Worship

Listen to Sermons and Learn More about Our Order of Worship

Sermons

Order of Worship

We believe that Jesus is the Head of the Church and that, as Head of His Church, He instructs in us in how we are to worship God. We believe that Scripture teaches us that our worship is to be God-centered, that worship is a dialogue between God and His people, that worship is simple, that worship is done decently and in order, and that worship should be done in reverence and awe. We believe that worship includes reading God’s Word, preaching God’s Word, singing God’s Word, praying God’s Word, and seeing God’s Word through the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Here is a sample order of worship:

Welcome and Announcements

Silent Prayer of Preparation

Call to Worship (God calls us to worship Him, and we call each other to join in that worship of God)

Praise (we respond to that call by praising God in song; we sing hymns, both ancient and modern, as well as psalms and spiritual songs)

Prayer of Invocation (to invoke means to call down. As God calls us to worship Him, we call upon God to send down His blessing upon our worship as He has promised to do)

Praise (we continue in the praise of God knowing that God’s blessing is upon us as we worship Him)

Scripture Reading (this is generally a passage of Scripture that leads us toward the confession of our sins, for God calls us to repentance)

Prayer of Confession (we give a time for private confession of sins in our own hearts; then we join together as a congregation to confess our sins to God. We generally use a written prayer which we read together)

Assurance of Pardon (God responds to our prayer of confession by assuring of us His pardon in Jesus Christ as it is recorded in Scripture)

Praise (we offer our praise to God for the pardon that He has given us in Jesus)

Giving of Offerings (we give to God and His church out of gratitude for God’s daily provisions of our physical needs and out of gratitude for God’s salvation in Jesus Christ)

Confession of Faith (we use various creeds and confessions from church history to profess what we believe Scripture teaches. This creeds and confessions include the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Westminster Standards, and the Heidelberg Catechism)

Congregation Prayer and Lord’s Prayer (we pray for the needs of those connected to our local church, for the work of God’s church in our presbytery and denomination, and for the work of God’s church worldwide. At the conclusion of praying for these needs, we pray together the Lord’s Prayer)

Sermon (God speaks to us through His Word to build up our faith, to mature us in Jesus Christ, to call us from sin, and to instruct us in how we are to live)

Praise (we respond to God’s Word in praise)

Lord’s Supper (we also respond to the Word by coming to the Lord’s Table to fellowship with our Triune God)

Benediction (we hear God’s blessing upon us as we go to serve Him in the world)

Doxology (we respond to that blessing with a short utterance of praise that declares the glory of the God who has blessed us)

“Worship is the conscious recognition of God’s sovereign greatness and resplendent, holy beauty and our ascribing honor, adoration, reverence, and glory to Him. It its he bride of Christ extolling praise and adoration to who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised to do. It is the forsaking of all idols in our lives - which divert our focus, attention, and devotion - and singularly riveting our hearts and minds on the supreme, transcendent God of the cosmos.”

— Dustin Benge The Loveliest Place, p. 89