What We Believe About Worship

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Hebrews 12:28

We believe in God-centered worship. As we gather on the day which God has set apart for worship, we come together to give Him the glory that is due His name. We should not come together primarily to feel better or to be entertained but to reverently honor and please God.

We are not a ‘seeker-sensitive’ church. Our primary desire is not to accommodate our worship to what pleases men, but to be sensitive to what kind of worship pleases God. But what kind of worship pleases Him? Does it really matter how He is worshipped? We believe that it does matter, especially to God. God has not left us to our own imaginations or devices, but He has told us in His Word how He is to be worshipped. The Bible prescribes for us, not only the proper attitude of worship, but also the basic elements of worship, which are these: the reading and preaching of Scripture, prayer and praise, the observance of the ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and giving of our tithes and offerings to the Lord. We believe in the primacy of preaching because it is through the reading, exposition and application of the Bible that God saves sinners and sanctifies His people.

We also sing psalms and the great and rich hymns of the faith (old and new) because their content is thoroughly biblical, doctrinally sound, and honoring to the Lord. We believe that the Word of Christ should dwell “richly” in our congregational singing (Colossians 3:16-17), and that the songs we sing should neither be irreverent, vainly repetitious, or shallow.

We are grateful to the Elders of the Trinity Reformed Baptist Church, La Mirada, CA, for permission to use this excellent description of Biblical worship in a Reformed Baptist Church.