You can expect to hear biblically unashamed, text driven, Christ-centered, bold, doctrinal, and practical preaching of God’s holy word. The preaching of Christ is at the center of all of our worship services (1 Corinthians 1:23).
We have a pulpit in the center of the room where we gather for public worship. This is to visibly communicate that the central reason that we are gathered is to hear the preaching of Christ (Nehemiah 8:4-8).
The men who occupy our pulpit do not merely teach what the word of God says, but they teach how it applies to us today. You can expect to hear the whole counsel of God’s word (Acts 20:20-21 & 27). You will hear truth that instructs the head to affect the heart and the hands. You will hear truth that confronts, convicts, corrects, comforts, and, ultimately, points to Christ.
We do not have separate services for adults and children (i.e. children’s church or youth church). In all of our worship services we encourage parents and their children to worship together as a family. This way children learn from the earliest age what it looks like to see their parents worship God as sinners saved by grace alone in Christ alone (2 Timothy 1:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Joshua 8:34-35; Acts 2:39).
We know that many children find it difficult to sit in church and that it requires much time and patience for them to progress to sitting still, listening, and learning in the services, so we do have a nursery available if needed for infants and toddlers.
We only sing the Psalms and biblical hymns that follow God’s patterns for worship revealed in His word (Colossians 3:16). God takes public acts of worship very seriously in the Old and New Testament (Leviticus 10:1-2 & 1 Corinthians 11:28-30). We do not claim to be perfect in the songs we use or the music we use in our worship services, but we do strive to be biblical and careful.
By God’s grace we strive to only sing lyrics that accurately reflect the teachings of God’s word. We strive to only sing those lyrics to music that is appropriate to the message of the lyrics. The Church’s music should be appropriate to and a reflection of God’s majesty. The Church’s music should be suitable for simple congregational singing. The Church should not sing to music that is inappropriate to the message it is gathered to hear proclaimed.
We “dress up” for public worship on the Lord’s Day or Christian Sabbath (i.e. Sunday). The Lord’s Day is the most special occasion in the Church’s ordained activity. The way someone chooses to dress reflects what they think and how they feel about an occasion. The Bible uses our common understanding of this reality to communicate many significant truths to us (Revelation 7:9-10 & 1 Timothy 2:9-10).
Many people in our society still dress “their best” for many special occasions in life. Weddings, funerals, anniversaries, graduations, etc. all ordinarily stir people to put forth extra effort due to the importance of the occasion. There is not a more important occasion for a Christian than gathering on the Lord’s Day with the Lord’s people to meet with God as His truth is proclaimed.
We know that not everyone can “dress up” to come and worship the Lord because some are in a difficult stage of life. What some people are wearing is all they own. We still want those people to come and worship the Lord with us. We do not “dress down” in light of this, but we are not going to be critical of anyone that comes to worship in this assembly.
When you walk in you will see us practicing the biblical practice of head covering on all occasions of public worship. Based on the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 the men and women in the membership of our congregation observe this biblical, ancient, and beautiful practice. The men keep their heads uncovered during public worship (1 Corinthians 11:1-4) and the women keep their heads covered during public worship (1 Corinthians 11:5-10).
We know that many Christians have abandoned this practice today for various reasons. We do not believe there is any sound textual reason for abandoning the practice. In 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 the word of God reveals this practice as a non-cultural and significant symbolic act that is to be permanently part of the Church’s public worship (v.10 & 16). It is placed right alongside the apostle’s instructions about the Lord’s Supper (v.17-34). It was only recently in the 1950s and 1960s when this practice began to be abandoned by so many Christians. Before that time it was a practically universal practice of most Christians.
We know there are non-christian groups that practice head covering, but we think it is very inconsistent to do away with a biblically mandated practice simply because there are some who have perverted it into a part of their pagan religion (i.e. Quakers, the Amish, etc.). There are many groups who pervert the practice of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as well, but we do not cease observing those practices properly. There are very strong reasons revealed for why the Church is to be observing this practice. We simply cannot imagine ignoring a part of God’s holy word due to inconvenience or cultural discomfort.
The public reading and preaching of God’s word in all of our services is from the King James translation of the Bible. We do not believe that the King James Translation is the only valid translation of the infallible Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. We do believe that it is an extremely accurate and appropriate translation of the Holy Scriptures for the public worship of the English speaking Church.
It does involve a learning curve for most people today (it always has and any good modern translation does as well, albeit less). We still believe it is worth retaining its use due to its superiority of translation in general, its superiority in translating theologically rich words specifically, and its overall verified value as the reliable translation of the preserved Hebrew and Greek text for several generations of our spiritual forefathers. We do not think it is wise to sever that positive connection with previous generations without very good and irresistible reasons.