While not every church thinks of itself as “liturgical” or self-consciously puts together an order of worship, every church worships in a particular way. In this sense liturgy, like tradition, is inescapable; it’s not whether a church will have a liturgy but which liturgy it employs to honor God and bless His worshippers. The Bible speaks of a particular flow of worship. Beginning at the Mosaic Tabernacle, and later at the Temple in Jerusalem, the sacrifices generally followed this order: 1) sin offering, 2) ascension offering, 3) fellowship offering. While the animal sacrifices were types and shadows that were ultimately fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 24:27), their order was logical and relational. Anyone who approaches a holy and loving God is first called to acknowledge and confess sin. Having received forgiveness, we are transformed as we hear His word, and “ascend” to God as we confess our faith. And lastly, God welcomes us to the intimate fellowship of His table as we eat and drink with Him and one another, celebrating and sealing God’s covenant mercies to us in Christ. You may have also noticed that the sacrificial system and our order of worship follow the order of salvation. First, we are justified (sin offering – confession); then we are sanctified (ascension offering – consecration); and finally, we are glorified and have intimate fellowship with God (peace offering – communion.) Add a call to worship to begin the service, and a commissioning to send the church out, and you have our order of worship: Call to Worship, Confession, Consecration, Communion, and Commissioning. This is often referred to as Covenant Renewal Worship because by it God renews His covenantal promises to us, and we pledge our continuing love and loyalty to Him.

Yes and no. If by formal you mean stiff, quiet, subdued and solemn, then no. But there is another sort of formality that characterizes beautiful and glad occasions like weddings. People dress up a bit, there is a ceremony with serious vows, and yet the whole thing is marked by joy and anticipation. The Bible describes Sunday worship as part of a feast day that looks forward to the final wedding feast when the church, the bride of Christ, will be united to God in great joy. God is our loving Father, and because of Christ’s death on the cross for our sins, He is also our friend. But at the risk of sounding redundant, He is also God who made heaven and earth; He is, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, “a consuming fire” (present tense.) If you have ever been struck dumb by the grandeur of the Cascades, been quieted by the beauty of a string quartet, felt the power of a thundering waterfall, or marveled at the intricate engineering displayed in the human hand, you’ve had a small taste of the power, glory, creativity and gift of God. Nature, music, food and drink, human relationships and countless other things give us glimpses of the overflowing personality of the one who made it all. This wild and omnipotent God has given himself—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—to us, which is why we’re told to “Worship the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Americans are a casual bunch. We actually buy new clothes that are made to look used, with holes torn and spots faded at the factory, because being casual is just “so authentic.” Worship is too important to be taken lying down – o or slouching. And our God is living and wonderful, never to be worshiped with mere formality, or in a way lifeless and boring. Worship is a time to meet with the awesome (in the old, staggering sense), triune God; something to give thought to and prepare for; something to revel in and enjoy. Now that would be different.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” We believe that God meets with His people, even the small, noisy ones, on the Lord’s Day. Not wanting to deprive our children of time with their God, we welcome them into our main service in which we all seek to mature like little children (Matt. 18:3). But during the sermon, we do have a sound-proof room at the back of the sanctuary with windows looking into it for parents with small children.

Reformed theology emphasizes the doctrines of grace, believing in the exhaustive sovereignty and efficacious love of God. These doctrines are prominent in the Bible and have been articulated in history by people like Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon; and more recently by men like J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, and John Piper. We believe that our race fell into sin and death in Adam and that Jesus died in order to save the world (John 3:17), effectually turning away the wrath of God from all who call on Him.

For millennia the church has been writing and singing music to the glory of God. At King’s Cross Church, we strive to enjoy the best of what has been sung by the church over the centuries, and look to build upon that foundation, singing new songs to the Lord because he has done marvelous things (Ps. 98:1). Since the book of Psalms is a divinely inspired hymnal, and given that New Testament believers are twice commanded to sing psalms (Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16) we seek for all of our music to be consistent with and patterned after “God’s hymnbook.” And this really is good news since the Psalms call for diverse instruments, joyful clapping, loud praise, and worship in the beauty of holiness. The Psalms are also striking in their content. In them we learn about the sinfulness of man, the goodness of the law, how to cry out to and argue with God, deal with enemies, delight in the forgiveness of sin, find peace in the valley of the shadow of death, trust in the sovereignty of God, proclaim the dominion of Jesus, and lawfully express the fullest range of human emotion.

Like learning to do anything worthwhile, singing beautiful music requires some work. We sing a variety of music at King’s Cross. Some of it is familiar and easy, and some of it like the Genevan psalms (or “jigs” as Queen Elizabeth disdainfully referred to them) and Luther’s original A Mighty Fortress takes some getting used to. Thankfully, it gets easier with a little practice. If you are new and unfamiliar with the music or just interested in learning more, we want to help. You can listen to many songs on our sister church’s website: http://www.trinitykirk.org/music/hymnal/1. Or here: http://psalter.org/tunes/singing. You can also come to our monthly psalm-sings or ask us for some psalm CD’s.

Here is pastor Tim Keller’s definition: “Expository preaching grounds the message in the text so that all the sermon’s points are the points in the text, and it majors in the texts’ major ideas. It aligns the interpretation of the text with the doctrinal truths of the rest of the Bible (being sensitive to systematic theology). And it always situates the passage within the Bible’s narrative, showing how Christ is the final fulfillment of the text’s theme (being sensitive to biblical theology.)” Amen! And since God would have his word to dwell in us richly, it is our intent to faithfully and carefully declare “the very oracles of God“ (1 Pet. 4:11) in all their fullness. To do this, we generally alternate between New Testament and Old Testament book studies with short “topical” series in between.

In the early church, communion was a regular part of worship (Acts 2:24; 20:7), and it wasn’t until the middle ages that churches began to take it infrequently. Some argue that frequent communion diminishes its importance, but we believe that like the Word, the sacrament is a means of nourishing grace to be taken often. Like many of the Reformers, John Calvin argued for a return for weekly communion: “The Lord’s Table should have been spread at least once a week of the assembly of Christians, and the promises declared in it should feed us spiritually“. We take this meal together as the culmination of worship where we sit down at God’s table with Him. All baptized Christians are invited to take the Lord’s Supper. If you have not been baptized, please contact us to arrange it.

While nothing is inherently wrong with passing the plate, our custom is to put our gifts and offerings in a basket located at the back of the sanctuary. One of our men will bring the offering forward and offer it to the Lord along with a prayer of thanksgiving. If you are a visitor or non-Christian, you are under no obligation to give. Be welcome as our guest.

The word “church” doesn’t primarily refer to a building with walls and seats, but rather to a body of people worshipping together, serving one another, and discipling the nations. We have “House to House” groups (community groups) at which to fellowship, yearly feasts and a family camp each summer. Please visit our calendar at https://www.kingscrosswenatchee.com/calendar or pick up a bulletin at church to see upcoming events and how you can participate.

Please contact us at kingscrosswenatchee@gmail.com or 509.888.4187