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Introduction

What is Common Worship?

In the Church of England, those who lead worship are bound to use only those forms of service that are authorized or allowed by the Church of England's canon law.

The Church of England has two different but complementary sets of services: the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship.

Common Worship supplements the Book of Common Prayer with services and prayers in diverse styles. Most of the material is in contemporary language, but some of the services are based on those in the Book of Common Prayer, incorporating adaptations and additions that have become customary over the years.

Unity and diversity

Common Worship provides a common framework and common structures for services in the Church of England, but also a variety of prayers and resources for use within those common structures. This allows individual churches to tailor their services to their own setting and culture and the needs of their particular congregations.

Drafting and approval

The services and resources that comprise Common Worship represent the latest stage of a process of liturgical revision which began in the 1920s. They were originally drafted by the Liturgical Commission. The Commission is made up of a variety of people with different expertise, including lay people, parish clergy and bishops, liturgists and theologians. The material was passed on to the House of Bishops, which amended the material as it saw fit. It was then presented to the General Synod.

Forms of services that were alternative to equivalents in the Book of Common Prayer were debated by Synod and revised by a synodical Revision Committee in the light of the comments made by Synod members and the wider public. The House of Bishops then reconsidered them, put them into their final form and submitted them to the General Synod for Final Approval as Authorized Services. To be authorized, each service had to gain a two-thirds majority in each House of the Synod (Bishops, Clergy and Laity).

Additional material, which had no equivalent in the Book of Common Prayer, was debated by the General Synod and then put in its final form and Commended by the House of Bishops.

In the case of authorized services in Common Worship, the Archbishops gave some 800 parishes permission to use draft forms of service on an experimental basis before they were presented to the General Synod. The services were adjusted in the light of feedback from this 'field testing'.

A family of volumes

Common Worship is published in a family of volumes by Church House Publishing under the oversight of the Liturgical Publishing Group. The following volumes have appeared so far:

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England.
This is the main volume. It contains services and resources for use on Sundays, Principal Feasts and Holy Days, and Festivals, in both contemporary and traditional language, together with the Common Worship Psalter.
Common Worship: The President's Edition
This volume contains the Holy Communion and Baptism services, the Collects and Post Communions that appear in the main volume, and:
- Collects and Post Communions for Lesser Festivals and Special Occasions
- additional Proper Prefaces and Blessings
- music for the Eucharistic Prayers
Common Worship: Pastoral Services
The services and resources for Wholeness and Healing, Marriage, and Funerals are contained in this volume.
Common Worship: Initiation Services
This volume contains the Baptism and Confirmation services together with related material. (The printed version is an interim publication, but with the exception of minor amendments to the Baptism service, the services are in their final form.) In 2005 it will be republished in a volume uniform with the other publications.
Common Worship: Daily Prayer (final edition)
This volume contains orders of service for morning, evening and night prayer for each day of the week, and each season of the Church's year. There is also a wealth of seasonal variants, collects, psalms and other devotional materials.
Common Worship: Collects and Post Communions
This volume contains all of the Common Worship Collects and Post Communions, including the Additional Collects authorized in 2004
New Patterns for Worship
This volume contains guidance on planning worship, resources for use on a variety of occasions and sample services.

The contents of these volumes are available in a variety of editions and formats. For details, look at the range of official products.

The Weekday Lectionary is only available in worked-out form in the annual Common Worship Lectionary.

Further material to come

The remaining Common Worship material will be published as follows:

Common Worship: Times and Seasons (2006)
Common Worship: Festivals (2006)
Common Worship: Ordinal (2006)

Draft texts for the Times and Seasons and Festivals volumes are among the General Synod papers in the General Synod area of this web site.

Other authorized services

The Ordinal in The Alternative Service Book 1980, as amended, remains authorized for use until 31 December 2005.

The following are authorized for use indefinitely:

A Lectionary and Additional Collects for Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer)
and Schedule of Variations to the Common Worship Second and Third Service Lectionaries.
Public Worship with Communion by Extension.

A full list of Authorized and Commended Services and Versions of the Bible and of the Psalms is available for further reference.