Welcome to what may be for you a new world of worship. When attending
the Sioux Falls URC Fellowship, you may find yourself in a worship
setting that’s very different than you have experienced before.
First, you might notice that some things seem to be “missing.”
Where’s the overhead projector? Where are the praise singers? Where
is the “Children’s Church”?
Some would call our worship “traditional.” (Since
the Triune God we worship is timeless, we prefer to avoid such
time-bound references. We prefer
to use the term ”biblical.” Yet we recognize that biblical
worship has a history, so our order of worship could be referred
to as “historic.”) Our worship is grounded not in the relatively
recent practices of the past 30 years, but in the lively and time-honored
practices of God-centered worship throughout the church’s history.
You’ll find our worship is relatively simple, with an emphasis
on the fundamentals of worship. You’ll hear a call to worship (Psalm
100), a greeting (Philippians 1:2), singing (Psalm 95:1-3), a time
of confession and pardon (Nehemiah 8), offering (I Corinthians
16:2), prayer (Acts 2:42), Scripture reading (I Timothy 4:13),
preaching (I Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:2), and a parting blessing
(Numbers 6).
You’ll also notice that we read, recite, and sing psalms. It’s
likely that many of these psalm selections will seem foreign to
you. But we believe that God gave the Psalter for worship, and
we should use it. Contemporary songs may be used on occasion, but
our emphasis is on historic psalms, along with hymns that express
in greater depth the truths we believe and the Lord we love.
The emphasis of our worship is not on the individual, but on the
corporate body. As a result, we worship together in our singing,
prayer, and recitation of creeds. In this regard, you’ll also discover
that we are not an age-segregated church. Our families worship
together (Nehemiah 8; Matthew 19:13-15).
Our people dearly love the Lord, and we believe that the intensity
of the worship should not always be equated with spontaneous praise.
In connection with the spirit of worship, we believe that worship
should be joyfully-reverent– an attitude derived from Hebrews 12,
which calls us to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence
and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
Historically, Protestant churches have placed an emphasis on the
reading and preaching of the Bible. You’ll notice that this is
our emphasis as well, as “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).
No doubt, much more could be said about the rationale for our
worship. For now, we pray that this brief explanation will help
you to understand why we do what we do in worship. If you have
any questions about our worship or our ministry, we’d be glad to
talk to you. May the Lord bless you as we join together in lifting
high the name of Jesus!
Our Liturgy
While corporate worship is the highlight of our
week—indeed, of our lives! And while it does unite us with our church
family, the focus of worship is not on ourselves, but on God. Worship
is to be a God-centered time, in which we first ask: “How does God call
us to worship Him?” instead of “What are our preferences?”
Thus, we come before our Holy God with a joyful reverence and awe,
aiming to glorify the Lord and enjoy Him. Worship of the only Triune
God is not for our entertainment, nor is it crafted to evoke an emotional
response or conform to the latest fads (Psalm 2:11; Heb. 12:18-29).
We believe that in worship, we enter into a dialogue with the living covenant
God, wherein we humbly bring our adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplications
to Him through prayer, songs, and offerings; and He speaks to us by His Word
to encourage, strengthen, instruct and chastise us for our good. This worship
is governed by what God has revealed about Himself in His Word, being done “decently
and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
The chief end of man is to glorify our God and enjoy Him!
Our order of worship is listed in the left column.
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