Occasionally, we’re asked by customers where they can find the Nicene Creed when they are working with one of the service outlines distributed with Lutheran Service Builder. We’ve seen this often enough that, after the 1.06 update becomes available, we will be moving the Creed selection to a new place in the process in order to make it more user-friendly and accessible.

In the meantime, we’d like to give a quick how-to on the Creed element: where to find it, how to change it, and what it will look like after the update. Read on for the full tutorial.

When you create a service using one of the provided outlines, the element in question is listed in the Outline Step as merely “Creed,” which matches the subheading you can find on page 158 of the Pew Edition. It’s a little different from the rest of the choices you make in a service, so let’s take some time to look at those and see what we’re talking about.

For instance, when you make the choice of which column to follow for the Confession and Absolution of Sins, you are presented with the choice in the Outline Step of either the Absolution or the Declaration of Grace. You make that selection here and then don’t have to do anything else in the next step.

The Creed has no such choice in the Outline Step. It simply exists as an element. To make the selection on what reading of the Creed you wish to use, you proceed to the Content Step. Once you’re in the Content Step, you can scroll through your service outline in the Task Pane. To select the Creed you wish to use, left-click the Creed element in the Task Pane. The element preview will appear in the Work Pane.

Now that you have the preview up, you’ll see that there’s a set of radio buttons above the preview pane. Those radio buttons list the various options you have for the Creed element. The two on top give you the basic choice between the Apostles’ and the Nicene creeds. Notice also that there are choices for the explanations to the articles of the Creed from Luther’s Small Catechism.

Once you’ve made this choice, the Creed you see in the preview area is what will be exported with the rest of your service.

Now, let’s take a look at what this is going to look like after our next big data update, which is currently in testing.

The selection of which Creed to use will be moving to the Outline Step, so your selection occurs at the same time as the other major choices you make in the service. Now, when you scroll down to where the single Creed element used to be (we’re using Divine Service, Setting Three as an example here), you’ll see that there is now a set of choices, with the Creeds to be used spelled out very clearly.

We hope this upcoming change will eliminate any confusion.

If you are experiencing any additional trouble with this process, or are in need of other assistance, remember that you can contact Lutheran Service Builder Support at either lsbsupport@cph.org or 800-346-6120. A technician will be happy to assist you.