Worship & Songs Overview

TimelyChurch provides a comprehensive set of worship planning tools designed to help your team prepare for services with confidence. This article gives you a high-level tour of every worship-related feature available in your admin dashboard.

What Is Included

The Worship & Songs module is made up of several interconnected tools:

• Song Library -- A searchable catalog of every song your church uses for worship, complete with metadata such as key, tempo, themes, and CCLI numbers, plus tag/theme filter pills, an Export ▾ menu, and a Reports button.
• Chord Chart Editor -- A built-in ChordPro editor with live preview, key transposition, Nashville Number conversion, capo suggestions, and export to PDF, ProPresenter text, and PowerPoint.
• Song Attachments -- Upload chord charts, lead sheets, lyrics documents, audio files, and video files directly to each song.
• Song Arrangements -- Store multiple arrangements per song (for example, "Acoustic", "Full Band", or "Christmas Version"), each with its own key, BPM, and chord chart.
• Setlists -- Build, save, and reuse a list of songs with per-song key, arrangement, and capo. Reorder by drag, preview each chart, assign a worship team, add a rehearsal date, Go Live, open it in My Stand, or load it into a service plan. See Building Setlists.
• Your worship team on a setlist -- Assign a setlist to one of your church's worship teams so the right people (and only the right people) see it, with leader/co-leader markers on the roster, a Notify team action, and a one-tap Nudge for anyone who hasn't RSVP'd or finished learning the set. See Your Worship Team on a Setlist.
• Service Plans (Service Orders) -- Build detailed run-of-show plans for worship services, with drag-and-drop ordering, per-item timing, and automatic song usage tracking. Plans live inside each worship event in the Events Hub — open the event's Service Plan tab.
• My Stand -- The live, zero-upload music stand for your team. Musicians open the shared set on any device, set their own key/capo/text size, follow the leader with Go Live, and use practice tools (metronome, autoscroll, foot-pedal page turns, and a play-along practice-recording player). See My Stand — The Big Picture.
• Go Live -- A worship leader, co-leader, the setlist's creator, or an admin can lead a live-follow session so the whole band's stand turns to the same song automatically. See Go Live on Sunday.
• Rehearsal readiness -- Per-member "learned" toggles, a team-readiness %, RSVP, rehearsal reminders, and a play-along recording player keep everyone prepared before Sunday. See Rehearsal Readiness and Reminders.
• Personal marks -- Private highlights and notes on any chart that survive transpose, with an optional opt-in to share your marks with the team. See Personal Marks.
• Shared Setlists & Song Sharing -- Generate shareable links so worship team members can view the setlist, chord charts, and keys for an upcoming service from any device; shared setlists now stay in sync automatically when the plan changes. Individual songs can also be shared with optional password protection, expiration dates, and live key control.
• Swapping a serving slot -- If you're on the schedule and cannot make it, propose a swap with a specific teammate, or (from Telegram) broadcast an open request to your whole team on a first-tap-wins basis. See Swapping When You Can't Serve.
• Song usage & CCLI reports -- Date-range usage counts, per-key breakdowns, and a CCLI summary, each exportable to CSV. See Song Usage and CCLI Reports.
• Audio analysis (Pro plan) -- Upload a practice recording and let TimelyChurch detect its BPM, key, and time signature automatically, with one-tap Apply to the song. See Analyze a Song's Key, BPM & Time Signature.
• Sermon Management -- Add sermons with video, audio, transcripts, and descriptions. Assign speakers and organize sermons into series.
• Sermon Series -- Group related sermons into named series with cover images, date ranges, and descriptions.
• Podcast Feed -- Automatically generate an RSS podcast feed from your published sermons for distribution on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Amazon Music.

How to Access

Worship has its own Worship category in the admin sidebar, gathering the whole flow in one place. Expand Worship and you will find:

• Song Library -- Your catalog of songs, arrangements, and chord charts (formerly the "Songs" item).
• Setlists -- Build, save, and reuse a set of songs, then Go Live, open it in My Stand, or load it into a service plan.
• My Stand -- The live music stand your musicians use to read charts, follow the leader, and practice.

