Title: Blocks For Sermon Manager Author: Alwyn Barry Published: September 29, 2026 Last modified: September 29, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/blocks-for-sermon-manager/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3719303) # Blocks For Sermon Manager By [Alwyn Barry](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dramb/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/blocks-for-sermon-manager.1.0.0.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/blocks-for-sermon-manager/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/blocks-for-sermon-manager/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/blocks-for-sermon-manager/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/blocks-for-sermon-manager/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/blocks-for-sermon-manager/) ## Description Blocks for Sermon Manager allows you to display sermons from the WordPress Plugin Sermon Manager or Mattytap Sermons within the block builder of your website without resorting to using the normal shortcodes. This plugin provides three kinds of Blocks: * Blocks that bring the existing shortcodes to the Block editor, with attributes you can edit in the block editor to see the effect, and which then call through to the existing shortcode in the background. With these you can replace the existing shortcodes with blocks and see the same output as before. We provide blocks for the following Sermon Manager shortcodes: - **sermons** … to display a list or grid of sermons, with many filters to focus in on a specific set of sermons if needed. This is in the block called“ Display Sermons” - **sermon_images** … to display the images of each series, (not sermons, despite the name) optionally with the series title and/or description extract. This is in the block called “Sermon Images” despite the obvious misnomer of the original short-code. - **sermon-_sort_fields** … to display the filter bar that allows the user to ‘drill down’ the list of sermons displayed. This is in the block called“ Display Filters” because that makes more sense! - **List-Sermons** … to display a simple text list of series, preachers, service types, bible books or topics from the sermon taxonomies. This is in the block called “List Sermons”, again despite the obvious misnomer of the original shortcode. * Blocks that provide sermon grids and lists without dependence on the existing shortcodes. These have less configuration and give a predefined output that should be suitable for most uses. Currently we provide: - **Sermon grid** … where each sermon is displayed in a ‘card’ with the sermon image and details and a link to the fuller single sermon page. - **Single sermon** … to display one sermon with the sermon image, all its details and a media player. * These blocks can also be put into Block Theme templates for Sermon Manager Sermons/ Series / Book / Author / Service Type template pages * Field blocks that allow each field of Sermon Manager data to be included within a bespoke ‘Query Loop’ block so that you can create your own lists of sermons with bespoke look and feel from within the block editor without having to do any coding. The plugin also provides some example Query Loop patterns that use these fields to output Sermon Grids, Sermon Lists and Single Sermons. ### Support If you have a problem or a feature request, please send a message to the author using the ‘Support’ tab. ### Demo These blocks are currently in use on the www.cambray.org church website. On the Latest Sermons page: https://www.cambray.org/resources/latest-sermons/ ``` The shortcode block **Display Sermons** is used for the Recent Sermons at the top of the page, and the **Sermon Images** block is used for the image grid of the past sermon series. ``` On the All Sermons page: https://www.cambray.org/sermons ``` The **Sermon Grid** block, preceded by the **Sermon Filter** block are used to display the list of all sermons.

