LWA resources

Here you will find recommended worship resources and aids, designed for Lay Worship Assistants and others leading worship in the diocese.

Becoming a Lay Worship Assistant

In the 'Downloads' section on this page are application forms and useful documents. Please see our 'How to Become an LWA' page for information on the process.

Children’s worship

See the diocesan ‘Go team’ Children’s and Youth Ministry’s training page

Church of England resources

Church of England Worship Resources: There is a lot here including:
- Common Worship Collects, Prayers, Litanies and Services
- Book of Common Prayer Services (Matins and Evensong)
- Services for different times of the year (Christmas, Holy Week etc.)
The Liturgical Year explained
A Service of the Word
New Patterns for Worship – lots of ideas for a Service of the Word
Daily Prayer App
Exciting Holiness provides prayers and collect for the festivals and a little detail of the saints
An editable Word copy of Common Worship Morning Prayer on Sunday
An editable Word copy of BCP Evening Prayer

Intercessions and prayer stations

Leading Intercession, a guide from the Exploring Worship Course
The Bath and Wells Diocesan Prayer resources including Prayer Stations
24/7 Prayer International has many resources for prayer
Methodist Church Introduction to Preparing Prayer Stations
A Prayer Room for 24/7 Prayer Stations created by an American Salvation Army cadet
Theresa Cho’s Prayer Stations for Seasons of the Year

Leading worship

Praxis offers resources and training for leading worship. There is a Southwest branch for local training.
Visual Liturgy Live is a computer based liturgy planning software, pricey but if you are constantly creating your own service sheets it may save you a lot of time.

Lectionary based resources

Roots , a Methodist-hosted site with weekly resources to enrich worship and learning with your whole church community

Music, hymns, psalms and songs

Help with how to choose hymns:

Royal School of Christian Music (RSCM) resources for planning music for a service. See also their Sunday by Sunday magazine with suggestions for hymns to fit the lectionary.
Hymn Society Great Britain and Ireland’s short guides to choosing hymns for various occasions. The earlier guides are more general so start from the last page.
Worship Library’s blog post on selecting hymns.
EngageWorship is a more contemporary worship resource page.
Cyberhymnal can help with finding alternative tunes in the same meter, seeing hymn lyrics and hearing tunes.

Instead of missing out the psalm or hymn, because you have no choir, why not play a modern version? The following sources might help.

YouTube – you can find most hymns on YouTube.
Gnu-Tube – songs and psalms from Christchurch, Clifton, Bristol (Berj Topalian).
David Ogden – Psalm Songs from Clifton Cathedral, Bristol is an old but good CD. Explore his web page and search in You Tube or purchase a CD.
Sons of Korah for a more contemporary version of the psalms.

If printing hymn or song lyrics, you will need a licence and you will need to put the licence number on the sheet and send an annual return. The following cover many licences.

CCLI (Christian Copyright Licencing International) OUP, Thankyou Music, Stainer & Bell, many Anglican hymns
OneLicense – Taize and hymns not covered by CCLI especially modern Catholic songs

Personal prayer – maintaining your own prayer life

CofE Common Worship Daily prayer app
Pray as you go – Ignatian style daily prayer app
New Pilgrim Path – resources for contemplative prayer
Creating your own Rhythm of Life (from Exploring Worship Course)

Schools work

Worship Workshop – how to plan a worship slot

Reflecting on scripture in the sermon slot

The following resources are Diocesan approved for use in the reflection slot. You should confirm your use with your incumbent or designated contact.

Ely Diocese Sunday resources – a short homily for the day suitable for reading out by LWAs and churchwardens
Ignatian Style Meditations on a biblical passage are available from Soul Shepherding (PDFs) and from Pray as you go (audio)
Lectio Divina Meditations on a biblical passage are available from Soul Shepherding (PDFs) and from Pray as you go (audio)
Working Preacher.org may help with a reflection you can read out

Different styles of service

Cafe Church - Diocesan Cafe Church Hub
Messy Church see especially the resources page and the Church of England Holy Communion page
Oremus: An international liturgical website

Worldwide Anglican Resources

Anglican Communion website
Society of Archbishop Justus hosts Anglican sites and resources around the world; it includes CW Sunday Services
Anglicans Online – an American independent Anglican site

Publicity

Do let people know about LWA ministry and refer them to the the Lay Worship Assistants Ministry page for more details.

Diocesan resources

The Diocesan leaflets and Guidance for LWAs are available on the How to become an LWA page and the training course is Exploring Worship. You can find some of the handouts from the course available to download at the bottom of this page and a sample LWA commissioning.

Please suggest further links or resources you have found useful to Charmain Gilmour, Ministry Training Team Administrator, so that she can add them to the LWA Hub. Please, also, notify her of any broken links that you find.