Questions and Answers
Many of the most common questions about the new hymnal find their answers on our Questions and Answers page.
Articles
Several articles are available to further inform and introduce you to the work that went into the new hymnal.
How Christian Worship: Service Builder brings a powerful new paradigm
A new video tour walks through some of the important changes in paradigm that Christian Worship: Service Builder delivers to the task of planning and preparing Lutheran services.
How Christian Worship: Service Builder will fit in your congregation’s workflow
Christian Worship: Service Builder is a powerful application that congregations will use as part of their total worship planning and preparation workflow. This article offers the perspective of a parish pastor on how Christian Worship: Service Builder is likely to fit into the work of a congregation.
Christian Worship: Service Builder supports service plans for multiple locations
Congregations who meet in a multi-site configuration or who have partnered with neighboring congregations to support a pastor in a dual parish setting will find that Christian Worship: Service Builder works well in such situations and at a fair annual cost.
Christian Worship: Playlist is the successor to HymnSoft
HymnSoft has been a useful solution to the problem facing congregations without adequate musicians. Christian Worship: Playlist is the successor to HymnSoft. This article explains how Christian Worship: Playlist will work and characterizes the exact nature of the technical solution to this technical problem.
Christian Worship: Service Builder provides a generous trial mode at no cost
The best way to learn about Christian Worship: Service Builder is to use it. For this reason, Christian Worship: Service Builder will offer a generous trial mode at no cost. This article offers a brief explanation of what to expect when you take Christian Worship: Service Builder for a test drive.
Christian Worship: Service Builder is the exclusive digital platform for Christian Worship
Christian Worship: Service Builder is the exclusive digital platform for Christian Worship. This article offers a look at some of the most important reasons why.
Christian Worship Lectionary
In the July–August issue of Worship the Lord, Pastor Jonathan Schroeder offers a survey of the new Christian Worship lectionary.
New Psalter Preview Materials Available
Now available are video and print resources to help you preview and introduce what’s coming in the new Christian Worship: Psalter.
Worship the Lord: A Wealth of Accompaniment Options
In the March 2021 issue of Worship the Lord, WELS Hymnal Project Director Michael Schultz provides a summary of the numerous accompaniment options available for the new Christian Worship.
Worship the Lord: Worship and Outreach
In the January 2021 issue of Worship the Lord, Pastor Jonathan Bauer explains how the new Christian Worship will benefit the outreach efforts of WELS congregations.
Worship the Lord: Earliest Hymnal Adopters
The May–June 2021 edition of Worship the Lord featured numerous ways that congregations are already adopting the Christian Worship suite of worship resources, including the new pew edition hymnal. The issue of Worship the Lord is available as a PDF download by clicking or tapping the button below.
The Wedding Rite in the New Christian Worship
Prof. Jon Micheel has prepared a written overview of the wedding rite to be published in the new Christian Worship. A PDF copy of the resource is available by clicking or tapping the button below.
What’s New for November 2020
The WELS Hymnal Project is please to provide several new preview resources as part of the introduction of Christian Worship to WELS. This post lists what’s new and offers links to download the November 2020 batch of preview resources.
A Liturgical Philosophy for Christian Worship
Prof. James Tiefel documents the liturgical philosophy that shaped the liturgical materials included in Christian Worship: Hymnal. The resource will of interest to those who are curious to learn more about the overall rubric that guided decision-making by the WELS Hymnal Project Executive Committee.
There Is Room in the Choir: On Hymn Selection Criteria and Variety
This article by Prof. Aaron Christie, published in Worship the Lord, provides an overview of how the WELS Hymnal Project worked to provide a list of hymns that is comprehensive in scope and Christ-centered in content.
For Us and for Our Salvation: On the Translation of the Nicene Creed in Christian Worship
This preliminary draft of an article to appear in a future issue of Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly is provided by its author, Rev. Earle Treptow, President of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. The article covers the translation choices made concerning the Nicene Creed in the upcoming edition of Christian Worship.
