Our worship style is simple and ordinary.
Some might find it interesting that we would describe our worship service as simple and ordinary. Those words don’t sound exciting or entertaining.
What we mean by simple (not simplistic) and ordinary is that we simply aim to do in our worship what God has commanded in His Word- nothing more, nothing less.
Our worship “style” values what God has revealed to us in His word more than human creativity or originality.
Our worship is simple, sure, but beyond its simple surface, there is housed an inexhaustible storehouse of meaning and impact.
In worship, we are called to do simple things, having this assurance: when we attend to what God directly commands, we should expect our Father in heaven—by the Spirit through our vital union with Jesus Christ (who makes our worship acceptable)—to work in ways that nurture and sustain us for our good and his glory.
This kind of worship is simultaneously simple, profound, and beautiful.
At Providence Church we have a threefold purpose in worship.
Our first and foremost purpose is to glorify God in the worship that we bring to Him. We believe that worship is above all things God-centered. When we worship, we are not about the business of entertaining or being entertained. Our goal when we gather together corporately on the Lord ’s Day, above everything else, is to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” (Heb. 12:28) We desire to worship the living God on the Lord’s Day in a manner that demonstrates that worship is the most important and central activity that we do as a church.
The second purpose of our worship is the edification (“building up”) of the Saints. Worship is the primary means by which our Lord grows his children up to maturity. As we come to meet with our Savior, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, we have his promise that he will fill us. In worship, our Savior satisfies our spiritual hunger as he feeds us with the bread of his word and quenches our thirst with the living water of his Spirit. As we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we are nourished and sustained by the gospel and enabled to persevere in our pilgrim journey. In worship we meet with the living God of heaven and earth, and discover that refreshment of heart and soul and the fullness of joy that can only be found in His presence.
The third purpose of our worship is to proclaim the good news of the redemption accomplished by Christ. We desire that those who come into our worship service might, as the Scriptures say, “be cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) by the preaching of the gospel, that “falling on their face, they will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” (1 Cor. 14:25) At Providence Church we believe that God uses the foolishness of preaching to save sinners, and we would willingly be fools for Christ’s sake in order that the gospel might be both the wisdom and power of God unto salvation.
At Providence Church, we follow the regulative principle of worship. This simply means that God “regulates” what we do in worship. The church must never forget that worship is for God and so it is his to decide what we do in worship. We do in worship only those things that the Scriptures explicitly command or implicitly approve. Rather than limiting our expression in worship, we believe that the regulative principle gives us great confidence and freedom to worship God in the way that we know is pleasing to him. It is for this reason that our worship is centered on the means of grace (preaching, sacraments, and prayer). These are the primary means that God has given for our growth as Christians.
Preaching: Scripture teaches that preaching should reflect upon who God is and what God has done for us. This is the way preaching begins in the Old Testament and in the New. The gospel (God becoming man to die and rise from the dead on our behalf) is the most glorious expression of this. In response, we are to believe and obey God’s word. Preaching that only emphasizes part of this is less than biblical preaching.
Sacraments: The sacraments of the New Covenant are baptism and the Lord's supper. Scripture teaches that the sacraments are God-given signs and seals of the covenant, intended to remind us of the promises of God and of our communion with him and with one another. These are often downplayed in the church as being mere traditions. A faithful church should seek to administer the sacraments faithfully and regularly.
Prayer: Scripture teaches that prayer is one of those ways in which God humbles us and conforms our will to his. It is a beautiful way of expressing our dependence upon God and our trust in him. Scripture also commands prayer and gives guidelines concerning how it should be employed corporately. A faithful church should be a praying church.