Our Shared Core Convictions about Worship
Jordan Clegg & Brian Keepers
Revised 9/22/08
· Worship is the enactment of God’s Story.
Worship is enacting God’s Story in the form of a conversation. Both God and the community of worshippers engage in a dialogue that recalls God’s faithfulness throughout history, anticipates God’s future when Christ returns, and enables us to be attentive to God’s presence with us here and now. Well planned, intentional worship engages the whole person (heart, mind and senses) not only through word, music and movement but also in the physical space we inhabit. All of these things should empower us to more fully enact this story of salvation.
· Worship is an end in itself.
Worship is what we have been created and redeemed for! The Westminster Confession reminds us that “the chief end of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” We worship God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—because God is worthy to be praised.
· Worship is also a means to an end.
It is in worship that we are formed as God’s people, transformed into the image of Christ, and sent to participate in God’s mission in the world. For this reason, worship can never be a negotiable. It is essential to the shaping of our very identity and vocation.
· God’s Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are central to our worship.
As a Reformed church, we affirm the theology of our heritage that emphasis the central place of both word and sacrament in worship (Christ is present to us in both). The sacraments are joyous celebrations of our identity in Christ, his presence among us, and our calling to participate in God’s mission in the world. Because of their importance, these celebrations should include God’s entire family.
· Worship is a contextual, fully communal and participatory event.
Worship includes all Christians from both the past and the present, global and local. We gather on Sunday with the expectation that we will encounter the living God and be nourished in our faith and with the attitude that we will participate even if we don’t feel like it. Worship is an event for the whole community—young and old, men and women, all skins colors, all people without any discrimination. And while we are mindful that our worship is connected to all God’s people stretching as far back so as to include all the saints who have come before us and as far wide so as to include every tribe and tongue on the planet, we also recognize that worship must arise out of the unique context of the local congregation. It cannot be imposed or imported. Worship is most engaging for people and most honoring to God when it comes from the hearts of the people.
· Worship should utilize all the creative arts that are available to the congregation and cultivate the creativity of every child of God.
We recognize that worship is more than just singing (as important as this is). We enact God’s story through other elements as well, drawing from the unique gifts of members of the congregation and also cultivating the creativity of all worshippers (as being made in the image of God and remade in the image of Christ means that we are all creative in some capacity).
· Worship should be executed with both authenticity and excellence by all who lead.
God deserves our very best and nothing less. We offer our “first fruits” and best offering not in order to win God’s approval or appease God but out of gratitude to the God who has given us his best for the salvation of the world. The goal is not “perfection” (which is unattainable anyway) but authenticity, faithfulness and excellence. Preparing and executing well, and adapting well to inevitable mistakes, empowers people to engage more fully in worship and not be distracted.
· Worship is intimately and inseparably related to Mission.
We are most missional when we are most faithful to the Lordship of Jesus in our worship.And it is from worship that we are sent into the world to continue our worship by offering our very lives as a living sacrifice and joining God in mission.
