Every few weeks I like to share an example of one of our worship services from Grace Fellowship Church. I do so hoping they serve as a model of how one church attempts to worship the Lord in a distinctly biblical way. In this case I’m sharing a service in which we baptized four new believers.
This service’s cast of characters included Paul as our service leader and preacher and Josh as our lead worshipper. Steve, our associate pastor, closed out the service with a commission. Our band consisted of two guitars and piano accompanying one male vocalist. The various elements of the service are in bold with the name of the person who led the element in parentheses. Items in quotes or blockquotes represent roughly what the person said to the congregation. Items not in quotes are explanatory. The entire service took approximately 90 minutes.
Welcome & Call to Worship (Paul)
Paul began the service with a welcome that went something like this:
Hear the Word of God as He calls us to come and worship Him…
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
Stand, sing and give God glory!
Singing (Josh)
- “All Creatures of Our God and King”
Prayer of Confession and Word of Assurance (Paul)
King David was a great man. He was not a perfect man. There were times where he sinned badly, and on one of these occasions, since he was king and because of the nature of his sin, he was told by God that the nation would be punished in one of three ways:
- 3 years of famine
- 3 months of defeat
- 3 days of God’s punishment
This is what David said: ‘I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.’
Friends, even when we have failed, it is better to go to God. For He is full of mercy. Let’s do that now…
Prayer
Merciful God, we admit we have sinned. We have not nailed it in our spiritual lives. And even if we have not sinned badly, like David, we all stand together in need of Christ — the proof of Your mercy. He is our salvation. Our Rescuer. Our Redeemer. Our only hope to stand before You is to stand in His mercy… secured for us by His cross. So we throw ourselves upon You, God. For you are full of mercy. Amen
Word of Assurance
Dear Friends, If you are in Christ… you can say with full assurance these words of David…
Blessed be the LORD!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.Let’s do that very thing! Stand and sing!
Singing (Josh)
- “Jesus Paid It All “
- “My Jesus I Love Thee”
Scripture Reading (Paul)
“Please take your Bible and turn to Mark 10 (page 847 in church Bible).”
Paul read Mark 10:46-52
Baptism Testimonies
The people who would be baptized later in the service each read their account of how the Lord saved them.
Pastoral Prayer (Steve)
Steve led the pastoral prayer. He prayed for a number of matters of relevance to the congregation, including, of course, those who were to be baptized.
Dismiss Early Years (Steve)
“We are happy to provide our Early Years Ministry: We have a Nursery for kids 0-24 months and a pre-school program for 2- and 3-year-olds; those have both already begun. We also have a Kindergarten for 4- and 5-years-olds, and that begins now. You may send your kids down to their teachers as we stand to sing.”
Sermon (Paul)
Paul preached a sermon titled “Who Can God Save.” It was meant to be at least somewhat evangelistic since there were unbelieving visitors attending the baptism service.
Singing (Josh)
- “Amazing Grace”
Baptisms
The four new believers were baptized. Steve baptized two and I baptized two. We used a tank within the gym we use for our services.
Singing (Josh)
- “All My Ways”
Commission (Steve)
Steve commissioned the church to live out the truths we heard in the service and especially in the sermon. This served as a bridge to tell about some of the events and opportunities coming up in the week(s) ahead.
Benediction (Steve)
“Receive this blessing of the Lord from His Word: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ AMEN.”
