On Sunday morning, members and guests arrive and take their seats in the school's gymnasium before the 9:30 AM start. In the background, you will hear the piano playing songs that help focus people’s attention on the coming meeting with God. A member of the congregation will greet you at the door and will be happy to provide you with a Bible and our songbook if needed. As you take your seat, you will see various families seated around you. You many wonder why there are children present during the worship service. This is done because God wants all His people to worship Him together. The promises of God also extend to our children. They belong to His covenant people and should assemble for worship with their family. Infants and toddlers are cared for in a nursery, but as soon as the children are able to sit in church, they do so. We therefore do not have a Sunday school class during the services.

Dress Code?

You will notice, too, that most people are dressed up. Please don’t mistake this for elitism or snobbery. All we are trying to do is to show honour and respect to the Lord God as much as we can. Much as if we were to have an audience with the Queen where our whole attitude, demeanour, and dress would reflect our respect for her Royal Majesty, so when we meet with the King of kings we want to show Him honour in every way.

Order of Worship

The minister, elders, and deacons enter the auditorium. One elder proceeds to the pulpit ahead of our minister and on behalf of the Consistory, he demonstrates that the minister is authorised to lead the service by shaking his hand and the minister continues to the pulpit. He first reads any general announcements. If we have a guest minister, the Elder will read the announcements before shaking his hand. While not all Reformed ministers do, our own minister wears a robe or Geneva gown. This is to demonstrate that while on the pulpit, he has a special role or office. You can read read more about this here.

The actual worship service follows what can be considered a dialogue format. Throughout the service, you will find a back-and-forth interaction as God and His people come together and speak together. The minister is God's servant and speaks in his name. At certain points, the minister is the spokesman for the congregation, such as in congregational prayer. At other times, the people speak for themselves, which takes place especially in congregational singing. The service formally begins as the minister reads a short portion of Scripture that speaks of worshipping our God as a call to worship. The congregation then rises from their seats. The minister confesses that the congregation trusts in the LORD alone (Votum) and responds by giving God’s greeting of peace on His behalf (Salutation).

Singing Praise

Our songbook is The Book of Praise: Ango-Genevan Psalter, which contains the 150 Psalms of the Bible that have been paraphrased and put to music as well as 65 hymns based mostly on texts of Scripture that focus on God's great work in Christ. We believe we praise God best when we use words of authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Genevan Psalter originates from the times of the Great Reformation in the 1600’s and are therefore much loved as they unite us with the Reformed churches of the past and world-wide today. While the tunes may be unfamiliar to many, with a bit of practice, you’ll be singing them as well as anyone as they are very well suited for congregational singing!

Reflecting on the Ten Words of the Covenant

God speaks to us through the reading of  the Ten Words of the Covenant (or Ten Commandments) from Exodus 20: 2-17 or Deuteronomy 5: 6-21. Why read the law? It may seem like an odd thing to do, but it is an important act of worship. The Ten Words show us how God wants us to live. They act as a mirror for our lives and a standard of perfection we must strive to meet. As we listen and compare our lives to God’s law, we realize every week how our lives do not match up. Our sin is made clear to us and we are humbled before the Lord.

The amazing thing is that we are not led to despair! Instead, we are driven into the arms of our Saviour Jesus Christ! In the prayer after the law, we publicly confess our sins and then seek forgiveness for them in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Because God has promised forgiveness, we do not go away dreading or doubting, but we continue our worship in humble confidence that we stand right with God again. It’s a beautiful moment- our guilt has been cleared away! Even more, we are given the Holy Spirit to help us fight against sin. Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. He also gave us a second commandment: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments (Matthew 22: 36-40). Thus, in the end, the law shows us how to be thankful to our God!

Taking in God’s Word

The sermons are based on a text of Scripture. Currently, we use the New International Version of the Bible in our services, a clear translation in contemporary English. After singing a song to prepare our hearts and minds for the hearing of the gospel, we set to work listening to the preacher explain God’s Word from the selected text. Each sermon is about 30 minutes in length. It takes up the most time in the worship service for one key reason - because God wants us to be instructed by the preaching of His Word (Romans 10 :14-17). You won’t see any visual aids nor will you hear a lot of personal anecdotes or funny stories. However, you will hear a Bible passage explained, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ trumpeted, and how we Christians should live outlined. As we listen, the Holy Spirit makes us understand and believe God’s Word, and then helps us to live it out each day.

