“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” – Psalm 95:6-7
Our Worship Is God-CentereD
Our worship service is designed to reveal God through the ministry of the Word and the presence of the Holy Spirit. When God is revealed, we respond to Him! Our response to our great God is our worship. Worship should give the sense that God is high, holy, and distant—that God is transcendent. Worship also ought to instill a sense of God’s nearness to His children—that God is immanent.
“I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” – Exodus 15:1-2 (ESV)
Our Worship Is Word-Centered
In our service, you will hear God’s Word read and preached. We sing and pray God’s Word. We are bound to worship according to His instruction in the Word of God. Our Directory of Public Worship (DPW) guides what we do.
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” – I Timothy 4:1-2 (ESV)
Our Worship Is Reverent
We believe that our worship should be reverent and simple. Everything that we do should point the worshippers to Christ and be God-honoring and edifying to the saints. When we enter the Sanctuary each week, we cross a threshold from the profane to the holy.
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” – Hebrews 12:22-24 (ESV)
Our Worship Is Biblical
It is shaped by the movement of God’s redemptive story in Scripture. Each week, our worship takes us through God’s story of redemption so that our lives become patterned into His story. Worship enables us to bring our lives to God, re-enter His story of redemption, and be dismissed as people shaped by redemption. Specifically, that means that our worship moves from preparation to adoration to confession to proclamation to dedication to benediction.
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24 (ESV)
Our Worship Is Dialogue
Throughout the history of God’s relationship with His people, there has always been dialogue between God and His people. God had fellowship in the garden with Adam and Eve. Moses served as a mediator between God’s people and the Lawgiver, meeting with God on the holy mountain of Sinai. The Lord has spoken through His prophets and now, especially through His own Son, the Lord Jesus. In worship, we hear God speak to us—He greets us, calls us to worship, assures us of pardon from our sin, and He especially speaks to us by the preached word and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. God’s people speak to Him as well! We sing, pray, affirm our faith, confess our sins, make our offerings, and respond to the Word in obedience.
“Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’ The people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.” – Exodus 20:18-21 (ESV)
Our Worship Is Joyful
We are a community of people whose worship is celebratory. Our focus is on our Triune God of grace, the glorious riches of the gospel, and the worthiness of God to be magnified. We believe our forms of worship give us avenues of celebrating God’s work in the world and in our lives with heartfelt joy.
“Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” – Psalm 67:4-5 (ESV)
Our Worship Is for the Whole Covenant Community
Children are an inheritance, a blessing from the Lord! We encourage parents and children to worship together in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings. Since our prayer is that our children will know God and then will love and worship Him forever, it is important that we train them to worship. We know that corporate worship can be a challenge for families with young children. They are sometimes noisy, making it difficult for others, including parents, to worship. We provide a nursery for babies and children as they make this transition and learn to worship the Lord.
Our Worship Extends to all of Life
We believe that all of life is to be lived for the glory of God. All of our actions should bring praise to our Creator. God sends us every week with His benediction into the world that desperately needs the redemptive work of Christ.
Our Worship in Our Homes
We believe that families ought to worship together in their homes. We strive to provide encouragement and resources to families so that they may daily lead their families to the throne of God.