What comes to mind when you hear someone say, “I’m going to church”? Perhaps it is songs, activities, or even a building. Though such things are indeed part of people’s experience at a church, they are not the primary work of a church.
The primary work of a church is worshiping God. Worship must be the centerpiece and the central activity. Without worship, a church is not a church. What was the key characteristic of the earliest New Testament churches? They gathered for worship. What is the one thing we know for sure that all of God’s people will be doing for eternity? They will be worshiping him together!
At Covenant, the most important activity or ministry we have each week is the time when we meet for corporate worship. Christians are to worship God every day in all aspects of their lives, but corporate worship is the unique time each week when God’s people are called out of the world and assembled in his presence for the sole purpose of worshiping him. Corporate worship takes place on the Lord’s Day because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday. Therefore, when God’s people rest from their weekly labors and cares by worshiping together on the Lord’s Day, they are gaining a foretaste of the final rest Jesus secured for his people by his death, resurrection, and ascension. A regular pattern of worshiping reminds believers to seek the things that are above, where Christ himself is seated at God’s right hand and reigning over all things, and it encourages other Christians, reminding them that they are part of God’s family.
Everyone participates in corporate worship, whether through singing, reading responsively, actively listening, or silently praying. We hold to the regulative principle of worship, meaning that we only include those elements of worship that are directly commanded or clearly reflected in the Bible. These include a call to worship, prayer, singing of psalms and hymns, the reading and preaching of God’s word, giving of tithes and offerings, and a benediction. The other elements of our service are the two New Testament sacraments, the Lord’s Supper (once each month) and Baptism (for new believers and covenant children).
If you want to know what we believe and value here at Covenant, come worship with us!
“Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…” Hebrews 12:28