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Third-Party Providers

Lessons.church supports external curriculum providers through the Open Lesson Format. This means you can import content from other organizations and make it available alongside the built-in library, giving churches access to curriculum from multiple sources in one place.

Adding a Provider​

  1. Navigate to the Admin area.
  2. Open the Third-Party page.
  3. Click Add Provider (or the equivalent button to add a new connection).
  4. Enter the provider's feed URL. This is the URL where the provider publishes their curriculum data in the Open Lesson Format.
  5. Save the connection.

Once saved, Lessons.church will import the provider's content. Their programs, studies, and lessons will appear in the curriculum library alongside your own content.

Managing Providers​

From the Third-Party page, you can see all connected providers. For each provider, you can:

  • View the imported content to confirm it was pulled in correctly.
  • Update the feed URL if the provider changes their endpoint.
  • Remove a provider if you no longer want to include their content.

What Is the Open Lesson Format?​

The Open Lesson Format is a standardized schema that describes curriculum content -- programs, studies, lessons, venues, sections, and actions -- in a structured way. Any organization that publishes their content using this format can be added as a provider in Lessons.church.

If you are a content provider interested in making your curriculum available through Lessons.church, you can find the full schema documentation at the Open Lesson Schema repository.

Why Use Third-Party Providers?​

  • More choices for churches -- Churches can browse a wider variety of curriculum without leaving the platform.
  • One place for everything -- Volunteers and coordinators do not need to visit multiple websites to find and schedule lessons.
  • Easy setup -- Adding a provider takes only a feed URL. There is no manual data entry or file uploading involved.
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Third-party content is managed by the external provider. If you notice missing or outdated content from a provider, the issue may need to be resolved on their end.