Designing Services That Proclaim the Gospel

Weave is a powerful, searchable worship planning suite that empowers pastors, music directors, and worship leaders to select songs and liturgical elements with theological confidence and clarity. Rooted in confessional Lutheran theology and attentive to the rhythms of the church year, Weave helps evaluate music by both its sound and its substance. It also integrates seamlessly with Planning Center Online, streamlining the planning process from reflection to execution.

Liturgies

A good service order, liturgy, or planning template builds meaning and connection at each step. The church has many such resources available, especially in our hymnals, but little is available to those attempting to leverage modern tools in service to the gospel in worship. To provide turnkey resources and curate helpful models, CWL annually produces liturgies in both modern and traditional formats.

In the midst of an often polarized worship culture, the Center for Worship Leadership sets out on a middle way. We recognize that an “anything goes” mentality of worship insufficiently represents how worship shapes believing, and fails to acknowledge that worship is in service to the gospel. A good service order, liturgy, or planning template builds meaning and connection each step of the way, pointing toward, and stemming from, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, as we understand from our Lutheran heritage, our orders of worship “must serve for the promotion of faith and love and not be a detriment to faith” (Luther).

As a training organization we recognize that in many situations people are best served by “learning to fish.” We also understand, however, that there are many ministry leaders within the church who are well served by using, and learning from, a resource that has been created for them. For this reason, the Center for Worship Leadership endeavors to provide orders of worship as a resource for the church. Certainly, our hope is that these liturgies will help those who plan modern worship services. The CWL, however, aspires to support the whole church and is committed to writing liturgical resources that will serve the two broadly defined modes of expression – modern and traditional.