Philosophy of Worship

Our Highest Calling

We believe that worship is our highest calling as the people of God.  Worship is the celebration of who God is and what He has done.  To glorify God is to enhance His reputation in all we do.  The ultimate end of evangelism and missions is to turn enemies of God into worshippers of God.  We believe we practice in worship today what we will do in His presence forever.

A Way of Life

We believe worship is all encompassing meaning worship is a way of life.  As people made in God’s image and redeemed through the shed blood of His Son, we are empowered by His Spirit to rightly represent Jesus in all we say and do.  Our greatest service as followers of Jesus is to present our lives to Him as our sacrifice of praise.

The Church Gathered

We believe all creation offers praise to God according to God’s divine design.  However, we acknowledge and celebrate that people made in God’s image and redeemed through the blood of Jesus have been called to worship God in a special way.   Therefore, The Church of Jesus Christ is first and foremost defined as a gathering of the redeemed set apart to worship our Savior.  While we believe that worship should be a way of life for those who follow Jesus, we also affirm that there is a special presence of Jesus that is experienced when His Church gathers to worship.

Heart over Form

We believe there is no specific worship form mandated from God for His people.  God ultimately desires heart over form.  We acknowledge that the worship of God by His people has taken many forms throughout history.   While we acknowledge the value of traditions and liturgies down through the years, we understand that each culture in each generation must prayerfully and thoughtfully seek to define meaningful corporate worship relevant to each local congregation.

Christ-centered

While we acknowledge that there is no one biblical form for worship, we believe worship must always be focused on God and His Salvation through Jesus to be acceptable worship.  In other words, worship begins and ends with Christ Jesus and His salvation to us. 

Vertical and Horizontal

Our worship at LBC is primarily targeted to believers.  While we acknowledge the critical importance of evangelism in the local church we affirm that an emphasis on seekers and evangelism should never displace the priority of the church gathered to worship.  The faithful church must always be the worshipping church.    While we confess that God is always the object of our worship, we also believe there is a horizontal focus to worship meaning sometimes we sing or speak to God, and sometimes we sing or speak to one another about God.   The Scriptures teach that we are to let the Word of Christ live in us by teaching and admonishing one another through singing reflecting a horizontal focus in worship.  The object of worship must always be God but the audience may be God or may be one another as believers and may indirectly be a witness to those among us who do not yet believe. 

Elements

We believe the Bible reveals to us that there are various elements that should be present over time to truly be biblical worship.  These elements include but are not  limited to music, praise, prayer, examination, confession, giving, Scripture reading, preaching, witness or testimony, baptism, communion and affirmations of truth.   These elements may be realized through various means including ever-changing  forms of technology. 

Multi-generational

We believe we rightly reflect  whom we are as a multi-generational Church when we seek to embrace the old with the new over time.  The Psalms call the people of God to celebrate and remember God’s faithfulness in the past but also to sing to the Lord a new song.  This is to say we include the testimonies of God’s faithfulness in the past with the expressions of God’s faithfulness and presence among us today  to accurately reflect the unfolding plan and purpose of God for His people.   This may be accomplished many ways including through music, creeds, testimonies, liturgies or traditions. 

Excellence

We believe God desires our first fruits which mean the best we have to offer.  Excellence doesn’t imply perfection nor does it mean everyone has to be the best.  It means the people involved do their best as their sacrifice of praise to God.  More than seeing excellence as a competition between artists, it is better understood as a heart’s desire to give God the best we have to offer as our love gift to Him because He is worthy of our best.   We also believe excellence is necessary to remove distractions and set people free to focus attention on God without interruption.

In the Psalms we are told to play music skillfully to the Lord.  In the Bible we notice the incredible attention to details related to worship… worship is mysterious, aesthetically beautiful, filled with special effects and drama, highly creative, very diverse and dedicated to excellence.  We must painstakingly think through every detail to take people on a worship journey, removing distractions and setting people free to focus attention on God without interruption.  The Scriptures overwhelmingly support that God continually required of people the best they had to offer.

Mystery

Clearly the Scriptures affirm there is a mystery to the unpredictable presence of God in worship.  While we believe planning and rehearsing are essential for excellence, we also believe we must be sensitive to the moving of God’s Spirit in the midst of worship that creates a sense of wonder.  We acknowledge it is possible to be technically excellent and spiritually empty.  This means all of us in Worship and Arts must come to worship spiritually prepared as well as technically prepared. 

Calling

We believe there are people called and gifted in any body of believers to lead and serve in the worship ministry.   As in any ministry role, it is the responsibility of the leaders to identify, equip and shepherd those called to serve in the worship ministry.    We believe those called to lead on stage have a high and holy calling before God.  We also believe that those called to more visible roles should be affirmed and celebrated the same as those called to roles that function behind the scenes.  Together the Worship and Arts team is called to selflessly serve the body for God’s glory. 

Arts

We believe part of what it means to be made in the image of God is the ability to express worship through the arts affirming God as the source of all creativity.  We believe the Church should be at the forefront of the arts as people who claim a personal relationship with the author of creation.  We believe it is part of the calling of the church to advance the arts through teaching a theology of the arts, identifying and developing artists and appreciating art as an expression of worship uniquely reserved for those made in His image.