Our Worship: "Young and Ancient"
J.R.R. Tolkien once described spring as something “young and ancient.” This provides a wonderful template for the worship and culture of Faith Church. We are joyful, energetic, Spirit-filled, and excited about the faith we confess. But that youthful energy is joined inseparably to theological, confessional, and liturgical structures which are ancient in their glorious orthodoxy.
At Faith Presbyterian Church we strive to combine the new and the ancient, the beautiful and the profound, the accessible and the rigorous, the freedom of the Spirit and the rootedness in the covenant, the intellectual and the emotional, the head and the heart, and so on.
Accordingly, we are seriously committed to the Lordship of Christ over all areas of our lives and to the authority of his Word. That is, we are orthodox in our faith and practice, being firmly grounded in the great creedal and confessional truths of historic Christianity.
At the same time, however, we are self-consciously evangelistic – we are committed to never becoming a closed society, but rather to remaining an open community, being sure always to send a welcoming message of invitation to any and all who would come to learn more of the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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An Orthodox, Intergenerational
Worshipping Community
We are ORTHODOX: This simply means that in our theological stance, we are firmly grounded in the great credal and confessional truths of historic Christianity.
We are a WORSHIPPING COMMUNITY: We believe that God does not merely save individuals but draws and gathers them into the fellowship of his church, where they can enjoy the blessings and benefits of communion with fellow believers and be equipped with the resources needed for their commissioning as servants of the Kingdom. And we believe that the distinguishing mark of this community is its love for one another which is rooted in the love by which God first loved us; we are willfully, consciously Christ-centered and Spirit-filled, and we assign greatest the worth to none but God ("worth-ship," the original meaning of "worship").
We are INTERGENERATIONAL: One of the most depressing aspects of modern society is the "niche-ification" of our social dynamics into age-segregated segments, each served by its own music and stylistic elements. When this segmentation enters into the church, it has the effect of diminishing and commodifying the gospel. Segmentation is tragic because one of the key elements of the manifest gospel community is its unity in Christ. In this regard, we endeavor to stand against the secular, market-driven trends toward age-specific segmentation, and to stand together as an intergenerational community, where young and old sing, pray, praise, worship, study, and learn together.
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A Joyful Resting in the Presence of God
"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest."
~Matthew 11:28
This is our Lord's invitation to sinful, flawed, fallible, weary, burdened, distracted people -- like you, like us -- to come as we are into his presence, and to experience the life-transforming reality of his love for us.
Worship, therefore, is a time for drawing into the presence of our Lord and Savior and for resting from the cares of the world which pile up day upon day; when we can lift our heads from the pressing grind of daily urgencies and emergencies, and for a blessed time each week may "be still, and know that he is God," and remember that he made us, and that we are his people, the flock of his pasture; when by the power of the Spirit our gaze is lifted up from its usual shortsightedness, from its usual fixation on all the problems, frustrations, irritations, and fears we deal with every day -- which loom so large and seem so overwhelming to us -- and to see the world anew, as from a higher altitude, from the privileged perspective of faith, and to see the pattern and purposes of God working through the vast array of things, and our part in it, giving us the renewed strength, courage, boldness, and conviction that comes from hope.
Worshp, in sum, is the way we express, sustain, and celebrate our communion with God and with one another. It's a time when we come to the Lord in gratitude and thanksgiving, singing praises with friends, being fed by God's Word, and being recharged and strengthened for the week to come.
So what are you waiting for...? Christmas? Why wait that long?
Take Sunday off! And come, join with us as we worship the Lord!