Contributions

``` This plugin relies on the Sermon Manager or MattyTap Sermons plugin being already installed and sermons already entered into the website. It is purely to enable the display of sermons to be more ‘block friendly’ and does not replace or change any of the functionality of these plugins. ### Usage ### Using the Block Replacements for Shortcodes * Add one of the blocks in the place where you wish to use them, as you would have previously added a shortcode. * Use the attributes to choose those attribute values you would have previously put into the shortcode. - The default attribute values provided in the attributes respect the default values in the shortcodes – you only need to set values you want to be changed. - The display of sermons in the block editor will change to reflect the attribute choices you make. The output should be very similar to what you will see on the front end, but always check the front end to be sure of how it appears. - As with the shortcodes, the appearance of the output of these blocks can be changed via css style sheets. If you want to only change the appearance for the output of the block and not the original shortcodes, then precede each css style with the class .b4sm. The same classes are used for styling as for the shortcodes. ### Using the new non-shortcode Sermon Display Blocks * Add one of the blocks in the place where you wish to use it. * If you are adding the block within a Block Template, then the block will pick up the correct sermons in the front end, but in the back end it will say that it can’t find any sermons. This is because it is only a Template and does not have a sermon query for that page until the Template is rendered on the front end. * Use the attributes to choose what to display of the available sermon meta data. * The block output on the front-end can be styled using css style sheets. The blocks use the same css classes as Sermon Manager for the various elements of each Sermon. If you want to only change the appearance for the output of the block and not other Sermon Manager output, then precede each css style with the class`.b4sm`. ### Using the Blocks for the Sermon Manager Fields to create custom output The following allows you to re-create a sermon grid layout. This is just an example– you can create whatever output look you want! * Add an outer container (such as a Group or similar) to contain the output In the advanced block attributes, set the class to `wpfc-sermons-container` if you want the internals to pick up Sermon Manager styles. * Within this outer container add a `Query Loop Block`. * In the attributes pane of the Query Loop block, choose to do a Custom Query * In the Custom Query, choose Sermons (or whatever of the taxonomies you want. You can also use the other taxonomies to ‘drill down’ to only display the particular sermons you want on that page. * In the Query add a container block (such as a Group). If you want to pick up the predefined Sermon Manager styles, in the ‘Advanced’ attributes section add a class `wpfc-sermon` (if it is a sermon you are rendering. * Optionally, if you want to separately style an outer and inner block, add a container block within the previous block and set it’s class to `wpfc-sermon- inner`. * In the container block add a Sermon Image block (if wanted) * If you are adding sermon details, add a container block and set it’s class to` wpfc-sermon-main` if you want to pick up Sermon Manager styles * In this container add main sermon items like the title, the preacher, the description, the bible passage or the series. If you are going to not have the user click through to the sermon page to get the media, add a sermon media block. You do not need to set any classes – we automatically add the predefined Sermon Manager classes for styling. * If you want other sermon meta data, why not add another container to group your less prominent meta data, and potentially use the container styling to give it a different background. * You can then also add meta data fields, like date, topic, bible book * You can use the prefix and suffix fields in each attribute to add in labels for the fields, if you wish. Click in the prefix or suffix text you add and use the floating menu to set to bold or italic or whatever. * You can then style each container or field as you wish to get the results you want. Providing these blocks gives you infinite flexibility in the layout of the lists of sermons you want to produce – just lay it out yourself! The suggestion above for containers is only a helpful suggestion! We also provide a number of Block Patterns for commonly used sermon layouts – just drag and drop one in, change what details you want, and it gives you a great shortcut to produce bespoke sermon list layouts. The Query Loop container will automatically add pagination as needed. If you want to provide the sermon filter bar, just add the filter bar block before or after the container holding the query loop. ### License The plugin is released under the GNU General Public License. A copy of this license can be found at the license homepage or in the top comment within the `blocks4sm. php` file. ## Blocks This plugin provides 17 blocks. * Image Block for Sermon Manager Sermon Image Block * Series title field for Sermon Manager The title of the series that a sermon belongs to * Service Type field for Sermon Manager The service types in which a sermon was preached * Sermon Topics field for Sermon Manager The sermon topics related to a sermon * Passage field for Sermon Manager The bible passage(s) of a sermon * Display Sermons Display Sermons in a list or grid * List Sermon terms from Series, Preachers, Topics or Books Display an unordered list of terms from Series, Preachers, Topics or Books. * Sermon Grid for Sermon Manager Display a grid of Sermons, each in Card form * Image grid of Sermon Series or Preachers Display an Image grid of Sermon Series or Preachers * Single Sermon for Sermon Manager Display a single sermon * Sermon Filter Block for Sermon Manager Sermon Filter Block * Sermon Bible Books field for Sermon Manager The sermon Bible Book(s) related to a sermon * Sermon description field for Sermon Manager The description for the sermon * Preacher field for Sermon Manager The name(s) of the