The primary purpose of our worship gatherings is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus. We want to make every effort to clarify why Jesus, who is God, lived perfectly, died for sinners, rose again and will return and what that means for our everyday living. Even if you have attended Missio for weeks or months, you may not have noticed the intentionality of design in our worship gatherings. I’m working this out on the blog so that you can maximize your participation as we worship together.
As explained previously, there isn’t a Biblical prescription for how group worship gatherings are to be executed. Even though some things are taught as necessary for inclusion (preaching the Gospel, singing, and the like), no order of public worship (aka “Liturgy”) is given in the Bible. This often comes as a surprise to folks who have any sort of background with church participation. Some are familiar with a low form of church order and expect an extended warm-up of singing and praying before a man in a suit or t-shirt stands before them and talks about the Bible. Others are more accustomed to standing, sitting, bowing, chanting, lighting candles and incense, and listening to a few words read from a lectionary before darting out to catch kick-off.
We believe and value an approach to group worship that can be explained simply as Revelation and Response. The pattern continually explained in the Scriptures is that God reveals Himself and the people to whom He reveals Himself respond. Our hope and prayer is that God would be gracious and reveal Himself to us and that we would respond joyfully and faithfully to Him. Therefore our Liturgy is structured to maximize that desire.
The elements included are as follows:
(Revelation)
-Hospitable Welcome
-Call to Worship
-Prayer
-Gospel Sermon
(Response)
-Offering
-Eucharist (or Communion)
-Response
-Body Life
-Benediction
We believe that this order aids us to celebrate God’s victory over sin and injustice, convict and transform sinners to become saints (or forgiven sinners), and announce the coming of God’s eternal Kingdom.
In the upcoming posts, I’ll break down the theology and practice of each element. We’ll begin with Hospitality and finish up with Benediction.
