Congregational Songs – New Songs for Corporate Worship

Planning a Corporate Worship Service: Essential Elements

February 14, 2011

As far as I can tell by reading about the early church and heeding the letters of Paul and the other writers in the New Testament, there are five essential elements that we either see the early church doing or hear commanded for the church to do when we gather.

1. Sing! Colossians 3:16 makes it obvious that we should be singing songs to one another. Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn after the “Last Supper.”

2. Read scripture publicly. I Timothy 4:13 states this clearly, and also states that we should…

3. Preach the Word. Another verse that gives an example of this is Acts 2:42. It also says that we should devote ourselves to…

4. The breaking of bread together (Communion). Though we have chosen as a congregation at Grace to do this monthly, there are many who do it every week. I don’t think there is a prescription for how often we do it, but it is important that we do it often (I Corinthians 11:25-26).

5. Pray. Acts 2:42 also speaks of devoting ourselves to praying together.

These are the things that I see God calling his church to do when they gather together. I have nothing against other elements that you may find in worship services all over the world, unless, of course, they are against biblical teaching. But I say this often when I explain why we do what we do at Grace: If we only have 1 hour and 15 minutes together each week in a worship service, let’s spend it doing the things that we know we are commanded to do.

Next post: Congregational Response to the Word.

Filed under: Leading Worship,Planning a Worship Service