What to Expect
Learn about our worship service, liturgy, and what makes our worship unique.
What is our service like?
Our Lord's Day order of service follows a biblical and historic pattern that transcends the generations, honors God, and unites us with the normative worship practices of the Church going back to its early days. We employ the elements of corporate worship revealed in Scripture and embraced by everyone from the Church Fathers to the Protestant Reformers and other churches today in the Protestant Reformed tradition. We pray together, confess our sins, sing robust hymns and psalms, hear the Word of God read and preached, and observe the Lord's Supper each Lord's Day. Then we gather in the fellowship hall and have a meal and fellowship together in the afternoon.
Our desire is that if you were to join us on the Lord's Day, the timeless beauty and majesty of the worship service would not only unite you to the worship of the faithful right down through the ages, but would also fill you with an even greater love for the King of Kings who has graciously brought you into His eternal kingdom.
Full Participation, Not Spectators
Our liturgy is designed so that congregants would not be spectators but full participants in the service and the worship of God through responsive readings, the singing of Psalms and hymns, the partaking of Communion, and the recitation of the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer.
In our church services, the children worship together with us. We do not have a separate children's church, but the whole congregation worships together.
Before the Call to Worship, we have a time of announcements and sharing prayer needs and praise items, and one of the elders prays for these needs.
We follow a service order (liturgy) that follows the pattern of covenant renewal worship, where we are called to worship, we confess our sins, we are consecrated through the reading of the Word, the preaching, praying and confessing our common faith as expressed in the Apostles or Nicene Creeds. The preaching of the Word is normally about 40-50 minutes long. Then we commune together in the Lord's Supper, where all baptized Christians who have professed belief in Jesus Christ participate, including the little ones. We finish with one or two hymns, and are then sent out into the week with a benediction and blessing. We sing a lot of psalms and hymns that come mainly from a hymnal called The Treasury of Psalms and Hymns.
We love the fellowship of the saints, and so have incorporated a weekly potluck lunch immediately after the service where all are welcome to stay, eat, and fellowship with us. This adds to the covenantal love that we share, where we are able to get to know each other more, break bread together, and enjoy the rich fellowship.
Call to Worship
Our service begins when the minister declares the "call to worship," convening or establishing the service. This opening bookend draws our hearts and minds toward God:
- •A verse of Scripture read aloud by an elder
- •Opening invocation with prayer
- •Two hymns from our hymnal
- •Congregational reading
Confession
Like the guilt offering of the Old Testament, we first address our sin and receive God's forgiveness. We acknowledge our need for God's grace through confession and receive His assurance of pardon:
- •Scripture reading (Law of God)
- •Public prayer of confession
- •Silent confession
- •Declaration of pardon
- •Singing of Gloria Patri
Consecration
Like the ascension offering (whole burnt offering) of the Old Testament, we dedicate all to God as an offering of "entire dedication." We dedicate our lives to God through His Word and respond in worship:
- •Old Testament reading by men in the church
- •New Testament reading by men in the church
- •A hymn
- •The sermon
- •Prayers from the congregation
- •Congregational recitation of the Lord's Prayer
- •Reading of the Apostles' Creed
- •Singing of the Doxology
Communion - The Lord's Supper
Like the peace offering of the Old Testament, we are privileged to partake of the offering as a covenant meal with God. We remember Christ's sacrifice and celebrate our unity in Him. Communion is held every week, and we warmly invite to the Lord's Table anyone who has professed belief in Jesus Christ and who has been baptized:
- •Singing a hymn
- •Franklin Sanctus
- •Breaking of bread
- •Drinking the wine
- •Offering and prayer
- •Two hymns
Benediction
We conclude our worship with this closing bookend. When the minister commissions the congregation and then gives the benediction, the people of God are sent out into the world to be salt and light, having been renewed in their walk with God. We go out into a lost world that needs to hear about Jesus Christ.
Helpful Resources
Want to learn more about covenant renewal worship, Reformed theology, or our denomination? Here are some helpful resources:
Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC)
Learn about our denomination
What to Expect in a CREC Church
Christ Church Missoula
A Primer on Worship and Reformation
Canon Press
Children's Catechism - I Belong To God
Athanasius Press
Blog and Mablog
Doug Wilson's blog
Contact Us
Get in touch with our church
Join Us for Worship
We gather each Sunday at 11:00 AM at 10 E. Liberty St. to worship God together through this meaningful liturgy. Whether you're new to Reformed worship or have been following this tradition for years, we invite you to join us as we seek to glorify God and grow in our understanding of His grace.