Offering of Thanks

After the sermon is over, the congregation responds with a song of praise chosen in connection with the message of the sermon. After singing, a prayer of thanksgiving is offered. Following this, the congregation again responds to the gospel message by bringing a thank-offering to the Lord. Yes, this is indeed a financial gift dedicated to the Lord, but please do not misunderstand this as a payment for the service or even as support for the minister. Not one penny of the offering goes to support the minister – that is done by the voluntary contributions of the members. The offering is given as part of our thanks to the Lord for His salvation as just proclaimed, and all the monies are distributed to the poor and needy, whether in the congregation, community, or world. The offering is accompanied by a song of thanksgiving.

Parting Blessing (Benediction)

The Lord has the last say in the worship service as He sends His people home with His blessing of peace or benediction. We may leave His presence having our faith strengthened by the preaching and being equipped with renewed commitment to live a life pleasing to Him. After the blessing, the congregation trickles out of the building, gathering informally in conversation and fellowship. All in all the whole service takes about 1hour and 15 minutes.

Twice on Sunday?

Yes, we come back once again in the afternoon to meet with the Lord for a second  service at 3:00 pm. Why wouldn’t we? As part of celebrating the Lord’s Day, we are glad to have the opportunity to gather twice with His people. In order to treat the whole Sunday in a holy manner, we also have an afternoon worship. We are thankful to be able to praise Him and receive His good gifts a second time. When you are thirsty, you look forward to a cool drink and even to a refill – that’s what worship is like for God’s people.

While the afternoon service is much like the morning with a few differences, it is not simply a repetition. For example, instead of reading the law near the beginning of the service, we publicly profess our faith by reading, reciting, or singing the Apostles' Creed or other ecumenical creed in response to the gospel message of the sermon. The key difference, however, lies in the type of sermon we normally hear. Whereas in the morning the preaching is based on one portion of Scripture, the afternoon sermon usually explains a teaching of the Bible that is learned from several portions. The church has long ago summarized the Bible’s major teachings in a written confession called the Heidelberg Catechism. This Catechism serves as a summary of the Scripture teaching but the basis of the message remains the Bible. This service therefore, can be described as having more of a teaching character.

To support the preaching, the church has two sacraments

Holy Baptism is administered whenever necessary to newborn children of the members of the congregation and to adults who come to faith. The water symbolizes the washing away of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ and the renewal by his Spirit for all who believe in his name.

Six times a year, during the morning service, we celebrate the Lord's Supper to remember and proclaim the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. We follow the historic Reformed tradition in that those invited to the table must have the permission of the elders. Our particular practice is that this includes:

We believe that this practice honours the fact that it is a holy supper and the fact the Lord Jesus gathers his people in local churches under the supervision of elders.

What about You?

By means of this description, you will at least have some sense of what is taking place. We pray to God, casting our anxieties upon Him, knowing that He cares for us. We sing together to the praise of God. We listen to what He says to us in his Word, the Bible in a sermon that explains God's will for our lives. The sermons are understandable, challenging, and practical and we are encouraged and strengthened in our desire to live to God's glory.

If you have experienced other forms of worship and are tired of constantly changing contemporary styles, lots of 'worship' but little preaching of the truth, if you have heard enough 'how to'-pep talk and stress on human needs, we humbly invite you to our worship services. Our hope is that you will be strengthened in faith and rediscover a worship style that has survived several centuries but is still up-to-date and relevant. While it might seem strange to a visitor at first, this pattern of worship soon becomes familiar. We gather twice a Sunday to worship God in a manner acceptable to Him. We do this plainly and simply because God's word tells us to do so. If you share this conviction, and are looking for a church with Biblical worship, we invite you to join with us.

It’s simple, Biblical, and beautiful - why don’t you come and worship? God is calling you!

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps 34:8a)