What We Do

Liturgy

The word ‘liturgy’ refers to the pattern of public worship as the church assembles. While the term has often been associated with certain traditions within broader Christendom, every church that gathers for worship has a liturgy. To some degree, each local church gives consideration to what shape their own liturgy will take. Immanuel Bible Church approaches liturgy as a means to facilitate our worship around our great God as He has revealed His glory in the Scriptures. To that end, we intentionally shape our liturgy to follow these most significant themes of the gospel itself, which we cannot afford to forget: God, Man, Christ, and Response.

Below is a simple outline of the general shape our weekly liturgy will take. While this is not an inflexible structure, it is an intentional presentation of the gospel we confess and hold together as Immanuel Bible Church. After a brief word of welcome, the congregation will be encouraged to take a moment of spiritual preparation through: silent personal prayer, guided corporate prayer, or the reading/singing of a Psalm to ask the Lord to prepare our hearts to receive all that He has to give us. The service will then begin in this general fashion:

1. God:

 This section of our worship will include one or more of the following:

• Call to Worship: A minister will read or lead us to sing a portion of Scripture focused on the glory of God and/or pray for the Lord’s glory and the congregation’s good as we enter into worship together.
• Sing to the Lord: A congregational song of worship to God.
• Prayer of Praise: A minister will pray on behalf of the congregation.

2. Man:

  This section of our worship will include one or more of the following:

• Reading from God’s Law: A minister will read a portion of God’s Word which emphasizes the Creator’s expectations of His image-bearing creatures. This reading may emphasize our dependence upon God, our sin, or another aspect of our creaturely limitation.
• Song or prayer of confession: A minister will pray; or the congregation will sing a song which focuses on confessing our guilt before God’s Law.
• Confession of sin: A brief time for private, silent confession of sin to God
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3. Christ:

This section of our worship will include one or more of the following:

• Reading from a gospel promise: A minister will read a portion of Scripture that presents the promise of pardon in Christ alone.
• Song of Celebration: Congregational song focusing on the gospel and all of its benefits.
• The Lord’s Supper: We will partake of the Lord’s Supper every other Lord’s day.

In addition, these elements will be a part of every Lord’s day worship service:

• Scripture reading: A large portion of Scripture will be read.
• Pastoral prayer: A minister will pray for the congregation and for the Lord’s blessing on the preaching of His Word.
• Sermon: A minister will preach an expository sermon following the regular pattern of sequential exposition.

4. Response:

This section of our worship will include one or more of the following:

• Songs of response to the Word proclaimed: Congregational song.
• Confessing our faith: The congregation will recite a passage of Scripture or a creed summarizing the faith we hold together with each other and the church throughout the ages.
• Let the nations be glad: Our mission beyond our culture.
• Be doers of the Word: A call to upcoming ministry opportunities with an exhortation to take the grace of corporate worship into the “scattered” liturgy of life.
• Benediction: A minister will read a benediction from the Scripture to the congregation as the last element of our service. The Lord gets the last word of our worship gathering and sends us into the world with His blessing.