What to Expect When You Visit Us

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The first thing you will notice is that we do not have a church building. We are currently meeting in the pastor's home.
Consider meeting with God's people in the home of a member like the early disciples did. (1 Corinthians 16:19; Philemon 2)

The next thing you'll notice is our people. You'll find a small congregation of ardent worshipers of God from whom you'll get a warm greeting. You'll also notice that we like to sing--a lot. We not only have a part of our service dedicated to singing, but we sing at the change of each "movement" of our service. You'll hear a blend of modern, older and ancient music. As long as the threefold requirements of corporate singability, doctrinal integrity, and content richness are met, a song is deemed appropriate.

On that note, you'll see that like a carefully composed piece of music, our services have several movements that are very carefully constructed around a common theme. You won't find a distinction between the worship part of the service and the preaching part of the service. We see the whole activity as worship. You'll find that we blend liturgy (such as responsive readings, corporate prayers) and spontaneity throughout the service so that everyone has a sense of participation. We consider the congregation of God's assembled people to be the Worship Team. The Word of God fills our services. From scriptures read by the leader to corporate readings to a time of "being devoted to the public reading of scripture," the words of God play a central role in our gatherings.

One of the elders, or a man selected by the elders, will spend 30-45 minutes expounding the Word of God. This is usually done in the form of an expository message, though other types of preaching do occur. We have had a number of capable ministers of God's Word in our midst and have been blessed throughout our years with much great preaching and receive a well-balanced diet of exegesis, doctrine, and exhortation from the whole canon. We respond to the message together as a congregation in the form of an appropriate song. You won't find an altar call, though the elders are happy to speak with you after the service about any response, prayer requests or other concerns you may have.

We also celebrate the Lord's Supper every week. For several in our midst, this is the highlight of the gathering. This is where the Gospel is presented to us in dramatic fashion through the elements of bread and of wine. We serve matza bread, wine out of a common cup, or wine and grape juice out of individual cups. If you trust in Christ alone to save you from your sins and are seeking to live a life of honor to him, we welcome you to the table.

Our services always begin with a call to worship and end with a benediction. Both of these are taken directly from scripture. The former calls us from the busyness of everyday life to set our minds and affections on God alone. A couple of examples from Scripture are Psalm 95:1-3, 6-7 and Psalm 100. Benedictions bring God's good words such as Christ's grace and peace to the people through the pronouncement by the minister. Examples from Scripture are Numbers 6:24-26 and 2 Corinthians 13:14. Such actions mark the beginning and end of a formal meeting of God and his gathered people for holy dialogue. You can see this illustrated on any of our Worship Guides.

Our prayer and hope for every worship service is that God through Christ would be exalted in the midst of his people so that the worshipers would receive a rich feast of the Word of God, and that the Holy Spirit would nourish and refresh the congregation in our holy faith.