What to Expect

Visiting a church for the first time can be a little weird, so here’s what to expect:

We believe that God has given the church weekly worship to come together in the name of Jesus Christ, and to worship the Triune God for His sake.

We use this time to worship God in a way that He delights in, according to the Scriptures. We believe this can be done in a way that is both reverent and joyful.

What to wear

We are not particularly concerned with what you wear. Occasionally people wear Hawaiian shirts and sandals, sometimes folks wear a suit or heels and a dress. It’s very difficult to look out of place. Jeans are common.

Arrival

You’ll want to arrive a few minutes before we start, to have time to park and find a seat. The nearest bus route is #55, at Lake Otis and Dowling. Please contact us if transportation is a challenge for you.

Getting seated

As you enter, you’ll receive a copy of the Worship Bulletin, which has our worship and music printed, as well as general information about our church. If you’re early, we have coffee available and lots of people to chat with. Go ahead and find a seat.

What is your worship service like?

Our worship service opens with a short time of announcements, followed by a silent time to prepare our hearts. One of the elders will likely be leading worship, and through him, God will call us to worship, and we’ll respond by giving God praise and glory. Throughout the service, we’ll confess our sins, hear about the grace found in Christ, give an offering as an act of worship (although visitors are not expected to give), worship through the preached word, and come to the communion table before being blessed by God and sent out into the world. Throughout the service, we may read together, we’ll pray as a body, and you can expect to sing 3-5 hymns together. We like to sing.

With every worship service, there are many prayers and Scripture readings: we appeal to God to help us worship Him, we confess sin, we request for Him to meet our needs, to help us use our offerings properly, for the Holy Spirit to help the sermon work in our hearts.

With every worship service we read from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We read passages that highlight our sinfulness, the assurance of God’s love, and our call to holiness.

The sermon is about half an hour long. A passage will be read, explained, and applied to your life; you will be shown the grace of Christ through the passage, whatever that passage might be.

You can view a sample bulletin.

How long is the worship service?

Our pastor usually preaches between 30 and 40 minutes. You can sample some of his sermons. Our services end between 11:15-11:30AM.

 Is there a nursery for my children?

During the worship service, we provide a safe, supervised place for infants and children through age 4. We encourage you to bring your children into the worship service if they are old enough to sit for all or part of the service. We realize that this is not always convenient, but we are interested in the spiritual nourishment of all of God’s people, children included.

Yes, but . . .

We understand that children can sometimes be an interruption in a worship service. We also believe that whether we are parents or not, it is good for us to encourage and be patient with all of our fellow worshippers.

Parents, if your children need to ease into this arrangement, or if you are having a particularly difficult morning (sometimes Sunday is the hardest day of the week for parents of young children), we have a safe nursery for children (through age 4) during the worship service.

Is there Sunday morning educational program?

Yes, our childhood, youth, and adult Sunday school begins at 9:00 AM from the fall to the Spring. Please check our calendar to double-check.