What to Expect
at a Worship Service

     At St. John’s our worship services center in the great things that God has done for us, and our joyful response to his salvation. In other words, here God speaks to us through his Word, and we speak to God in hymns of praise and thanks, and in our prayers. We offer a variety of five (5) different regular services, and a host of special services throughout the year written by our pastors. Though unique in manner, each shares a number of constant emphases:

Church Year Related
     We observe the great events of salvation as historically represented in the Christian Church Year. This means that we observe the different seasons of:

• Advent - preparations for the coming of the Lord Jesus to our world
   
• Christmas - the birth of the Savior, God’s gift to the world
   
• Epiphany - the revealing of Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of all people
   
• Lent - the observance of Christ’s suffering and death in order to win our salvation
   
• Easter - the celebrating of Jesus’ victory over death and the grave
   
• Ascension - the celebration of Jesus’ return to the glory of heaven, to prepare a place for us and to rule over all the world in the interest of his church
   
• Pentecost - the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the church
   
• Trinity Sunday - the observance of this central teaching of Scripture, that there in only one true God who reveals himself in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
   
• Thanksgiving - the celebration of thanks to God for all of his blessings, both physical and spiritual
   
• Reformation Sunday - the celebration of God’s grace in restoring the truth of the Bible to his church after centuries of darkness, and a challenge to us today to contend for the faith.

Liturgical
     We are a liturgical church, meaning that we follow the historic forms of worship, as developed throughout the history of the Christian Church. The strength of this type of worship is that in each service the believer is led into the presence of God. There we hear of our greatest problem, sin, and God’s solution to that problem, the gift of a Savior. We are then led to praise God for his indescribable Gift. A typical worship service includes the following ingredients:

• Invocation - calling on the Triune God to be present for our worship
   
• Confession of Sins - acknowledging our sins against God and asking for his forgiveness
   
• Absolution - the announcement that in Christ all our sins have been forgiven
   
• Song of Thankfulness and Praise - in appreciation of God’s forgiveness
   
• Scripture Lessons - readings from the Bible that relate to the church year and provide instruction in God’s will and his gift of salvation
   
• Sermon - always based on a text of the Bible, relating its meaning for our lives today, with the goal of keeping us faithful to God and bringing us to eternal life
   
• Prayers of the Church - for people in all places and stages of life
   
• Sacrament of Holy Communion - in which Christ gives us his true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins
   
• Song of Thanks - for having tasted the Lord’s forgivenss
   
• Benediction - also called the Lord’s blessing, pronounced over God’s people.

     Interspersed throughout the service are hymns (normally four in number) plus choir selections, songs by our many childrens’ groups and tone chimes.

Life Changing Worship
     Our worship is life-changing. Not because we are so clever, eloquent, or innovative in worship, but because God is at work here through his Word.

     God’s Word, the Bible, has the power to change lives. Therefore wherever that Word is preached, there the Holy Spirit is at work to bring people to faith, strengthen them in the faith, and lead them to a life of commitment to the Savior. “Faith comes from heaving the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ,” Romans 10:17.

     “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,” Hebrews 4:12.

     The emphasis on God’s Word throughout our services means that God’s power is here at work to change us from the inside out, to change our hearts and therefore our behavior as well.

     We invite you to come experience it for yourself!

 Email, Telephone and Mailing Address for St. John’s

 Calendar of Events at St. John’s

 Driving Directions to help you find St. John’s

 Worship Service Times and Our Style of Worship

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