In this episode, the Worship Team introduces the October Worship Series, Choosing Faith. Faith is a multilayered reality that is part gift and part effort. The October series invites us to consider how we as individuals and a community understand and live out faith in our daily lives. The team also makes note that October has other events for our attention, including World Communion, Children’s Sabbath, and Laity Sunday. Do we set aside the series in favor of these events, or can we somehow blend them together? Then the standalone All Saints Sunday resources can help your local church celebrate this amazing event. Join us for this helpful podcast.

In this episode, Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries, has a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Reginald Lee, Senior Pastor of Hartsville Cooperative Parish in the South Carolina Annual Conference, and consultant to Hey Preacher. The main topic of conversation is the upcoming Bridging Visions 2, an event designed to help preachers bridge the prophetic and the pastoral in their preaching. It will be held January 15-17, at the North Georgia Conference Center in Duluth, Georgia. Watch for more details!

I Will Call Upon the Lord is a worship series for the month of September. Based on the lectionary Psalm texts, this series invites us to reflect on what it means to be known by God, to be a people of hope, to reflect the glory of God and to be safe in the shelter of the Lord. Listen in as Dr. Diana Snachez Bushong, Director of Music Ministries, and Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries, share some possibilities and opportunities for this busy time in the church year.

Dr. Stan McDaniel is a church musician, professor of music, and writer of sacred music for choirs, handbells and instrumental ensembles. His latest book is titled “Servanthood of Song: Music, Ministry and the Church in the United States.” Dr. Diana Sanchez Bushong leads this wide-ranging conversation on American history, liturgical history, various genres of sacred music, and more. McDaniel writes that he has been a passionate believer in the power of music to witness and the need for church musicians to minister to the communities in which they serve. Join us for this important conversation on music and worship in the church.

Dear Children of God is a three-part worship series designed to carry us through the summer months with a sense of playfulness and encouragement. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t serious and weighty issues in this series. Based on the Epistle texts from the lectionary, Dear Children of God asks us how we might communicate the essentials of the faith with modern technology. Whether texting, email, or snail mail letters the proclamation of the faith is both a responsibility and a joy for every Christian community. Listen in as the Worship Team walks us through this innovative series and invites each worship team to embrace the grace of summer worship.

The third of the high holy celebrations of the liturgical year, Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the church. It is certainly a day of empowerment and celebration, as the Worship Team at Discipleship Ministries presents in the two-part series “All Access.” If Easter “rends the veil” and opens God’s heart to the world, then Pentecost is where we are equipped and transformed to be able to fulfill the mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Trinity Sunday, then, continues the conversation as we explore our experience of the God who calls and equips and sends. Join us for this lively conversation about Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and our “All Access” pass into a future with hope.

In this episode, Lisa Hancock interviews members of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement who were part of a team that wrote worship resources for our Eastertide series “Believing Into Christ.” They discuss the intersectional perspectives on creation justice that weave throughout the resources and the various ways congregations can engage these materials throughout Eastertide and beyond. Tune in to learn more about these worship resources, as well as tools and ideas for integrating creation justice into worship throughout the year.

Lent and Holy Week and Easter are often times of intense activity and special worship experiences in the local church. The Worship Team from Discipleship Ministries presents an innovative worship series that takes the worshiper from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Titled Steadfast Love: A Lenten Playlist, this series takes music from a variety of genres to help deepen our experience of the profound themes of this holy season. Listen in as the team shares their excitement about this series and then some highlights of other projects coming from Discipleship Ministries. You won’t want to miss it.

This high and holy season is a favorite in many communities. Join the Worship Team from Discipleship Ministries as they discuss resources for Advent with an experiential emphasis as again we are invited to “Come, Let Us Adore Him” this season. And then hear how we launch a new calendar year with reflections on what it means to be community with “Re-Membering the Body” for Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord Sunday and then “Where You Are” a reflective reorienting of self and congregation for Ordinary Time.

One of the most popular features on the Discipleship Ministries website is the ongoing series History of Hymns. These insightful articles give worship planners and music lovers a deeper look into our favorite hymns for worship. The editor and most frequent writer of the History of Hymns is Dr. C. Michael Hawn, DMA, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church Music, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He joined Perkins faculty in 1992 and retired from fulltime status in 2017. Previously he was professor of church music at two Baptist seminaries for a total of 15 years. In addition to teaching, he has served churches in Kentucky, Georgia, North Caolina and Texas as minister of music. In addition to over 500 articles, reviews books and curriculum materials, Dr. Hawn began writing the “History of Hymns” in 2004 for The United Methodist Reporter and now for Discipleship Ministries. Join us for this lively conversation, full of stories and music with Dr. Michael Hawn.

Dr. Diana Sanchez-Bushong, Executive Director of Worship Ministries and Director of Music Ministries, discusses the project to vet contemporary music for its theological soundness and appropriateness for worship in United Methodist congregations. Joining her are two members of the 2024 team – Dr. Nelson Cowan, Project Manager; and Felicia Patton – both United Methodist musicians and worship leaders working in the church. Join us to learn about the criteria and process in this vital project for modern worship in The United Methodist Church.

