Sermon Library

About the Sermon Library

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About the Sermon Library

The fall of 2005 witnessed the launch of the Council’s groundbreaking lectionary-based worship resource called Acts of Faith: Resources for Prophetic Worship. Spanning all three lectionary years, Acts of Faith is unique in that it offers free worship resources that are both specific to North Carolina and focused on particular social justice issues that impact our communities. This project has far exceeded our expectations; in fact, it’s the most popular resource the Council has published in the last 25 years.

The Council embarked on this project with the recognition that there were very few worship resources available for pastors and religious leaders who wanted to talk about social justice issues in their places of worship. Acts of Faith brings together strong biblical interpretation, excellent liturgical resources and perceptive analysis of each issue as it affects North Carolina’s communities – all in a searchable, printable format that anyone can access for free.

Over the past six years, teams of Council staff and interns have been quietly updating and maintaining this resource. In 2009 we started the process of moving the entire series from print-based PDF files to a more interactive, web-based format. Now we are proud to offer an entirely new companion to this resource: a library of sermons.

Example from the Sermon Library

We believe that issues of peace and justice can be expressed in the worship life of congregations, and we remain committed to providing accessible and relevant resources to make this a reality. This strong collection features real sermons that have been preached from pulpits across North Carolina and beyond over the last decade. As with Acts of Faith, the themes chosen for inclusion in this sermon library reflect the Council’s focus areas of work and positions on the issues. We hope that these texts will be helpful as you seek to articulate God’s calling in your own context. Please feel free to use these resources however you see fit, but please also cite the authors who have shared their work with us.

All of the sermons in the library are used with the permission of the authors. We’re grateful for their important contributions not only to this particular resource, but also to their congregations and communities. In addition, the Council would like to thank everyone who has helped make this new resource a reality, especially John Lawrence and Rennie Salata.

Please contact us if you are interested in submitting one of your sermons for consideration.