Grace Thoughts

On God, His Word, His Church, and His World

  • Worship Christ the King

    An explanatory guide to the public worship of Reformed Churches


    October 3, 2016


    We live in a time when it is fashionable, at least in the United States and other western nations, for individuals to piece together one’s answers to ultimate questions—who am I? where do I come from? what is the purpose of my life?—from a variety of eclectic sources. No longer do people want to be identified as “religious” for this seems to speak of institutions and group-think. Rather, “spirituality” is the new religion, and it is often the religion of one—one’s spirituality is as distinct from the next person’s, as their fingerprints are never identical. This cacophony of variation and hollowness has affected the Church in profound ways, perhaps no more evident than in how corporate worship on Sundays looks and sounds like.
        Is it possible that God has let the order of public worship be determined by individuals irrespective of what He says in His Word? Or can the Church actually look to God’s Word to understand the principles He says should undergird His public worship? Reformed churches are wholly committed to following Scripture and confess that God has spoken in His Word about how He wants to be worshipped. God’s worship is not a matter of inventing or imagining something innovative, trendy, expressive of individual tastes. Rather, we believe there is a discernible pattern in Scripture that teaches us how God is to be worshipped.
        This brief explanatory guide is meant to orient you to what God calls us to do on Sundays as His people.  Below you will find an introduction to worship (including the essential principles of Biblical and Gospel-centered worship), and a more detailed explanation of each aspect of worship.


    To download this guide, click HERE.