Theology of Worship

why worship?

The ultimate end for which God created man is to see God's glory and worship Him with our whole person. Jesus said to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Worship is therefore the motive and the goal of all our deeds done for any reason. Seeing and being captivated by the glory of God makes us long to align ourselves with God's purposes. And the goal of everything we do as a church is to ultimately build up believers and unbelievers alike into people with greater and greater capacities and desires to praise the glory of God's grace. Therefore, at GVF, every aspect of the Sunday morning worship service will have as its goal a vertically directed, Christ-centered, God glorifying worship focus.

is GVF a seeker-sensitive church?

Yes and No. In the past twenty or so years there has been a trend toward what has become known as seeker-sensitive worship. This teaching assumes that people are seeking God and that church is the best place to evangelize them. Subsequently, the worship at seeker-sensitive churches has become more of a concert that people in church observe, rather than a worship experience that they participate in. While the desire to see non-Christians converted to saving faith in Jesus Christ is worthy, the methods employed are not biblically justifiable.

First, the purpose of the church service is not to reach unbelievers nor is it to build up Christians, as much as it is to call everyone to repentance of sin and faith in Jesus to the glory of God. In this way, if the worship of Jesus and the communication of His person and work (i.e. the gospel) is the heart of a church service, it will be applicable to Christians and non-Christians alike, as they both need Jesus. This explains why it is common in Scripture to see non-Christians converted in the midst of a worship gathering of God’s people (e.g., Acts 2:42-47; I Corinthians 14:24-26; Psalm 105:1-2).

Second, the Bible repeatedly teaches that we are to worship before the nations, which means that when God’s people meet to adore their Maker and sing His praises, unbelievers are compelled to see His goodness and cry out for His salvation (Isaiah 2:1-4, 56:6-8, Psalm 47:1, 100:1-5, 102:18, 117).

Third, while at GVF we try to be sensitive to non-Christians by making what we say and do intelligible (e.g., I Corinthians 14), we also realize that the gospel itself is an offense, and that no matter how loving and sensitive we are, some people will simply dislike hearing that they are sinful and need Jesus to be righteous (e.g., Galatians 5:11, etc.). So, at GVF, we seek not to focus on programming a church service for the building up of believers or for reaching out to non-Christians but to lift up Jesus so He can draw everyone to Himself.

what things should occur in a church worship service?

The Scriptures provide a number of directives regarding corporate worship:

•Prayer (I Tim. 2:1; Eph. 6:18)

•Scripture reading (I Tim. 4:13; I Thess. 5:27)

•Preaching (I Tim. 4:13; II Tim. 4:2)

•Singing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16)

•Giving of tithes and offerings (I Cor. 16:1-2; Php. 4:18)

•Communion (I Cor. 11:17-34)

 

what is the worship style at GVF?

The worship style at GVF is contemporary rather than traditional. This means that we distinguish between form and function in worship and believe that forms can change. Traditional styles tend to equate form and function and do not allow forms to change. At GVF, we are not bound by the traditions of men to practice worship in a static way. We seek to glorify God through forms of worship that are dynamic and relevant to contemporary man. This means that Sunday morning worship gatherings which in seeking to be Christ-centered, ought to include such things as communicating with Jesus (prayer) , reading about Jesus (scripture), teaching and learning about Jesus (preaching), singing a new song to Jesus (musical praise), giving our resources to Jesus (offering), and remembering Jesus’ work (communion). Of course, the expression, style, or form of these biblical functions can change to the glory of God in our contemporary culture. At GVF, we constantly strive to evaluate our forms of worship in an effort to be creative while maintaining a reverence for the holy presence of God in our midst. I.e. We seek to be dynamically reverent!

what are the sunday service worship elements at GVF?

…Let us be thankful and please God by worshipping Him with holy fear and awe.

For our God is a consuming fire. –Hebrews 12:28-29

Each service is designed to be a dynamic encounter with the infinite God who is the essence of goodness and sacrificial love. Worship stems from the human need to bless our great God who exists and is the source of existence for all things. Inevitably, when we focus our life and our activity on the worship of God we are transformed in the process. This transformation is truly exciting and it is the reality of living the abundant and eternal life now.

The GVF Sunday service, at some level, must have structure, pattern, design, and finite boundaries. However, purposeful flexibility and intentional spontaneity can balance structure and can, therefore, create an atmosphere which is both predictable and unpredictable in different aspects. We will intend to be fresh and dynamic while relying on the Holy Spirit to give us guidance, direction, wisdom, and structure each time we gather together. We will attempt to enter into God’s timeless presence within time to experience his unchanging yet active reality within His creation.

elements of the service- flexible structure:

-musical praise

-communion

-learning revelation

-creative forms

musical praise

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. -Psalm 100:1-3

Music, in general, stirs the soul especially the emotions. Every form of worship ought to be vertically oriented with its primary goal to glorify the only One worthy to be praised. We ultimately have an audience of One. Music that focuses primarily on the individual rather than on the only appropriate Object of worship, although it may cause an emotional response, is not ultimately satisfying to the soul. Musical praise that truly worships and adores God while utilizing the whole being- mind, emotion and body, and which lifts up His glory will inevitable result in the experience of God’s transforming power. This is our purpose for musical praise: to glorify God and encounter His glory.

At GVF, each service will include reverent and energetic musical praise. The worship team’s goal is to help the local gathering of God’s people to praise their Creator and thus enjoy God’s immanent and life changing presence. The team seeks to lead the church into a truth-based worship of God in order to get an experiential glimpse of His majesty. Our worship seeks to sing a new song to God, to lift up His name, by bringing fresh, God-focused, Christ-centered, Spirit-inspired musical praise.

 

communion/breaking bread/the Lord’s supper

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. -John 6:51

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship,

to the breaking of bread and to prayer. –Acts 2:42

On the first Sunday of every month, GVF participates in communion, aka the Lord’s Supper. We utilize various approaches to the ceremony of breaking bread. This observance though primarily a remembrance of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, is not simply a mental exercise of remembering the cross of Christ, but it also involves a spiritual action where through faith we embrace what Christ accomplished on the cross for us, once and for all. The breaking of bread is a time of sacred seriousness where believers remember and praise God for becoming incarnate, living a sinless life, and dying on the cross to reconcile us to Himself.

learning revelation

Your word is a lamp onto my feet, and a light onto my path. -Psalm 119:105

God has revealed His nature and character to humanity through both general and specific revelation. He has revealed Himself generally through the created order, but has specifically revealed Himself through Jesus Christ and through the written words of the Holy Bible. Communicating the being and goodness of the infinite God, and His story and plan for humanity by means of His specific revelation in the Bible, is essential to the real life of His people. Scripture is the primary place to learn about who God is, how he acts, and what He desires of His followers.

 

creative forms

Christianity is not a modern man-made organized religion, but one that is organic, community-oriented and has historical roots going back to the very beginning of time. We do not rely completely on modern and contemporary approaches to worship services and ministry methodology to shape what church is supposed to be. Rather, we have gone back into the New Testament and looked at church history to see what the early-church was like, and are trying to translate that into a vision and design for a church in today's time and culture. We draw from the vast resource of the Christian spiritual journey and are not afraid to look into the past to find a way into the future. We are convinced of the dichotomy between form and function. Therefore we are intentionally closed to reinterpretations of orthodox theology and gospel (function) but intentionally open to new forms and styles of carrying out and proclaiming the truth.

Grace Valley Fellowship at the National Christian Conference Center - 1485 Valley Forge Rd (Rte 23) Valley Forge, PA - 610.935.7960 - Sundays 10:30am

Copyright 2009 Grace Valley Fellowship