preacher(s) of a sermon * Sermon title field for Sermon Manager The title of the sermon * Media Block for Sermon Manager Sermon Media Block * Date sermon preached field for Sermon Manager The date the sermon was preached ## Installation * From within WordPress – In the WordPress Dashboard use the menu to go to Plugins and from there choose ‘Add new plugin’. Search for ‘sermon manager’ and then look for this plugin. Select the ‘install’ button on the plugin to install it, and once installed use the ‘activate’ link to activate the plugin. * If you want to install from github: - Download from ‘releases’ - Rename the zip file downloaded ‘blocks4cs.zip’ (i.e. remove any version info in the filename) - In WordPress use the Install New Plugin page to upload the zip file, or alternatively, unpack and upload the blocks4sm directory to your ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory. - Once you have done either of the above, Activate the plugin through the ‘ Plugins’ page in the WordPress dashboard. * Once you have used either method to install the plugin, you need to then add a block (see examples below) to your wordpress posts or pages where you need them ## FAQ ### I want to change how the output looks: Some of the look and feel can be changed via editable block attributes … try these to see what effect they have. We’ll be adding more configuration options in the future. ``` You can also use CSS to style all blocks - we seek to use all the Sermon Manager css classes and, by adding `.b4sm` as a preceding class in your style sheets you can create styles for each part of the output of each block using the Sermon Manager classes but without impacting other non-block Sermon Manager output. ``` ### I have a Block Theme and there are no default templates for Sermon Manager Block themes don’t look for Template files in the plugin. You need to create your own Templates in the Full Site Editor for each Template needed. ``` So, in the Full Site Editor, move to the Templates page, and add a new template - the names should be (for each template kind): - `archive-wpfc-sermon` - the default sermons listing page - `single-wpfc-sermon` - the page for display of single sermons - `taxonomy-wpfc-bible-book` - the page to display all sermons with the passage from a given bible book - `taxonomy-wpfc-preacher` - the page to display all sermons by a selected preacher - `taxonomy-wpfc-series` - the page to display all sermons within a particular series - `taxonomy-wpfc-sermon-topics` - the page to display all sermons tagged with a selected topic - `taxonomy-wpfc-service-type` - the page to display all sermons preached within a given type of service Within these you can use the blocks supplied. So, for example, you could use (for example) the Sermon Grid block preceded by the Sermon Filters block for all but the Single Sermon template. But in the Single Sermon Template you could use the Single Sermon Block. Equally, you could use the sermon field blocks to create custom output - for the query loop block just don't choose to use a custom query so that the query that causes that template to be chosen will be used for the output. Using the shortcode blocks is possible, but don't use any of the custom query attributes - they need to simply show the query data that is intended to be output by the template. ``` ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “Blocks For Sermon Manager” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Alwyn Barry ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dramb/) [Translate “Blocks For Sermon Manager” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/blocks-for-sermon-manager) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/blocks-for-sermon-manager/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/blocks-for-sermon-manager/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/blocks-for-sermon-manager/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/blocks-for-sermon-manager/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.0.0 **2026-09-22** * Removed remaining WP Plugin Checker raised problems Fixed an error where a final parameter was wrongly within a __() function Created Language files( no translations at present) Add Banner and icon needed by WordPress Readied to submit as a new plugin to WordPress #### 0.0.4 **2026-09-08** * Bug fixes; Produced a proper README.txt file. Added new blocks that call through to each ShortCode so that we have block versions for each shortcode. Centralised repeated code for easier maintenance. Fixed some style sheets that were not being correctly picked up. Bring constants in Display Sermons shortcode into line with Sermon Manager (otherwise default attribute settings are not changed) Add ability to all fields to not display a field if the content is empty. #### 0.0.3 **2026-08-18** * Bump to show compatibility with WordPress 7.1 Update all code in single_sermon block to more closely match that in the sermon-series-grid block, add in CSS for single sermon block, and ensure it is working correcly. **2026-08-17** * Updated code to bring the single-sermon block closer to the sermon grid block, and to try to resolve why it is failing to display. #### 0.0.2 **2026-07-08** * Added blocks to use within a Query Builder block so that bespoke layouts can be created. #### 0.0.1 **2025-10-17** * Initial release – a basic block is tested and working. ## Meta * Version **1.0.0** * Last updated **24 hours ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.7 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.1.2** * PHP version ** 8.0 or higher ** * Tags * [blocks](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/blocks/)[sermon manager](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/sermon-manager/) [sermons](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/sermons/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/blocks-for-sermon-manager/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/blocks-for-sermon-manager/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/blocks-for-sermon-manager/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Alwyn Barry ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dramb/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/blocks-for-sermon-manager/)