“God with us”
Emmanuel means “God with us”, and that’s particularly true as his people gather to worship Him. At EPC, we consider corporate worship to be the most important thing we do as a church. Everything else we may do flows from this aspect of our life together.
You can view a pdf version of our Order of Worship here.
Why We Worship As We Do
We take to heart Paul’s declaration in 2 Timothy 3:15-17 that the Bible is sufficient in equipping us for every good work, including God’s will for us in worship. As the Lord subdues our hearts to His will, it is our hope to consistently meet the Lord’s expectations of us in each week’s corporate worship.
Notice that the order of worship is conversational. Worship is a dialog between God and His people. This dialog is rooted in the kernel of the Gospel; that God has called out for Himself a people and has covered them with Christ’s righteousness that He may commune with them. So this conversation, this communion, is of His initiation. He calls us into audience with Him, and He dismisses us with His blessing. And between the two, He speaks to us, dispensing grace through His ordained means of word and sacrament. The very idea that God has called us into His presence as His children gives us confidence to boldly respond to Him! God’s children respond in worship by hearing, praying, singing, giving, confessing, and supping. God has provided for us a worship that brings the whole gospel to the whole person.
The richest, most comprehensive communion with the Triune God comes through worshiping in ‘spirit and truth.’ Thus, we seek to pray the Word, sing the Word, read the Word, and preach the Word as God has laid out in His Word. Moreover, we seek to engage our hearts in this Lord’s Day conversation, knowing He’s given us new hearts capable of loving Him.
We wholeheartedly agree with John Piper when he says:
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever”