Although our worship may be somewhat different to what you have been used to, it is nevertheless based upon a Biblical pattern.
In this section we would look to simply explain the reason why we worship as we do, from the Bible. We trust that this simple explanation will be a help to your understanding and also an encouragement to you too will feel able to participate in our style of worship to the Living God.
Why do we praise, thank and worship God?
Thanksgiving is the act of expressing our gratitude to God for all the things He has done for us.
Praise takes place when we speak well of God, When we appreciate who He is.
Worship occurs when we pour out our love and adoration for God, when we honour Him above all others.
Matt 4:10 Jesus said to him “Away from me Satan! For it is written: worship the Lord your God and serve Him only”. (NIV)
How should we worship God?
John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
John 4:24 God is spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. (NIV)
Why do we stand to sing?
2 Chron 29:19 Then some Levites from Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with every loud voice, (NIV)
Rev 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
Rev 7:10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (NIV)
Why do we clap our hands?
Psa 47:1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Why do we lift our hands?
The raising of hands is a gesture to God of our surrender, receptivity, welcome and homage.
Psa 63:41 I will praise you as long as I love, and in your name I will lift up my hands. (NIV)
Psa 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. (NIV)
1Tim 2:8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. (NIV)
Why do we speak out audible praise to God?
1Chron 16:4 He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel:
1Chron 16:36 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said ‘Amen’ and ‘Praise the Lord’.
Psa 103:1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Psa 103:2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (NIV)
Heb 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. (NIV)
1Chron 15:28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of Lyres and harps. (NIV)
Why do we dance ?
David danced before the Lord as an expression of his joy and excitement at being in the presence of the Lord.
2Sam 6:14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might.
Psa 149:3 Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourine and harp. (NIV)
Why does the whole church pray at once for specific needs?
Prayer is when we speak to God, often laying our requests before Him on behalf of others, or even ourselves.
Acts 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. (NIV)
Why do we receive tithes and offerings ?
A tithe is literally when God requests us to give Him one tenth of our income. It is the fairest way of giving known to man, for it is in proportion to our income. God regards the tithe as His by right. An offering is what we give to God in addition to our tithe.
Mal 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, “says the LORD Almighty”, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. (NIV)
Why is there preaching and teaching in church?
Preaching is the declaration of Good News. Teaching is the unfolding of God’s truth. Both have been sanctioned as God’s way of communicating His message to mankind. It is the way we grow in faith, knowledge and the love of God.
Romans 10:14 How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? and how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.
1 Timothy 4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
SALVATION: We believe in the necessity for the salvation of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by which the sinner is pardoned and accepted as righteous in God’s sight. This justification is imputed by the grace of God because of the atoning work of Christ, is received by faith alone and is evidence by the Fruit of the Spirit and a holy life.
THE CHURCH: We believe in the spiritual unity and the priesthood of all believers in Christ and that these comprise the Universal Church, the Body of Christ.
THE MINISTRY: We believe in the ministries that Christ has set in His Church, namely, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers and in the present operation of the manifold gifts of the Spirit according to the New Testament.
THE ORDINANCES: We believe in the baptism of believers by immersion in water in obedience to the command of Christ and in the commemoration of Christ’s death by the observance of the Lord’s Supper until His return.
THE COMMISSION: We believe that the Gospel embraces the needs of the whole man and that the Church is therefore commissioned to preach the Gospel to the world and to fulfil a ministry of healing and deliverance to the spiritual and physical needs of mankind.
THE COMING KING: We believe in the personal, physical and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign in power and glory.
THE FUTURE STATE: We believe in the resurrection of the dead and in the final judgement of the world, and eternal conscious bliss of the righteous and the eternal conscious punishment of the wicked.