the 300th anniversary of the birth of Charles Wesley. On this portion of the site, you will find worship services, hymn festivals, prayers, and resources for planning sermons and liturgy, as well as a collection of Wesley hymns unknown to most living Methodists.

Worship Resources for Times of Crisis: Resources in this area include resources related to natural disasters, war, terrorism, grief and loss.

Some of Our Recent, Ongoing, and Upcoming Work

Africana Hymnal Study: The 2008 General Conference authorized the Discipleship Ministries and the United Methodist Publishing House to conduct a study to determine the need for an official United Methodist hymnal for North American Christians of African descent.

Holy Communion Study: Center staff gave primary support to the development of a General Conference-mandated paper on the theology and practice of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The nineteen-member committee's paper, This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, was approved by the 2004 General Conference.

Open Source Liturgy Project: The Open Source Liturgy is being developed by and for writers representing the rich and diverse voices of Christians across the world.

New Hymnal Research Report 2007-2008: Responses to surveys and research conducted about a new hymnal.

MethodistMusicians Listserv: We inaugurated this e-mail listserv in the spring of 2001, and it continues to grow in numbers of subscribers and activity. It is open to all denominations, although it remains largely United Methodist. Members include musicians of all sorts, pastors, worship designers and leaders, and other liturgical artists. To subscribe to the Methodist Musicians Listserv, just send an e-mail message to: [email protected]. In the body of the e-mail, include the following: subscribe MethodistMusicians.

Consultation on Common Texts: Center staff participate twice a year in meetings of this North American consortium of worship specialists that published The Revised Common Lectionary. CWR staff serves as the secretariat for the Consultation.

2013 Worship and Music Planning Calendar: Complete 12-month calendar with all the major events of the church and civic years as well as Revised Common Lectionary citations for each Sunday and major day.

Making Disciples in the 21st Century: This approach, sometimes referred to as "liturgical evangelism" or "ancient-future disciple making," does not compromise or apologize for being church with a deep and full tradition of worship, Scripture, sacraments, and service to the poor and marginalized. It takes seriously the needs of seekers without "marketing" the church. It trusts that being disciples and making disciples are part of the same process. For more information about this approach, see "Making Disciples in a New Millennium: Pathways to Welcoming Seekers." Staff also participate in an ecumenical network called the North American Association for the Catechumenate.

Hymn Society in the United States and Canada: Staff attend this annual convocation sponsored by the largest national organization devoted to matters of hymnody and hymnology.

Publication of Early Wesley Hymnals: A continuing series of website reprintings of early Wesley hymnals, now including Charles Wesley's Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord, 1st Edition (London: William Strahan, 1745) and Charles Wesley's Hymns for New-Year's-Day (London: Printed by R. Hawes, 1750).

Source Readings in Methodist Hymnody: a collection of readings from various historical Methodist sources, including hymnals and companions.

Worship and Music Support of Other Events: The Center for Worship Resourcing continues to provide, lead, and support numerous events, including Pan-Methodist Association, New District Superintendent Training, National Convocation of The Fellowship of United Methodists In Music and Worship Arts, the Fitzgerald Pastors' evangelism training program, North American Philanthropists, Association of Annual Conference Directors of Lay Speaking, National Association of Annual Conference Lay Leaders, and others.

Publications

Music Publications: A large and growing collection of music for use in worship and other areas of the church is available on the website, available for downloading, copying, and use without charge. Nearly all of these are available in both Sibelius and pdf formats:

• Easy Piano Accompaniments for Advent and Christmas Hymns; may be played together with or in place of those in The United Methodist Hymnal; designed for pianists with modest training and for beginning piano students
• Easy Piano Accompaniments for Lenten and Easter Hymns
• Easy Piano Accompaniments for Hymns of Praise
• Easy Piano Accompaniments for Hymns of Prayer
• Choral Music: full scores for music from the 16th—20th Centuries, some including string and instrumental parts
• Hymns for a variety of occasions and uses with full harmonizations
• Hymns texts, many newly-composed
• Wesley hymns and texts, many not appearing in the last several editions of The Methodist (and United Methodist) Hymnal.
• Traditional Hymns for Blended Contemporary Worship: separate volumes for Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and Lent-Easter; musical scores in lead sheet format for hymns in The United Methodist Hymnal, especially designed for praise bands, guitarists, keyboard, bass, complete with lyrics, melody, and chord symbols
• Service Music: includes musical settings for the communion liturgy and other acts of worship
• Other Music: there are works available also for handbells and children's choir

The Center for Worship Resourcing
The United Methodist Discipleship Ministries
PO Box 340003
Nashville TN 37203-0003
Telephone: 1-877-899-2780 (toll-free) or (615) 340-7070
Fax: 615-340-7015
Website: www.umcworship.org

Staff of the Center for Worship Resourcing

Taylor Burton-Edwards, Director of Worship Resources
1-877-899-2780, ext. 7072
[email protected]

Dean B. McIntyre, Director of Music Resources
1-877-899-2780, ext. 7073
[email protected]

Pamela Dawn Chesser, Director, Preaching Ministries
1-877-899-2780, ext. 7084
[email protected]