At New Covenant we believe that worship is one of the three most significant things we are called to do together as the church in the world. The Great Commission can be divided into these three elements--evangelism, discipleship and worship. The goal of witnessing to our Lord Jesus Christ is so that we will see men, women, boys and girls, come to a saving knowledge and become worshipers of our Lord Jesus. So much of the discipleship that we read of in Scripture occurs in the gathered assembly of believers who have come together to worship God. We believe that these three aspects of the Great Commission are interrelated and mutually informing.
To that end, we earnestly want to know how God desires to be worshiped. We do not believe that the term worship should be used merely with regard to the musical or singing elements of our collective gathering. When we use the term worship we use it with reference to the totality of the service we render as we gather to ascribe to God for the glory due His name.
As we search the Scriptures we find the following elements: Prayers, Singing, Reading of God's word, Preaching of God's word, Confession of sin, Confessions of faith, Giving, and the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord's Supper). In our desire to apply both the prescriptive and descriptive elements of Scriptural worship to our church, we use the following order of worship in our service:
- Call to Worship
- Prayer of Invocation
- Psalm/Hymn of Praise
- Reading of the Law of God
- Confession of Sin
- Assurance of Pardon
- Hymn of Response to the Gospel - We generally sing a modern Gospel-centered hymn.
- Old Testament Reading - if preaching from the NT, and NT if preaching from the OT.
- Prayer for the Church and the World
- Giving of Tithes and Offerings
- Sermon Text
- Sermon
- Lord's Supper - We try to sing a well known Gospel-centered hymn that corresponds to some aspect of the sermon or the Lord's Supper)
- Benediction