I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”
Psalm 122:1 (ESV)
Morning Worship: Lord’s Day, 10:00 AM · Evening Worship: Lord’s Day, 6:00 PM
Why We Gather
Public worship is not merely a gathering of God’s children with one another. Before all else, it is a meeting of the triune God with His chosen people. The Lord Jesus promised, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). When the church assembles on the Lord’s Day, God speaks to His people by His Word, and His people answer Him in praise, confession, and prayer.
The end of public worship is the glory of God. Through it Christ builds His church, perfecting the saints and adding to their number those who are being saved. And through worship on the Lord’s Day, Christians learn to serve God in every activity of the week, doing all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31; BCO 47-3).
Worship as God Commands
Because worship belongs to God, He alone has the right to say how He is to be worshipped. This is sometimes called the regulative principle of worship. The Westminster Confession puts it this way:
The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.
Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1
This principle is not a cage but a freedom. It frees worship from the tastes of the moment and from the pressure to entertain, and it frees the worshipper’s conscience from anything God has not required. Our service is built from the elements Scripture gives: the reading of Scripture, the preaching of the Word, the singing of psalms and hymns, prayer, the confession of faith, offerings, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Sanctification of the Lord’s Day
We believe that the whole Lord’s Day is a gift from God, set apart for His worship and for the spiritual good of His people. From the resurrection of Christ onward, the first day of the week has been observed by the Church as the Christian Sabbath—the Lord’s Day.
We therefore seek to sanctify the day by setting aside our ordinary work and recreations, gathering with God’s people for public worship, and giving ourselves to the duties of worship, mercy, fellowship, and Christian rest. The Lord’s Day is not intended to be a burden, but a gracious weekly reminder that our life belongs to God and that our true rest is found in Christ.
This is also why we value both morning and evening worship. Rather than giving God merely an hour of the week, we desire to order the Lord’s Day around Him, beginning and ending the day with His people in worship.
This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
Westminster Confession of Faith 21.8
The Shape of Our Service
Our worship follows the pattern of a covenant meeting between God and His people. God calls us into His presence through His Word, and we respond in faith, praise, prayer, and obedience. Throughout the service, God speaks to His people through Scripture, and His people answer Him together.
- Call to Worship. God summons His people into His presence through His Word.
- Invocation. We call upon God to receive our worship and to help us worship Him rightly.
- Confession of Faith. Together we confess the faith once delivered to the saints, using the historic creeds, catechisms, and confessions of the Church.
- Praise. We respond to God by singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
- Scripture Reading. Because God speaks through His Word, substantial portions of Scripture are read publicly in worship.
- Prayer. The pastor leads the congregation in prayer for the Church, the needs of the congregation, and the world.
- Offerings and Thanksgiving. We return to God a portion of what He has entrusted to us and give thanks for His provision.
- Sermon. The Word of God is preached, ordinarily through books of the Bible in sequence, explaining and applying the text to the life of the Church.
- Response. We respond to the preached Word in praise and, when administered, in the Lord’s Supper.
- Benediction. God has the final word. His people are sent out with His blessing from Scripture.
Our worship is a dialogue. We do not gather merely to watch something happen at the front of the room. God addresses His covenant people through His Word, and together we answer Him in prayer, praise, confession, giving, and faith.
Elements in Worship
We believe that God Himself determines how He is to be worshiped. For that reason, our worship is shaped not by entertainment, personal preference, or cultural trends, but by the elements of worship that God has appointed in His Word.
The Westminster Confession summarizes these ordinary elements as the reading and preaching of Scripture, prayer, singing, and the sacraments, together with special acts of worship as God’s providence may require. These are not merely traditions we have inherited; they are the means God has given His Church to glorify Him and to build up His people.
The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith, and reverence, singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: beside religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner.
Westminster Confession of Faith 21.5
Singing in Worship
God’s people are commanded to address one another “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:19). We sing the Psalms — the Bible’s own songbook — alongside hymns that are faithful to Scripture. Our singing is congregational: the whole church sings together, with no performance to watch. We sing from the Trinity Psalter Hymnal and Hymns of Faith.
Preaching
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The preaching of the Word is the center of our worship because it is the chief way God calls sinners to Himself and builds up His people. Sermons are expository: the pastor takes a passage of Scripture, explains what it means, and applies it to our lives, always pointing to Christ.
Prayer
The pastor leads the congregation in prayers of praise, confession, thanksgiving, and intercession — for the church, for those who are sick or suffering, for our community and nation, for the spread of the gospel, and for those in authority. We pray the Lord’s Prayer together each Lord’s Day.
The Sacraments
Christ has given His church two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are signs and seals of the covenant of grace, visible words that confirm what is promised in the gospel.