Tip:
PSA 98:1 Sing to the Lord a NEW song, for he has done marvelous
things! When is a new song not a new song?

The issue:
Let's face facts: your congregation is not always excited about learning new songs or hymns. How can you introduce a new hymn without the pain of rote repetition and trouble learning an unfamiliar melody?

Solution:
Use worship planning software such as Service Designer to locate a familiar tune which may be used to accompany a new hymn text! That way you get the benefit of a fresh insight into the theme of the day without the pain of learning a new melody.

Example:
Bring up Service Designer's "Hymnals" screen. A great opening hymn is "God is Here" by F. Pratt Green. We'll assume that your congregation doesn't know the tune it is paired with here, "ABBOT'S LEIGH".

Highlight the meter in the Meter field and press CTRL-C to copy it to the clipboard. The double-click the "Meter" field. The Simple Search window will pop up.

Paste the meter into the Search text field (press CTRL-V). Click the "Search" button.

A grid with all hymn tunes that have the meter 8.7.8.7.D. will pop up. Scroll through the list until you find a hymn tune that your congregation is familiar with that also fits the character of the hymn's text, such as "HYMN TO JOY".