Doctrine and Practice

Why We Do What We Do

As our society becomes more distant from our Christian heritage, the things we do when we go to church seem increasingly foreign. For that matter, Christians themselves can go through these religious motions mindlessly and without understanding why it is we do what we do. A brief explanation in review may be helpful.

We refer to Sunday as the Lord’s Day, because this is the day Christians devote to Christ in gathering together and because this is the day (the first day of the week) on which Christ rose from the dead.

We meet together each Lord’s day following the example of the early Christian Church. We meet for fellowship, worship of God, and instruction from Scripture.

We read the Bible because it is God’s Word and because we want to hear and learn from Him.

We give special place to preaching and teaching the Bible so that we may learn more fully about God and what He has done for us and that we may learn how we may live in order to please Him.

We sing songs of testimony and praise to God for his greatness and goodness to us. We sing especially with joy of our rescue from sin by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We pray in order to talk to God — to give him our praise, to confess our sins, and to make requests for his continued aid.

We give our offerings to the Lord out of thanksgiving for all that he has given us and in order to promote his work here and elsewhere.

We fellowship with one another in love for one another and in order to give mutual encouragement and exhortation in our life with Christ.

In all these ways we worship the Triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit) because He is our Creator, our Savior, our leader, and our preserver. We worship Him because we love him for Who He is and for the great things He has done for us.