Joining Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries for this episode is the Rev. Sara McKinley, formerly Director of the Office of Clergy Excellence at the Florida Conference Center in Lakeland and now Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Naples Florida. Sara was born in England, raised in Africa, worked in the Far East, traveled extensively throughout the world, and chose to live in the United States. Before her call to ordained ministry, she worked in the juvenile court system in Worcester, MA; international corporate business in the U.S and the Far East; and co-owned a graphic design business in Florida for 12 years. She has degrees from the University of Bristol, England; Clark University, Worcester, MA; and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. As a part of the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative, Sara and a team of pastors and theologians developed worship resources called Wesleyan Rooted, https://www.wesleyanrooted.org/. These free resources are available outside the Florida Conference and are a part of the movement to reclaim our identity and roots as a Wesleyan rooted denomination. Listen in as we share more details about the resources and the creating team’s vision for the project.

In this episode, Diana Sanchez-Bushong and Lisa Hancock interview Becky Posey Williams, Senior Director of Sexual Ethics and Advocacy for the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCOSROW), and Rev. Stephanie Arnold, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, about their work planning and hosting a Service of Lament, Confession, and Hope for survivors of sexual misconduct, which was held during General Conference. They also discuss the resolution that passed at General Conference requiring that all annual conferences read an apology to survivors of sexual misconduct at their next meeting and the work ahead as GCOSROW continues to train and advocate for ethical conduct in The United Methodist Church. You can find the full text of the apology here. The full liturgy for the Service of Lament, Confession, and Hope is available in English, French, and Portuguese here. You can hear Bishop LaTrelle Easterling’s sermon on ending violence against women at General Conference here.

Ordinary Time is anything but! At least that is the choice before us. In this episode, the Worship Team introduces the first two worship series after Pentecost for this long summer season we call Ordinary Time. Ascribe to God begins on Trinity Sunday and reminds us of some of the attributes of the God we worship. That is then followed by Open Your Heart, a short series based on 2 Corinthians and is Paul’s invitation for us to be vulnerable as we worship God together. We are invited to open our hearts to God, to one another and to the world as disciples of Jesus Christ. Join us for this lively conversation on worship in Ordinary Time.

Sustaining the glow after Easter Sunday has passed is always a struggle for the local congregation. The Worship Team shares the resources prepared for more of Eastertide and looks forward to another celebration of Pentecost. Last episode we presented the resources for the first three weeks after Easter in a collaboration with members of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement (See Worship Matters Episode 101). Now we continue with another three weeks with a series called “How Shall We Love.” Central to our Christian witness is the command to love God and love neighbor. But what should that love look like in our own context? Join us as we share these resources. And then let’s plan for a grand and glorious Pentecost Sunday, with “These Bones Shall Live,” a weaving of Ezekiel and Acts to tell the story we need to hear today.

Eastertide makes an early appearance this year, giving us the opportunity to spend the first half of this season of Resurrection preparing for Earth Day, which also happens to be the Fourth Sunday of Easter. In this episode, Lisa Hancock interviews members of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement who were part of a team who wrote many of the worship resources for our Eastertide series, “How Shall We Live.” Tune in to learn more about these worship resources, as well as tools and ideas for integrating creation justice into worship throughout the year! If you would like to learn more and get involved in the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, you can find more information here: https://umcreationjustice.org/. You can also find more worship resources developed by the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement here: https://umcreationjustice.org/library/.

The worship team takes a moment to reflect on the Worship Matters podcast – how it started, what we were trying to accomplish, and what we have learned along the way. We share our favorite episodes and guests, special events, and how Covid and the ongoing disaffiliation impact all redirected some of our content along the way. Listen as the team shares some of the outgrowths of the podcast, leading to Prayers for Anti-racism, the worship webinars, hymnal project updates, Hey Preacher resources, disability ministry, and many other current and future projects were podcast conversations on Worship Matters. Join us for this lighthearted anniversary edition of Worship Matters.

The season of Lent begins on Valentine’s Day in 2024. It seems a strange juxtaposition and yet a perfect opportunity to spend time reflecting on Depths of Love, which is our Lenten theme. Far from a hearts and flowers expression, the love presented in the Gospels gives us insight into the God we worship and the calling we have to live out this love by the commandment to love one another. Join the worship team as we discuss the possibilities for this important season and get us ready for Holy Week and the glorious celebration of Easter to come.

Here on the brink of another calendar year, the Worship Team shares some details – and some excitement – about the things that are coming for 2024. We start with the familiar and the Lenten worship resources already available, but then go on into worship webinars, teaching materials on sacraments and membership, workshops for annual conferences, the new iteration of School of Congregational Development coming in the summer, Hey Preacher, and much, much more. Listen in and be prepared to join us in our enthusiasm for what we are becoming together.

The Worship Team continues the journey through Year B with a discussion about Epiphany and Baptism of the Lord. There are some significant events coming up in this season, so listen in to how worship can help your church in “Becoming the People of God.” Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary, as you know, so let this season in January be a time of revitalization and hope for your local context. Then we present our standalone series for Transfiguration, titled “Crossing Over,” as a great transition from the Season after Epiphany into the Season of Lent. Join us as we present the themes and suggestions for this significant season.