Beliefs on Worship

Romans 12:1-2
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Purpose
Once we have accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, we are commanded to fulfill our creator's purpose to worship our Saviour and Redeemer. He is the focus. Corporate worship is meant to be the wonderful “icing on the cake” of a whole life of worship. Together in corporate worship, the body of Christ is edified, equipped and encouraged to fully embrace a lifestyle of worship.

Style
Corporate worship should involve multiple worship arts, implementing each with stylistic integrity and excellence. The style of the worship should be with an appreciation for both the old and new and should also be true and relevant within our culture. Biblical truth should be a strong focus in the lyrics of the songs chosen to sing. Although the lyrics should be based on deep theological richness, they are only one of the sources of doctrinal teaching in corporate worship. The entire meeting should reflect common theological truth including song lyrics, prayer and most of all, the teaching of the scriptures.

Excellence
All corporate worship expressions (teaching, singing, praying, the Lord's Table, greeting) should be done in a way that is a fitting offering to the Lord. This demands excellence and preparation. Excellence in worship has more to do with focus than perfection. We should certainly strive for musical perfection, but our focus should always be on God. Preparation is an important element of excellence. We have achieved excellence in worship if we have prepared sufficiently to truly offer our first fruits, our very best efforts, to our God and to each other. We have not achieved excellence if our attitude is “It’s good enough for Sunday morning.” If the congregation perceives the focus to be on the music or the musician (the great voice, the beautiful clothes, the killer sound system, the cool effect, the cool graphics, the eye-catching light show, the thunderous applause, or even our own nervousness) then even if we have “succeeded” musically, we have failed to reach excellence in our worship of God.