The Church of England has released the latest generation of its pioneering worship planning software, Visual Liturgy to give clergy easier access to the wealth of material in Common Worship and help them save time when arranging services.

Visual Liturgy Live includes a significant increase in liturgical content - such as Common Worship's Times and Seasons, Christian Initiation and Daily Prayer - and has benefited from considerable technological advances including a live update facility, an automatic feed of the latest Visual Liturgy news, and 'smart templates' to save time when planning services.

The software has been eagerly awaited by Visual Liturgy users across the country keen to access the new content and software developments, as well as taking advantage of the full daily lectionary which appears in Visual Liturgy for the first time.

Peter Maxwell, the Diocese of Ely's Authorised Lay Ministry Coordinator for Administrators, who has previewed the new software, comments: "Visual Liturgy Live is even better than before. It is more intuitive and effective. It really will be of great help to our group of parishes both from an organisational perspective, and in being able to create specific services for each of our churches."

Church House Publishing's New Media Manager, Andrew Sweeney, says the upgrade represents a significant investment in developing the software based on feedback from some of Visual Liturgy's 5,000 users.

"We have enhanced provision for group users to help fit the shape of the church today, and created smart templates to help users set-up custom service sheets quickly and easily. This is not just a basic software upgrade; the live-update facility, for instance, means that Visual Liturgy users will always stay at the forefront of developments in Common Worship," Andrew comments.

Peter Moger, the Church's National Worship Development Officer, says: "In a mission-shaped church, it's vital that our worship engages people and enables a transforming encounter with the living God. Visual Liturgy Live is an essential tool for all who plan and lead worship in the church today."

Current users of Visual Liturgy 4.0 can upgrade to Visual Liturgy Live for £52, while the price of the full version remains at £125 - prices include the first year's annual subscription for live updates.

Visual Liturgy Live is available from Christian bookshops; for more information please visit: www.chbookshop.co.uk .

Additional information is also available at www.visualliturgylive.net