Practices in Worship
Balanced Preaching
The preaching of the Word forms the heart of the worship service, and it is heavily emphasized. It is important that the preaching is balanced. It must be Scriptural, as it is the proclamation of the Word of God before the congregation. The preaching must be rooted in the infallible, authoritative Word of God. Christ must be preached in fullness, as the Savior and only Remedy for sin. And the preaching must be experiential, bringing out how God, by His Spirit, works in the heart of a sinner and how Christ’s work is applied to the believer by the Holy Spirit. In the preaching, the sinner is to be pointed to the Savior of sinners. In summary, the content of the preaching must be that of “a rich Christ and a poor sinner.”
Scripture Translation
The use of a faithful translation is of critical importance to the sound instruction and spiritual well-being of the Church. We hold the King James Version (KJV) to be a faithful, time-tested, and doctrinally-sound translation and are committed to its exclusive use in all formal Church functions, to include worship services. We see no suitable alternative translation at the present time and are confident in the fruits of its use in the Church in times past.
Psalms in Worship
We affirm the practice of using psalms for congregational singing in all worship services, finding this practice firmly rooted in Scripture. We do not believe that the divinely inspired words of the psalmists can be improved upon, and we can have every confidence that when we sing the Words of Scripture in worship to their Author, the words we sing are pleasing to Him. Therefore, we can find no compelling reason to deviate from this practice.
Orderly Worship
While much focus is often rightly placed on sound doctrine, at times the sound practice of worship receives less attention and scrutiny, particularly in the present day. However, we have numerous examples from God’s Word that clearly show to us that our God is a perfect God who requires of His people that they worship him properly and in a manner that is pleasing to him (Lev. 10:1-3, 2 Sam. 6:5-7, 1 Chron. 13:7-10) We take the warnings of Scripture to mean that we must be careful to safeguard the manner and tone in which our worship services are conducted. The Scriptures also teach that worship should be orderly (I Cor 14: 26, 33, 40), as God is a God of order. Because of this, we use an order of worship that dates back to the time of the Reformation. You can find the outline below:
Votum and Salutation
Singing of a Psalter
Reading of the Law (Morning Service)
Reading of Scripture
Apostles’ Creed
Singing of a Psalter
Prayer
Singing of a Psalter
Sermon
Prayer
Singing of a Psalter
Benediction
Singing of a Doxology