Apps Sunday
Sunday
Service planning and presentation
Software for Sunday protects four things: the order of service, the charts, the rehearsal schedule, and the copyright record. Plan the readings, the Table, the prayers, and the songs first, on paper if that is what it takes. Then hand the logistics to the software. A tool that makes the order easy to fill and the readings easy to forget is shaping your service whether you meant it to or not.
Before you buy
Demand this in writing
Ask for every line below before a card goes on file. A vendor who will not put an answer in an email has answered.
- A service order that prints cleanly for musicians and for whoever leads the liturgy
- Named fields for readings, prayers, creeds, and the Table, not a song list with notes
- Chart and key management that keeps one folder correct for the whole team
- A rehearsal schedule volunteers will actually open on a phone
- CCLI reporting you could defend in an audit
- A presentation file that opens on the backup machine, with a second operator trained
- The full annual cost, including the copyright license, which is not part of any subscription here
The tools
Named options
Rows are not ranked. They run from the tool most churches meet first to the narrower options, and anything of ours goes last. Where a price was verified, the row carries the date it was read and a link to the page it came from.
Planning Center Services
Right for
Churches with rotations, multiple teams, and planning that runs weeks ahead
The strongest scheduling and team communication in this category, and volunteers respond to it. The free tier stops at 5 team members, which a single band clears immediately, so treat it as a trial rather than a plan.
Who should skip it
Skip it if one person plans the service and the same four people serve every week. You would be buying scheduling you do not need.
Price
Free up to 5 team members, paid above that as part of Planning Center. Music Stand is $5 a month.
ProPresenter
Right for
A room with screens and a volunteer running them every week
The presentation workhorse, and it holds up under a live service. It keeps no people records and plans no schedules, so pair it with a planning tool or a disciplined document. Train a second operator before you need one, because a crash at 10:45 on a Sunday is a pastoral problem, not a technical one.
Who should skip it
Skip it if you project lyrics from a laptop twice a month. The per-seat subscription is priced for weekly use.
Price
$29 a month per seat, or $289 a year. A 20 seat campus license is $59 a month or $649 a year. There is a 14 day trial.
OpenLP
Right for
Small congregations that need lyrics on a screen and have no budget for it
Free and open source, runs on hardware you already own, and does the one job. The interface is dated and the media handling is basic. For a church projecting hymns and a Scripture reading, that is the whole requirement.
Who should skip it
Skip it if your service depends on tight cues, layered media, or a stage display the band relies on.
Price
Free, open source, no license fee.
A printed order and a shared folder
Right for
Liturgical and smaller churches with a stable service pattern
A clear PDF order of worship, a folder of charts, and a current copyright log will outlast three software migrations. It costs the price of paper and one hour a week of somebody being responsible for the file.
Who should skip it
Skip it once more than two people need to edit the plan in the same week. That is the point where a shared folder starts losing edits.
Price
Near free, if the discipline holds.
If the tool made the service louder and the prayers shorter, it was the wrong tool. Keep the readings in the order as named items and the software will follow.
Have a bill that says otherwise?
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