Every few weeks I like to share an example of one of our worship services from Grace Fellowship Church. I do so hoping they serve as a model of how one church attempts to worship the Lord in a distinctly biblical way.
This service’s cast of characters included Paul as our service leader, Josh as our lead worshipper, Dwight (one of our associate pastors) as the elder who read the Scripture text and prayed. I preached. Our band consisted of two guitars and one piano accompanying one male and one female vocalist. The various elements of the service are in bold with the name of the person who led the element in parentheses. Items in quotes or blockquotes represent roughly what the person said to the congregation. Items not in quotes are explanatory. The entire service took approximately 90 minutes.
Welcome & Call to Worship (Josh)
Josh began our service by reading Psalm 19:1–2: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” He then said, “Everything God has made invites you to worship Him today—from the glory of the sun and skies, to the wonder of the smallest bug. All that is made points to the Maker. So why don’t you shut down your electronic devices and open up your hearts. Come and worship our Great Creator.”
Singing (Josh)
- “Creation Sings the Father’s Song”
Corporate Reading (Paul)
“Let’s practise what we will spend eternity singing!” We then read the words of Revelation 4:11 together: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Prayer of Adoration
Paul prayed a brief prayer of adoration.
Singing (Josh)
- “My One Comfort”
- “Grace Alone”
Complementary Scripture Reading (Paul)
Paul read Malachi 2:13-16 as a text that appropriately complemented the text for the sermon.
Prayer of Confession (Paul)
Paul led us in a prayer of confession which confessed our involvement and complicity in the kinds of sins described in the text he had just read.
Singing (Josh)
- “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
Scripture Reading (Dwight)
“Please take your Bible and turn to Genesis 1. We will be be reading beginning in verse 26 and continuing into chapter 2. That will be on page 1 if you are using one of our church Bibles.” He began the reading with “This is what Holy Scripture says…” and ended it with “This is the word of the Lord,” to which the congregation replied, “Thanks be to God.”
Pastoral Prayer (Dwight)
Dwight led the pastoral prayer in which he prayed for a number of issues relevant to the life of the church. This prayer was perhaps five minutes in length.
Singing (Josh)
- Psalm 2
Sermon (Tim)
I preached on the theme of The Christian Family, taking Genesis 1-2 as my starting point.
Singing (Josh)
- “O Great God”
Commission (Paul)
Paul commissioned the church to live out the truths we heard in the service and especially in the sermon. This served as a bridge to tell about some of the events and opportunities coming up in the week(s) ahead.
Benediction (Paul)
“Receive this blessing of the Lord from His Word: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ AMEN.”
