The spiritual vitality at The Word of God Community Church is evidenced most in our worship on Sunday morning – the “Lord’s Day.” On the Lord’s Day, with joy and reverence, we worship the one true and living God through prayer, praise, the Word of God, and fellowship.
Our worship service includes prayer, scripture reading, congregational singing, the choir ministry, and God’s Word presented clearly, reverently, accurately, in an easy-to-understand way.
Word of God Community Church patterns its worship service after the public worship practiced in the 1st Century A.D. Church.
The format of the worship service in the 1st century church was implemented by the apostles. The apostles received these commands from Christ through the Holy Spirit to the praise of the Father alone.
1. The public worship service in too many sectors of the contemporary church has become bizarre, chaotic, frenzied, man-centered, and in some cases blasphemous. We at the Word of God Community Church do not want to contribute to any of the frenzy and therefore be in violation of the orderly nature of God as expressed in the Scriptures. [1] [see footnotes below]
2. The public worship service in too many sectors of the contemporary church has unfortunately degraded into nothing more than a period of entertainment which exists to make the people feel good rather than to magnify the God revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, and in the Person of Christ. All too often this form of entertainment so-called worship is a caricature or comic exaggeration of true biblical Christian worship. The Word of God Community Church does not want to contribute to this misrepresentation of true Christian worship in violation of the orderly Christian worship commanded in the Scriptures.[2]
3. We at the Word of God Community Church, through our public worship, want to share and display the common unifying doctrinal links between all who have been redeemed by the grace of God alone for this was one of the purposes of the worship in the 1st Century Church. [3]
4. It is a good thing that we at the Word of God Community Church know that after every worship service we have engaged in Scriptural worship in which any of the apostles would feel right at home, for they would discern we have engaged in worship based on the very principles given to them by Christ through the Holy Spirit.
1. There was a call to worship by the lead pastor normally based on a reading of one of the Psalms. (I Timothy 4:13 — “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of the Scripture ….”)
2. There was an opening prayer given by the lead pastor. (I Timothy 2:1-2 — “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”)
3. There was an Old Testament reading given by one of the elders/pastors/deacons. (See I Timothy 4:13 in point number one.)
4. There was a congregational song.[14] (Ephesians 5:18 — “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filed with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”)
5. There was the reading of a portion of the Psalms by an elder/pastor/deacon. (See I Timothy 4:13 in point number one.)
6. There was a congregational song. (See Ephesians 5:18 in point number four.)
7. There was a portion of scripture read from the New Testament by a pastor/elder/deacon or a lay person. (See I Timothy 4:13 in point number one.)
8. A song by congregation or Choir. (See Ephesians 5:18 in point number four; Psalm 147:1 — “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is becoming.”)
9. The sermon, aka the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures. (I Timothy 4:13 — Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching”; II Timothy 4:1-4 — “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”)
10. The offering. (II Corinthians 9:6-11 — “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever. Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”) [15]
11. There was a responsive benediction by the congregation. There are 22 of these benedictions found in the Scriptures. We will recite one each month. By doing this we will not duplicate a benediction for approximately two years. One of the classic biblical benedictions is the Aaronic Blessing recorded in Numbers 6:22-27 — “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord makes His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace. So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
1. The worship of the 1st Century church was implemented by the apostles teaching through the commands of Christ by the Holy Spirit.[4],[5]
2. The worship of the 1st Century church was to be void of confusion, but characterized by peace.[6]
3. The worship of the 1st Century church was to be conducted in a proper and orderly manner.[7]
4. The worship of the 1st Century church always incorporated the public reading of the Scriptures.[8]
5. The worship of the 1st Century church always incorporated public prayers. [9]
6. The worship of the 1st Century church always incorporated the singing of Psalms and hymns and spiritual/biblical songs.[10]
7. The worship of the 1st Century church always incorporated the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures.[11] [12]
These scriptural principles of worship were consistent in every local church from the period of the apostles up to approximately 313 A.D. However, they began to gradually change after the Roman Emperors Constantine and Lucinius made it legal to practice Christianity in both Western and Eastern Empires of Rome. This was a result of a gradual amalgamation or merger of the Church with the secular Roman government, and pagan practices which were redefined using Christian terminology.
I pray that none will misinterpret the reason we are implementing these changes in our public worship format. Misinterpretation often occurs when changes such as these are made.
There may be some who are members of the Word of God Community Church who conclude that, because we at the Word of God Community Church worship in the mode of the 1st Century Church, we are a spiritually superior local church or body of believers. Or there may be some who are not part of the Word of God Community Church who think we have adjusted the form of our public worship to be a superior brand of Christian.
This is not the intent of the Word of God Community Church. Such an attitude is indicative of those who are spiritually immature and lacking in biblical discernment. No matter what the style or form of public worship, redemption is by grace through faith alone; in Jesus Christ alone according to texts such as Ephesians 2:8 — “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
No matter the form or style of worship, all who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ through repentance of sin and faith in the gospel, are one and the same with all others who have been saved by the grace of God. Paul summarizes this succinctly in Galatians 3:26-28 — “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Because of the four points stated above, the simple truth is that we have restructured our public worship to conform to a 1st Century Church pattern.
[1] I Corinthians 14:33 — “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
[2] I Corinthians 14:23 — “Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and the ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are mad?”
[3] Ephesians 4:3-6 — “Be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
[4] I Cor. 14:37 — “If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.” These words were given by Paul the Apostle through the Holy Spirit in the context of orderly worship in the public church service. Based on these words we conclude the public worship in the 1st Century Church was based on the direct commands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[5] Acts 2:42 — “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching/doctrine….” This was inclusive of public worship.
[6] I Corinthians 14:33 — “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints.” Once again, Paul’s statement by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was in the context of the public worship in the church.
[7] I Cor. 14:40 — “But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.” Once again, the context of this statement is public worship in the local church.
[8] I Tim. 4:13 — “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture….”
[9] I Tim. 2:8 — “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”
[10] Eph. 5:17-20 — “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”
[11] I Tim. 4:13 — “Until I come, given attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.”
[12] I Tim. 4:1-2 — “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
[13] We know these principles to be the pattern of public worship in the first three hundred years of the Church because of the abundance of liturgies and worship programs which have been discovered by archeologists and church historians.
[14] There will be no changes in the style or music in which we sing for the ultimate goal of our worship of God through song is to reinforce biblical truth in our minds and to prepare our hearts and minds to readily received the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures.
[15] We will have announcements after the offering.