Philosophy and Practice of Worship

Preamble: At New Life Community Church we believe that worship is a lifestyle of loving God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, and loving our neighbours as ourselves. Worship is doing everything to the glory of God, whether fixing a car, programming a computer, singing a song, changing a diaper, preparing a sermon, or speaking to a neighbour about Christ. But in this document we are seeking to articulate the unique culture of corporate worship at New Life-that time when the dispersed church of Jesus Christ gathers to worship as a community.

Worship defined:

  • A Celebration of God’s saving acts in history as revealed in Scripture. Through the Holy Spirit, that history becomes our history.
  • An Expression of love, adoration, and honor in response to the overwhelming presence, love, and vastness of God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  • An Awareness of God’s transcendence and a Hunger for His immanence.
  • An Expectancy that our God wants a fresh encounter with His people.

Corporate Worship at New Life:

As we gather as a community for corporate worship, we who have sought to worship God in every avenue of life throughout the week, enter the outer courts of the Lord by faith, with the dust of the world on our feet, but with praise and thanksgiving. As we hear and respond to the voice of Jesus, we are led by His Spirit into the Holy of Holies where we meet Him face to face. In His presence we are “transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory.” Thus cleansed, refocused, and refreshed, we are sent by Him back into the world to persevere and grow in that lifestyle of worship.

At the heart of corporate worship is our longing and expectancy of meeting Jesus Christ, the living Word who was made flesh and dwelt among us. Through His Spirit we want to behold His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (from John 1:14) In summary, worship is a journey of seeking to love the Lord our God throughout the week with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, of then gathering corporately to have our hearts prepared to meet the living Word afresh, of hearing Him, of responding to Him, and of being sent by Him back into the world to worship Him in all that we do.

The ‘Response Time’: A unique and cherished part of our liturgy at New Life is our ‘Response Time’ when, in faith, we corporately risk setting aside what has been planned in worship, opening our hearts to hear what else the Spirit may want to say through the Body of Christ. In the spirit of I Corinthians 14:26 where Paul says, “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation,” we value participatory worship. This unstructured time may include prophecy, prayer, silence, testimonies of encouragement, responses to the proclaimed Word, the reading of Scripture, public confession, corporate repentance, or any other creative way in which the Spirit of Jesus would speak to His flock that conforms to the last part of I Corinthians 14:26 where Paul concludes, “All these must be done for the strengthening of the church.”

Prayer: We seek to bathe our times of corporate worship in prayer, asking for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit upon all those who attend. At a minimum, we seek to see the following prayer times under girding our gatherings:

  • During sermon and worship planning preparation
  • Worship team prayer times during practices
  • Elder led prayer time with ‘Front Line’ ministry team members before service
  • General pre-service prayer time
  • Praying for our children and teens during each service
  • Prayer in the context of each Sunday School class
  • Spontaneous prayer during our ‘response time’
  • Elders praying for individuals in the context of the Lord’s Supper
  • After service prayer ministry time

Worship Teams at New Life:

  1. A Core Value: At NLCC we value having a variety of worship leaders, each with their own unique strengths and styles that respect the diversity and cross-generational nature of this fellowship.

  2. Necessary qualities for all team members: Our team members will be believers who are committed to maintaining unity within the Body of Christ, who demonstrate a servants heart, who recognize their role on the team as a ministry, who are committed to growing spiritually, who have appropriate musical skills, and who are willing to accept the increased accountability that comes with this visible, public leadership role.

  3. The Worship Planner: A believer who is recognized in the Body of Christ as having a combination of spiritual gifts that includes:
    1. Musical ability
    2. A prayerful spiritual sensitivity
    3. Leadership skills

    The worship planner works in close partnership with the pastor/preacher during the preparations for corporate worship and during the service itself. The pastor/preacher and the worship planner are both seeking to hear what the Spirit wants to say to the church on that day.

    In preparation for corporate worship, the worship planner converses with the pastor/preacher, reads and meditates on the Scripture passages being taught, prays, seeks direction from the Holy Spirit, and plans the music portion of the service accordingly. The worship leader then gathers their team for a practice and communicates their sense of how the Lord is leading, praying with the team, and delegating various responsibility within the team, especially to those who are being mentored to eventually plan worship. The worship planner meets with the team before the service for fine tuning and prayer, and then offers to the Lord and to His people the fruits of this preparation, being sensitive in the midst of this ministry to the continued leading of God’s Spirit.

    As the service begins(after a gathering song and announcements), the worship planner introduces the theme for that day, perhaps reading a short passage of Scripture that relates, or leading a responsive reading, or some other means of introduction, and then invites the Holy Spirit to come and inhabit the praises of God’s people.

    At the end of the first set of music, the worship planner, or another delegated person, prays for the speaker, and for children and teens, then dismissing the young people to their classes.

    After the sermon, the worship planner will briefly direct the congregation into the upcoming songs and response time, picking up on the theme/Scripture from the songs or the message. When it is time for congregational response, the worship planner invites their participation, and in partnership with the pastor/preacher, gives leadership to that time, sometimes praying, directing, or even intervening when necessary.

    We recognize that in the above gift list and in the qualities of leadership described thereafter, every worship planner will have strengths and weaknesses. We will seek to equip and encourage our leaders to grow in those areas where they are weak and we will be patient for the Spirit to bring growth in their leadership skills.

  4. Flexibility, Accountability, and Humility: Like all spiritual gifts, this ministry and these gifts are for the building up of the entire Body. All team members must recognize that, for various reasons, there may be times and seasons when they need to step aside from this leadership. It is the responsibility of the senior pastor, elders, and worship coordinator to discern these times and seasons and take appropriate action. For the health of the entire Body, it is the responsibility of the team member to humbly submit to this leadership.

Other Core Values:

  1. The Holy Scriptures, preached and prophetically proclaimed, whether in sermon or spontaneously uttered. We value practical teaching that helps people in their daily lives. In our teaching and doctrine, we seek to major on the majors and minor on the minors.

  2. The Great Commission. Therefore, we a) seek to have a worship environment in which we will want to bring unchurched friends and family. b) we seek to avoid using religious jargon. c) we will be sensitive in how we talk about our finances. d) we will regularly invite those who have not surrendered their lives to Christ to do so. e) we will have regular times where we focus on cross cultural missions.

  3. Freedom in worship-a quality of freedom that allows for diversity in our expressions of love for God. We desire an atmosphere where worshippers can meet with God without being judged by others.

  4. We affirm a skillful excellence in worship leadership that is God honouring and humble. “Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” (Psalm 33:3)

  5. We seek a balance between traditional and contemporary music and liturgy.

  6. We seek to encourage the arts as an expression of corporate worship.

  7. We seek to be participants, not consumers of corporate worship.