An Overview of The Service
The following article has been prepared by the WELS Hymnal Project as a useful resource offering an overview of The Service as it will appear in the upcoming edition of Christian Worship: Hymnal. Use the button below to download the resource as a PDF.
Anticipating a New Hymnal During a Pandemic
The following article was published in the September 2020 edition of Worship the Lord, the bimonthly publication of the WELS Commission on Worship. Pastor Adam Mueller offers a detailed look at what is coming in the new hymnal resources. Use the button below to download the article as a PDF.
The Purpose of Christian Worship
This article is chapter one from the forthcoming Christian Worship: Foundations, a companion volume to the new WELS hymnal. This volume is a pastor's manual that provides rationale for the services in the new hymnal. The chapter attached below was printed in the Spring 2020 issue of Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly.
Service Builder and Books
This article offers thoughts on having new hymnals in the pews even though Christian Worship: Service Builder can easily create worship folders that include hymns.
Searching for a Name for the New Hymnal
This article provides a look into the reason and rationale for the decision to retain the Christian Worship name for the new hymnal.
A View from Two
Prof. James Tiefel reflects on having worked on two hymnal projects in WELS.
Searching for Modern Music for the New Hymnal
This article offers an excellent and thorough overview of how modern music was selected for inclusion in Christian Worship.
Links
News about the new hymnal has been appearing on other WELS websites. Some of the most relevant links are available below.
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Christian Worship: Service Builder Cost, Value, and Benefit
This brief document provides some background information about the pricing structure of Christian Worship: Service Builder as well as its relationship to Christian Worship: Playlist. -
Christian Worship: Service Builder, Personal Scans, and Copyright
This brief document corrects some key misconceptions about copyright licensing of reprinted materials.
Look Inside
Several volumes have PDF samples of material available for download and preview.
- Sample devotion from Our Worth to Him: Devotions for Christian Worship by Prof. Mark Paustian.
- Sample spread from Christian Worship: Accompaniment for Services showing a gospel acclamation.
- Sample commentary from Christian Worship: Commentary on the Propers, Year C.
- Sample spreads from Christian Worship: Accompaniment for Services showing the accompaniment for The Service, Setting One.
- Christian Worship: Hymn Preview offers a look at more than 50 of the new and updated hymns included in Christian Worship: Hymnal.
- The Tentative Hymn List is a complete documentation of the hymns planned for inclusion in Christian Worship: Hymnal. Three formats of the same document are available, PDF, RTF, and XLSX.
- The Cut and Retuned Hymn List is a complete documentation of the hymns from the 1993 Christian Worship and from the 2008 Christian Worship: Supplement that have been cut or set to a different tune.
- Lenten Resources from Northwestern Publishing House offers a useful package of new hymnal resources that are available for use during the lenten season.
- The Year C Planning Tool is now available for the entire year. It will assist congregations with planning ahead to use the new Christian Worship upon its release in late 2021.
Videos
To further illustrate and communicate what’s coming in the new hymnal we offer several videos covering a variety of topics.
- February WELS Connection
The February WELS Connection introduces the upcoming release of the new hymnal. The video is embedded on the Preview introduction page. - Christian Worship: Service Builder Video Vignettes
The product page for Christian Worship: Service Builder offers a handful of short but informative preview of the core features of the application.
Planning
To assist congregational leaders in preparing for the adoption of Christian Worship we have prepared helpful guides and planning tools.
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Value & Cost of the Christian Worship
This guide outlines for congregational leaders the value of the new hymnal and offers a preview of the purchase price for the various resources. -
Publicity Toolkit
Download a variety of handy materials that you can print, display, and distribute in your congregation to look ahead to the release of Christian Worship. -
Budgeting for Christian Worship
Now available is a usefully configured spreadsheet to make planning for the cost of adoption clear and straightforward.