Gathering for public worship on the Lord’s Day is the most important thing we do as a church. God promises to be active in the assembly of His people by His Spirit through the means of grace: the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments. Through these means, God is pleased to create faith and strengthen it in the hearts of sinners. Here, we meet with our risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who ministers to us by proclaiming His Word of pardon and grace and by giving Himself to us in the sacraments. We also commune with one another as fellow pilgrims, sharing our gifts, teaching, admonishing, and encouraging one another in the faith.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
~ Romans 1:16
We believe, along with the writers of the Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms, that our chief and highest end is to “glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” In light of this, our worship is governed by the following faith and practices.
- We emphasize the God-ordained means of grace (word and sacraments) rather than human methods.
- Christ-centered preaching is essential to us because we believe the gospel not only has the power to save but also to motivate us to good works.
- We believe worship must be conducted only according to God's direct commands in Scripture. This is also referred to as the regulative principle of worship.
- We believe worship is a two-way communication between God and His people. When you visit, you may notice that our worship is structured as an alternating dialogue, in which God calls us into His presence, speaks to us, and we respond in faith and worship. This approach is often called the dialogical principle of worship.
- Because we are confessional, we confess our faith publicly during worship.
We welcome you to join us as we seek to answer God's call to worship Him. “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths” ~ Is. 2:3