Worship

You may be wondering what the Lockport Church does during a Worship Service.

That is a great question!

Since we are a New Testament Church, we only do things that we find the New Testament Church doing in the scriptures.

Unlike the Bible Study, the Worship service is not an open forum. There are only certain aspects of the worship where the members of the congregation participate.

Singing:
One of those aspects of worship participation is when we are singing. Singing is instructed in the New Testament. (Eph. 5:19)Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.. We are told to make melody in our hearts. For that reason, we do not have any instrumental music, or any band. We are told to sing, not to play. We use the instrument of music that God gave us, we use our voice. This singing type is called acapella singing. There are many types of songs that we sing. We have a song book, with copies for everyone, and we encourage all to sing along with us.

Prayers:
During the service, various men lead us in public prayers. (Eph. 5:20)Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The members of the congregation listen, and follow the thoughts of the prayer, silently. We typically have an opening prayer, a closing prayer, and prayers included in the communion service, and a prayer concerning the offering. We may also have other prayers for special circumstances.

Communion:
The commemoration of Christ's death is called "The Lord's Supper." (1 Cor. 11:26)For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This communion is a memorial of the sacrificial death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All Christians participate in this memorial service. There is "unleavened bread" which is bread, made without any yeast or leavening agent. This bread is consistent with the bread used by the Jews in the Passover feast. It was the night of the Passover feast when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. There would have been no leaven allowed in the house during the celebration of the Passover. So, when Jesus took the "bread" that night, we know that it was unleavened. (1 Cor. 11:23-24)For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' We also have unfermented grape juice (fruit of the vine). This grape juice is non-alcoholic and unfermented for the same reason as the bread. (1 Cor. 11:25)In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.' This is a commemoration of the Lord's death. (1 Cor. 11:26)For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This Communion service is included every Sunday in our worship service. (Acts 20:7)On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight..

Bible Preaching:
In order for the Christians here at Lockport to grow in faith and knowledge, be spiritually fed, and be trained in the use of the scriptures, we have a Bible based lesson during each worship service. As Christians, we are striving to live in accordance with the will of God. So, it is very important that we have this opportunity to review various Scriptural concepts and teachings. The written scriptures (the New Testament) are the ultimate, and final authority on all doctrinal subjects. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Invitation:
Each time we assemble we offer an Invitation for anyone to become a Child of God that day.If someone desires to give their life to Jesus, there is not any delay to baptisms, but they will be given the opportunity to be baptized that very same day. Garments and towels are provided.

Offering:
The New Testament church was only funded by the free-will offering of its members. We take up a one-time collection each week as instructed. (1 Cor. 16:1-2)Now about the collection for the Lord's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. We do not solicit funds from our visitors, but we simply provide you an opportunity to support the work of the church here in Lockport. If you wish to contribute, we will accept your contribution thankfully.

Thank you for your interest in learning about our Worship Services!