Liturgy: (From Christ-Centered Worship by Brian Chappell)

• The structure of a church’s worship service
• All that’s included in our worship
• …the public way a church honors God in its time of gathered praise, prayer, instruction, and commitment

While authentic worship in spirit and truth is not driven by liturgies, they assist us by communicating truths and guiding us along a journey that begins with beholding God and His majesty and culminates in Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Along this journey, you are invited, not just to come along for the ride, but to participate in a variety of ways.

Worship is not something we come to, it’s something we do. The truth is we all worship something. Author and former Dean at Wheaton College, Harold Best, broadly defines worship in his book, Unceasing Worship. He writes, “Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god.” A well thought-out liturgy guides us, through the power of the Spirit and the Truth of God’s Word in putting away all of our “chosen gods” and centering upon the one “choosing God” who is the only true God worthy of our continuous outpouring of praise!

Along each journey you will find that we make use of both ancient and modern elements and practices to aid in our worship. This is because we find great value in both the past practices of the early Church and modern practices and styles. Bryan Chappell writes in Christ-Centered Worship:

We should not ignore the wisdom of church forebears just because it’s old…We consider the history because God does not give all of his wisdom to any one time or people. Slavish loyalty to traditions will keep us from ministering effectively to our generation, but trashing the past entirely denies God’s purposes for the church on which we must build…God intends for us to stand on the shoulders of those faithful before us.

That is why we will, from time-to-time, corporately confess our sins or profess our faith through an old Puritan writing by John Owen or pray a prayer penned by a reformer or Churchman like John Knox, Martin Luther or John Calvin. That’s why we will include among our modern song repertoire ancient hymns that actually cause us to sing Gospel truths by men like Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley. While some of the confessions/prayers of old typically tend to be a bit longer than most modern liturgical elements, they typically consist of “meatier” substance that cause us to meditate upon truths, confess our sins and declare our dependence upon God in uniquely expressive and meaningful ways that are participatory and corporate.

As we gather corporately as the Church to worship God each week, we each come in various and unique seasons of life. Some come in the midst of struggles, hardships and trials, some come burdened with the weightiness of their sin and hardened by guilt. Others come ready to “hit the ground running” having experienced tangible evidences of God’s grace at work in their lives. Whether we are in a spiritual valley or on a mountain top, when we gather corporately our desire is to be the kind of worshippers the Father seeks, those who worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24) and to be built up as we gather and center with other believers around God’s Word (1 Cor 14:26), making much of Christ as our affections for Him increase and we decrease.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

- Psalm 100:4

Response Time

When we are confronted with the Truths of God’s Word it always demands a response. We can respond to these truths and by the inner workings of the Spirit in our hearts through:

• Communion: Remembering and meditating upon the work of Christ through eating the bread (representing the body of Christ) and drinking the juice (representing the spilled blood of Christ). This is an issue of identity in Christ and is only for those who are in Christ and have examined their hearts for any unrepentant sins or heart issues.
• Giving: As Christ followers and members of this Body, we know it is our joy to give regularly and sacrificially to the work of Gospel advancement carried out through the local Church. God loves a cheerful giver!
• Repentance: Perhaps God revealed sin in your life. The Bible says, “if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John 1:9).
• Gospel Change: Realizing that we cannot change in and of ourselves is important. It is only by the work of the Spirit that we can be about killing our sin and growing in holiness. Pastors are always ready to pray with you during response time and beyond the worship service should you need to respond in this way.
• Praise & Worship: Sometimes we just need to pour out our hearts in thankfulness and appreciation before God for His kindness that leads us to repentance, for who He is and for His evidences of grace in our lives and in our world. This can be through singing, through our physical posture, or through prayer and meditation. While singing is one way to praise and worship God, it’s not the main thing. All that we do is worship.