<aside> 👋 Hello! Welcome to Pericope, the ultimate set of databases for preaching, biblical studies, worship planning, or just general church nerdiness. This collection contains six interrelated databases, but you could add more! Whether right on this page, or elsewhere in your workspace, there is no limit to the number of databases you can add and interrelate. I’ll take you on a little tour below, but you may find that you don’t often actually use the databases from this page — they may end up functioning from other places in your workspace where you paste views of them, customized however you find most helpful. Let’s get started!
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This system belongs to its designer, Systems for Ministry. Please do not make copies of or distribute this material to anyone who has not purchased it. If you are using this system to collaborate with a small group of pastors (like the staff at your church), you do not each need to purchase your own, but tips are always appreciated!
Ready to dive in? I recommend you take the tour first (below), but if you just can’t wait, here’s your very own dashboard for all of your Bible work.
The first database is just a list of the books of the Bible. They are arranged like a table of contents, in protestant canonical order (but you can change the order!). Within each book, you’ll find a list of chapters, and lots of pericopes.
The next database is all the chapters of the Bible, which mostly functions as a placeholder so that those chapters can appear under their respective books in the above database.
Tip: you can copy/paste chapters and verses of the Bible right into their respective pages for your own use! (Just don’t distribute that — copyright!!)
The third database a list of the pericopes that appear in the Revised Common Lectionary, the three-year cycle of readings used by many Mainline Protestant churches. You can also add an infinite number of pericopes here, if you preach on, exegete, study, or otherwise want to make note of a pericope that does not appear here. Pericopes that overlap are related to one another.
The fourth database is a collection of all the “lections” (readings) assigned in the Revised Common Lectionary. This is where that “pericopes” database really comes in clutch. You’ll see all the readings for each assigned date.
This one is just a collection of “churchy dates.” At first it might look similar to the RCL database — names like “First Sunday of Advent,” “Proper 6,” etc. But these aren’t lections, just dates. They include information about how frequently each date is observed on the Christian calendar, and they’re related to their relevant RCL lections. This database can function as a link between the RCL, any other lectionaries, and your unique worshipping calendar.
The last two databases in this package don’t have much in them yet, because they’re for you to work with. One is generically named “projects” right now, and you can use it for sermons, papers, Bible studies, or all of the above. The other is for “notes” that you might take in your regular encounters with useful material related to certain scriptures.
If you see yourself using one or more of these pages frequently, there’s no reason to leave it buried here! Drag it over into your workspace, or paste a view of it on a dashboard somewhere.
Or, start with your very own dashboard template that I made just for you! You’re welcome!!
I hope you enjoy this tool! I would love to see how you are using it, or answer any questions to make it work better for you. Shoot me an email! If you are looking for more systems for your ministry (or upgrades to this one), check out my website.
