Basic Principles of Worship

Biblical worship is to be Word-centered and dialogical.

It is to be Word-centered. The church ought to read the Word, preach the Word, sing the Word, pray the Word and practice the Word. The Word of God is to be in the saints’ mouths as we teach and admonish one another in worship (Col. 3:16). Clearly, the church’s worship ought to be Word-centered.

It is also dialogical: God speaks through his Word, and his people respond in prayer and praise, in imitation of the Word. When God speaks, we should not say, “So what?” Rather, our response should be: “Speak, LORD, for thy servant heareth” (1 Sam. 3:9).

In Nehemiah 9 it is said that “the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshiped the LORD their God.” The people worshiped in response to the Word. That is the pattern: God speaks, and man responds; God speaks, and man responds. This is the kind of worship that pleases God.

Man must worship as God himself has appointed in his Word. God must reign as King as his people worship.

Christ promises that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is present in our midst through his Spirit (Matt. 18:20). If God is not present with us, then our worship is a waste of time.

GOPC does not follow the Christian-concert-and-TED-talk model so pervasive in many churches. The saints don’t go to church to observe worship but to worship—to lift up our voices in praise.

Believing that the purpose of church music is twofold (to praise God and to teach sound doctrine), we emphasize congregational singing of Psalms and hymns from Trinity Psalter Hymnal, typically singing two Psalter selections and two hymns at each service. We purposely do not use performance music or a “worship team.” Our congregation sings joyfully and enthusiastically in response to God’s grace.

Since God committed his Word to his church, not to libraries or scholars, we use the NKJV / KJV which include the received text (Textus Receptus) of the New Testament, following the Byzantine text that was in common use in the worship of the Greek-speaking churches.