Why We Worship As we Do

Worship is about love, adoration and commitment. These can be expressed in many ways and anything a Christian does out of a desire to love God is essentially an act of worship. This may involve 'loving a neighbour', 'giving to a food bank', 'caring about your community' or 'blessing a friend' - all are acts of worship if they seek to be motivated by loving God.

Worship in our Services

We express our love for God in various ways when we gather together as the church. These may include prayers or showing hospitality, but it will also involve singing, music and dance (or physical expressions). 

Singing

There are 85 places in the bible which encourage us to sing. For example, in Psalm 47:6 we are encouraged four times in one single verse to express our love for God in song. 'Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!'

Instruments

There are lots of references to instruments being used for worship in the bible. We read of harps, trumpets, cymbals etc. and they were used creatively to express love to God and declare His greatness. Many more instruments have been invented since the bible times and we believe any of them can be used to express love to God.

Physical Expressions

We read of a range of physical expressions of worship in the bible. These include:

  • Clapping (Psalm 47:1)
  • Dancing (Psalm 30:11, 149:3, 150:4)
  • Lifting or Stretching out hands (Psalm 28:2, 63:4, 77:2, 88:9)
  • Lifting of the head (Psalm 3:3, 24:7)
  • Kneeling (Psalm 95:6)
  • Standing (Psalm 122:2, 134:1)

Preference of Style

We enjoy being a multi-cultural church community and have a range of stylistic preferences of worship styles in our congregations. Some find dancing natural, some will enjoy loud demonstrative expressions of worship, but others will prefer a quieter more reserved response. While we believe it is good to be free to express externally the joy and love experienced internally, we prioritise that worship is essentially a heart thing. If someone charismatically demonstrates lots of external signs of worship but has a cold heart towards God then it really isn't worship - our expressions should be an overflow of our overflowing love for God. We do believe though that our love for God cannot be contained, hence the visible and audible expressions evident in our services.