Sermon series planner — Claude Project

Setup guide.

Step-by-step from “fresh install” to “first run.” Skim it once, then keep this page open while you go.

Before you start

Have a sense of the season your church is in before you start a session — what was preached last, what's on the calendar, what the congregation is wrestling with. Claude will ask you these things; the more honest your answers, the more useful the series proposal.

Step 1 — Create a new Claude Project

Sign in to claude.ai or Claude Desktop. Sidebar → Projects → New project. Name it 'Sermon series planner'. Projects requires Claude.ai Pro or Team.

Step 2 — Paste the system prompt

Unzip the bundle and open system-prompt.md. Copy the entire file and paste into Project → Custom Instructions. The system prompt encodes the listening posture, the cross-denominational defensibility postures, and the anti-prosperity guardrail. Keep the file intact — those guardrails are the contract.

Step 3 — Upload the knowledge files

Click 'Add knowledge'. Upload theology-lean-override-guide.md (Claude pulls from this when a contested question comes up) and lectionary-reference.md (used only if your tradition follows the Revised Common Lectionary or similar). Both stay attached to every conversation in the project.

Step 4 — Start a series planning session

Open a new chat. Tell Claude what season your church is in, how many weeks you're planning, and which translation you read from. Claude will ask 4-6 clarifying questions, then propose a working title, a 1-line through-line, week-by-week titles + scripture sets, and 2-3 cross-references. Treat each as a draft you shape.

Troubleshooting.

Hit one of these? Here's the fix.

Claude proposes a series that doesn't fit your tradition

Tell Claude your tradition's view directly: 'My church is Reformed Baptist; we hold a covenantal view of baptism and a cessationist view of sign gifts.' Claude will adjust. The system prompt is built to ask first; if it didn't, the Custom Instructions field probably wasn't fully populated. Check that the entire system-prompt.md content is present, including the 'Cross-denominational defensibility' section.

Lectionary references appear when your tradition doesn't use one

Tell Claude up front: 'My church doesn't follow a lectionary.' Claude will ignore the lectionary-reference.md knowledge file and propose freely. If you want to be safe, remove that knowledge file from the Project entirely — that guarantees no lectionary defaults.