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Worship @ GSC The Whys and Whats of our Worship Style
Good Shepherd Church was founded in 2000. Without compromising our Presbyterian roots, we have developed into a congregation with a healthy mixture of ages and ecclesiastical backgrounds. With this diversity comes the challenge of promoting unity. SENSITIVELY BLENDED It is our firm conviction that corporate worship should unify rather than divide God’s people. With this is mind, we desire to bring to the worship of God the broadest spectrum of biblical and artistic elements which emphasize the presence of God and the sufficiency of His Word rather than the style of music. Our worship is sensitively blended. CONSISTENTLY THEMATIC The various elements of the worship services at Good Shepherd are selected and blended together in order to emphasize a particular theme. Our worship is consistently thematic. That theme (always God-centered and Bible-based) may be an attribute of God (e.g. holiness, omnipotence), a key biblical theme (e.g. creation, grace), or a particular aspect of Christ’s redemptive work (e.g., Lamb of God, the Blood of Christ). The hymns, choruses, readings, special music, etc. all revolve around this central theme and develop its thought in the minds and hearts of the worshipers. UNCOMPROMISINGLY GOD-CENTERED Our worship is uncompromisingly theocentric (God-centered). To that end, each worship service is designed so that all facets of that service communicate biblical and doctrinal truth! Worship is best understood as being “for God” and “to God.” Our songs and our voices are directed to Him. Our feelings about how we are doing in worship are inconsequential. What matters most in worship is the motive within our heart. Cherish a tender and grateful heart toward God and you will always be worshiping rightly. DELIBERATELY PARTICIPATORY As we worship, the musical selections are woven together with instrumental interludes, unison and responsive readings, prayers, choral works or dramatic presentations to form a seamless fabric. The interchange between the worship leaders and the congregation is crucial. There are to be no observers in the worship service at Good Shepherd. Our worship is deliberately participatory. The worship leaders serve to invoke the presence of God and to invite, encourage and enable the congregation to praise Him corporately. REVERENTLY DIGNIFIED YET JOYOUSLY CELEBRATORY The focus of our worship is Christ. The purpose of our worship is to exalt Him, to honor Him, and to proclaim His might and glory. Our worship leaders accept the responsibility for leading God’s people towards Him as the Holy Spirit directs them. The motive is to maintain a consistently God-centered focus by keeping the spotlight on our Lord and off of any particular individual or group. We look to Christ. We sing to Him. We trust Him. It is His presence that we seek as we bring to Him our sacrifice of praise. We celebrate who we are in Christ, the dead brought back to life by the power of God, while we remember that He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Our worship is reverently dignified yet joyously celebratory. The thematic and participatory aspects of our worship are reflected in our weekly bulletin. You may notice that the heading verse or quote identifies the morning’s theme. In order to better facilitate congregational participation, the words to the songs and the unison and responsive readings are all included on a projection screen before the entire congregation. This is done to eliminate the need for juggling a songsheet, a hymnal, and your Bible. A Sermon Guide is also included in the Worship Guide to assist in following the important points of the message, to direct you to pertinent Scripture passages, and to facilitate note-taking. There is much information published in this weekly bulletin that will prove helpful throughout the week. Be sure to read “This Week at GSC,” “Congregational Life,” “Announcements, Upcomings Events & Meetings,” and other sections of the handouts or newsletter. Please Note: Worshipers at Good Shepherd are not limited in terms of acceptable responses to the emotions aroused by genuine worship. As long as clapping is done “to the Lord” and not toward any individual, it is quite acceptable. “Amen” and “Praise God” and “Hallelujah” are always Biblical and appropriate responses. It is Biblical and proper to lift our heads, lift our eyes, and even lift our hands unto the Lord. Those who enjoy standing during the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are encouraged to do so. It is remarkable how the Spirit of God uses the music and the other elements of our service to unify the hearts and minds of His people at Good Shepherd (when so often those very elements lead to strife and division). It is our prayer that God would continue to help us grow as people who worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:24) We believe that for our worship to be truly honoring to God and unifying for God’s people, it needs to be: Sensitively Blended Worship Consistently Thematic Worship Deliberately Participatory Worship Uncompromisingly God-Centered Worship Reverently Dignified, yet Joyously Celebratory Worship “Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.” Psa. 34:3 |
