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Planning Ahead: Worship in July and August

Planning summer worship can be seen as a challenge or an opportunity. On the one hand, Laura Smit writes, "Most churches do go through a slump period in the summer: the pastor and the choir go on vacation; the Sunday School doesn't meet; and church attendance drops dramatically."

And yet, the open and flexible summer schedule offers opportunity for creative thinking about themes and Scripture texts for your church's worship and growth. It's an ideal time for a series with a theme that shapes your preaching and music. Summer may also be a time to consider holding an outdoor worship service, perhaps a service celebrating the beauty of God's creation.

In addition, as Smit notes, "summer is also the time when the greatest number of visitors (and potential new members) come through most churches." So summer is a crucial time for worship and hospitality in your church.

Related Articles
Introduction to Pentecost Season and Summer
Planning Summer Worship
August Adventures: Emphasis on Evangelism (Reformed Worship)

Note: External links are provided for reference only, and do not necessarily imply endorsement of the content of any particular website.

Introduction to the Season of Ordinary Time

The name "Ordinary Time" sounds rather mundane, but as Alfred Fedak writes in Reformed Worship, "This designation is not meant to imply that these weeks represent an unimportant part of the Christian year. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Ordinary Time is a valuable reminder that the Christian life is an everyday vocation and is not reserved simply for special occasions. The very word ordinary derives from the Latin ordo, (“rule” or “order”); thus, these Sundays are numbered consecutively to mark the passage of time, which, like life itself, is a gift from God."

This season after Pentecost is also a season for growth—and in fact some churches use the name "Growing Time" for this season—as we celebrate our spiritual growth as individual believers and as the body of Christ.

Related Articles
The Pattern of the Christian Year
Ordinary Time: Counted Time of the Church Year by Dennis Bratcher (www.crivoice.org)
Extraordinary Worship During Ordinary Time by Harry Boonstra (Reformed Worship)

Lectionary Readings

Find the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for these Sundays from the Vanderbilt Lectionary Project
Find resources for these readings from the Revised Common Lectionary from TextWeek.com

Worship Service Ideas

Summer services

• Summer Festival of Praise (Reformed Worship)
• celebration of God's creation (related resources here and here)
• celebration of summer Bible school program (related resources)
• emphasis on evangelism (related resources)
• suggest a service

General services

For over 300 sample worship service outlines, see our worship service database. Here are a few examples of services you can find in our archive:

• The Honor of Contentment (Luke 12 and 1 Timothy 6)
• The Psalm with a Painful Lament (Psalm 13)
• The Church That Troubles (Acts 17)
• find more...

Series Ideas

Our worship service database contains many series of complete worship service outlines planned around a theme. Here are a few examples of series you can find in our archive:

• Great Chapters of the Bible
• Shaping Our Gratitude
• Life's Toughest Questions
• Your Work Matters
• find more...

Other series ideas

• August Adventures: Emphasis on Evangelism (Reformed Worship)
• Vertical Habits
• The Psalms
• Old Testament prophets
• Discovering Our Heritage: The Church's History
• Christmas in July
• Sermon series suggestions from the Center for Excellence in Preaching (cep.calvinseminary.edu)
• Planning a Summer Sermon Series from the Center for Excellence in Preaching (cep.calvinseminary.edu)
• suggest a series

Note: consider posting text and audio resources on your church's website, for the benefit of those who cannot attend for an entire series during the summer.

Overview for 2008
A planning calendar and overview of July and August 2008 was posted at our blog

More Planning Ideas and Resources

Reformed Worship
Center for Excellence in Preaching: This Week
Ministry Resource Center
The Text This Week
WorshipHelps weblog
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
suggest a resource

Worship Planning Basics

The Nuts and Bolts of Worship Planning
Worship Planning Grids
Designing Worship Together
More Worship Planning Resources

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