Service Plans are not in this sidebar. Open a worship event in the Events Hub and use its Service Plan tab.

Sermons remains its own separate sidebar item (with links to Series, Speakers, and Podcast settings at the top) -- it is not part of the Worship category.

Public-Facing URLs

In addition to the admin tools, the Worship & Songs module exposes several public, unauthenticated URLs that visitors and worship-team members can use:

Shared setlists update automatically, letting viewers see the worship leader's live key, capo, and display-mode changes within seconds without refreshing the page.

For details on individual public pages see Public Sermon Pages and Podcast Feed.

Typical Workflow

1. Build your Song Library -- Add songs your church sings, filling in key, tempo, themes, and lyrics. Upload chord charts and lead sheets, and optionally Analyze an uploaded recording to auto-detect BPM, key, and time signature (Pro plan).
2. Create Arrangements -- For songs performed in different styles, add arrangements with their own key, BPM, and chord chart content.
3. Build a Setlist -- From Worship → Setlists, assemble the songs for a service with their keys, arrangements, and capo, assign your worship team, add a rehearsal date, and preview each chart. See Building Setlists and Your Worship Team on a Setlist.
4. Plan a Service -- From an event in the Events Hub, open its Service Plan tab. Add songs, scripture readings, prayers, announcements, and other items in order -- or Load a setlist to pull your set in at once.
5. Share with Your Team -- Share the plan (or a setlist) to give the band a stable link. They open it in My Stand to read charts, mark up their parts, and practice -- with a Notify team and per-member Nudge to make sure nobody misses it. Plan edits sync to the band automatically. See My Stand — The Big Picture.
6. Rehearse -- Team members mark songs "learned," RSVP, play along with a practice recording, and add practice notes; the leader watches the team-readiness % climb and can send rehearsal reminders or a Nudge.
7. Lead the Live Service -- On Sunday, the leader (or a co-leader) taps Go Live so every stand in the room turns to the same song automatically. See Go Live on Sunday. If someone can't make it, they propose a swap ahead of time -- see Swapping When You Can't Serve.
8. Record the Sermon -- After the service, add the sermon with its video or audio recording, assign it to a speaker and series, and publish it to your website and podcast feed.

Permissions

Access to the Song Library, Setlists, and Chord Chart Editor is controlled by the Songs (Services) module permission; Service Plans use the Service Plans permission. My Stand is available to anyone who serves on a worship team (and to admins). Only a worship/church admin, the setlist's creator, or a leader/co-leader of the assigned team can Go Live, assign a team, or send a Notify/Nudge. Access to Sermons is controlled by the Sermons module permission. Audio analysis is a Pro plan feature. Your church administrator can configure module permissions under the team member's role settings.

New Here? Start With These

Brand new to leading worship in TimelyChurch? Read these two first, in order:

1. My Stand — The Big Picture -- what My Stand is and how your team uses it every week.
2. Go Live on Sunday -- what "going live" actually means and how to lead a service with it.

Related Articles

• Song Library
• Chord Charts and Key Transposition
• Service Orders (Service Plans)
• Managing Sermons
• Sermon Series
• Worship Team View
• Sermon Speakers
• Public Sermon Pages
• Podcast Feed
• Song Arrangements
• Building Setlists
• Share a Service Plan with Your Band
• Practice Tools: Metronome, Autoscroll & Foot Pedals
• Personal Marks and Sharing Them with Your Team
• Rehearsal Readiness and Reminders
• Song Usage and CCLI Reports
• Exporting Charts and Slides
• My Stand — The Big Picture
• Your Worship Team on a Setlist
• Go Live on Sunday
• Swapping When You Can't Serve
• Analyze a Song's Key, BPM & Time Signature

Last updated: August 5, 2026