Worship

"Worship the Lord with gladness; come before God with joyful songs!"

Worshipping God together is more than a religious activity to us: Worship is a core value of our existence. At First Christian we believe that making much of God together through corporate worship is vitally important, and something that we will continue to do on into eternity. Our services are designed first and foremost to worship God in spirit and in truth as a community of believers. As we do so, God builds up God’s Church through the power of God’s presence and sends us out to let others know what a difference God can make in their lives as he has in ours.

How We Worship

Our worship is made up of four central elements; the Word, prayer, the Lord’s supper, and music.

The Word is presented in scripture, readings and sermon by our Pastor Karen Merrick and a team of guest ministers, Deacons, Elders, and lay people. The sermons are soul searching and relevant with applications to our lives.

Prayer is used throughout our service as we pray for each other, ourselves and the world beyond. We view prayer as our central connecting point to God.
The Lord’s Supper is celebrated every Sunday and in most of our worship services.

The Lord’s Supper or Communion is open to all who are followers of Jesus Christ. The practice of Holy Communion is a central element of worship within the Disciples of Christ tradition. Disciples’ observance of the Lord’s Supper echoes the Passover feast, when Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the living Christ is met and received in the sharing of the bread and the cup, representing the body and blood of Jesus. The presence of the living Lord is affirmed and is proclaimed to be the dominant power in our lives.

Music in our worship service uses a variety of styles. Music in our service might be described as traditional but we often draw from contemporary, gospel and classical styles. We believe worship Music is to be God-Centered. Our worship team is not a performance team, but seeks to encourage the entire congregation to lift their voices to God in praise and to focus all of our attention on worshiping God’s awesome name. Whether a worship band, our voice or bell choir, or a soloist, everyone in our worship and music ministry team has as a goal to lift up the name of Jesus and the spiritual encouragement of the congregation.

"Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise God's holy name!"

Additionally, our worship team strives to present all of these worship elements in a beautiful visual backdrop. Using our well designed and beautiful sanctuary as a backdrop, each week, the worship team works to support our worship so as to be pleasing to the eye and meaningful. Our music team with help from instruments usually found in a concert hall and a state of the art sound system and projection system, support an atmosphere designed to draw all participants closer to God. Our song lyrics are projected onto the main screen, and even first-time visitors find it very inviting and easy to join in with the singing. We provide a listening system that is easy to access for those who need help hearing. There are no stairs in and out of the sanctuary and there are access doors that allow worshipers to come and go discreetly. We provide large print bulletins and there are plenty of wheel chair spaces available. There is a children’s sermon and we offer a children’s church after the children’s message.

We hope above all else is that our services are encounters with the living God, and that we are challenged to love and serve God more wholeheartedly as a result of meeting together.