H   o   l   y     T   r   i   n   i   t   y

In the providence of God, the Christian church has a rich heritage to draw from when it comes to how we approach Him. Beginning in the Old Testament scriptures throughout the New Testament and down through the first two millennia of the Christian era, God has given us many glorious instructions and examples to follow. However, many Christians in the modern period spend very little effort considering these gifts of God. Instead, many would rather worship God in whatever way seems most emotionally appealing or most practical or whatever is easiest or most comfortable.

We believe that corporate worship on the Lord’s Day is the single most important thing we do each week, and therefore we believe it is entirely worth the effort to study the Scriptures carefully and glean from the lessons and examples of history in order to better understand how our great God would have us worship Him. In the end, we believe that God has given great liberty to His people, and that He seeks most of all sacrifices of praise and broken and contrite hearts. But there is also great freedom in singing and praying and speaking the words, prayers and songs that our forefathers in the faith have spoken, prayed and sung. And because the Holy Spirit continues to build His Church today, we take this heritage and apply it to the modern day in faith, believing that God will be pleased to refashion us, His people, and bring blessing to the world through our humble praise.

Following in the footsteps of our fathers and mothers in the faith, the historic church has followed a fairly recognizable pattern of worship in obedience to the Scriptures. This service or liturgy is what some have called Covenant Renewal Worship, made up of essentially five parts: Call, Confession, Consecration, Communion, and Commissioning. Recognizing God’s sovereignty and lordship, we are Called into the presence of the Triune God where we respond with thankfulness and ask for the Holy Spirit to give us grace as we worship. Having arrived, we are reminded of our remaining sin and our continual need for the grace of forgiveness and thus we joyfully kneel and Confess our sins to our faithful Father. Having been assured of pardon through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we stand and enter into the presence of God with gladness, singing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to the God of our salvation. There, we sit as sons and daughters, eager disciples, listening as God speaks with us through His Holy Word as our great Teacher, Consecrating us as living sacrifices pleasing and acceptable to Him. We offer up tithes and offerings and our prayers before the throne of grace, pleading the mercies of God for our families and friends, our church and community, our nation and the entire world. Then, in a great climax, He invites us to sit at His table where we Commune as a royal family in His presence. There, He feeds us and nourishes us with the Lord’s Supper. And having tasted the goodness of God and rested in His provision, we stand and are Commissioned and sent out into the world with a blessing to show forth the same grace and peace to all we meet. We respond with a joyful song, thanking our Triune God for the mighty wonders He has done and will continue to do.

This pattern of worship is called Covenant Renewal Worship because it roughly follows the pattern of covenant making and renewal in the Scriptures. We see this pattern in the offerings of the Old Covenant: the Sin Offering, Ascension Offering, Tribute Offering, and Peace Offering (Lev. 9). We also see this pattern in God’s work of creation (Gen. 1) and the institution of the Lord’s Supper (e.g. Mk. 14:22-26). Far from being strange or esoteric, this pattern is built into the very way God made the world and gives God’s people freedom to come before Him in joyful confidence, believing that our prayers are heard, our praise is accepted and we really are blessed and strengthened for honest, faithful service. Ultimately this is all because Jesus Christ is the one and only atoning sacrifice for sin and as High Priest in heaven, our advocate with the Father, ever interceding on our behalf.

While we are very grateful for what God has already given to us and the recovery of a high and glorious heritage in worship, we are also convinced that as God gives new and genuine reformation and revival to His Church, the Holy Spirit will lead His people into ever increasing faithfulness and wisdom. And so, far from thinking we’ve somehow “arrived”, we expectantly look to the Author and Finisher of our faith to continue to grow us up into the one true man, the image of Jesus Christ.

If you do not already have a church home, we invite you to join us as we seek to bring glory to the Father, through Jesus Christ, His only Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you have further questions about Covenant Renewal Worship or would like to understand some of the details better, we would encourage you read through some of the following explanations. Also, please feel free to email or call us with particular questions; we would love to hear from you. Of course, the best way to be introduced to Holy Trinity is to visit a Lord’s Day service! May the Lord be with you!

Explanation of a Covenant Renewal Service
A Covenant Renewal worship service seeks to follow the biblical pattern of God’s dealings with us in bringing His salvation and sanctification to us through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. In the original creation man’s first full day (Day 7 – The Sabbath) was to be devoted to worshipping God (Exodus 20:8-11). In like manner, it is appropriate that our first day of each week be devoted to the worship of God. It is also fitting for us to worship our Savior on the first day of the week because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week inaugurating a new creation. Therefore, our sovereign God calls us to serve Him and to make the act of worshipping Him our primary responsibility. Accordingly the first part of the Covenant Renewal service is:

God Calls Us
This reflects the reality that God acts first (John 6:44) in saving us and bringing us into covenant with Him. We dare not presume to come into His holy presence of our own volition but only by His invitation or call. Accordingly this reflects the call of salvation whereby God calls Christians to His service in a new state as members of the Bride of Christ, His one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Our part is to respond obediently to God’s call. The next part of the service is:

God Cleanses Us from Our Sins
Just as we are in constant need of confessing our sins and receiving God’s grace, so Christ’s body (The Church) needs to make this a central part of their life in Christ (I John 1:8-10 & 2:12). This corresponds to the Sin Offering in the order of sacrifices found in Leviticus Chapter 9. Once God calls us and we come into His holy presence we should become keenly aware that we are unclean and unworthy. In the Bible the appropriate response for believers when God first makes himself known to us is to kneel, confess our sins and be healed or cleansed (Isaiah 6:5-7). An appropriate response to God’s gracious forgiveness and cleansing is to joyfully and thankfully sing His praises. Next, in God’s covenant order of relating to us is:

God Consecrates Us
In the Bible, once we are cleansed, the next step in God’s covenantal dealings with us is for Him to transform us (sanctify us) into more glorious vessels of His grace (II Cor. 3:17-18). The central emphasis in this part of the service is the Word of God (though it certainly permeates all of the service). Accordingly we have our scripture readings where God is turning us into sacrifices by His Word (Heb. 4:12-13) and transforming us into people who can discern what is good and acceptable to Him (Romans 12:1-2). This corresponds to the Burnt, or more correctly Ascension Offering, in the order of sacrifices found in Leviticus 9. After the Ascension Offering, next in the order of Covenant Renewal (following the sermon) is the Tribute (Tithe & bringing forward of Bread & Wine, Prayers & Vows). This is followed by the Peace Offering (Communion):

God Communes With & Nourishes & Feeds Us
This is Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper and corresponds to the Peace Offering in the order of sacrifices found in Leviticus 9. After God transforms us and causes us to ascend into His presence, He eats with us in peace at His table (I Corinthians 10:16-17). This is also an appropriate time for joyfully and thankfully singing His praises. Since God has already forgiven us and made peace with us through Jesus Christ (during the confession of sins and absolution), the most Biblical and appropriate posture for eating this meal with God is a relaxed (peaceful) sitting position (Luke 22:14-20) and not the kneeling position. Kneeling is more Biblically appropriate for the confession of sin and request for forgiveness. This is a grace, a blessing (I Corinthians 10:16), whereby God further strengthens us for His service as all spiritual food and drink do (I Corinthians 10:3-4). As an important means of grace, it is something we desperately need and should be observed whenever we come together as the Body of Christ (i.e. weekly – I Cor. 11:20, Acts 20:7). The final part of the service is:

God Commissions Us
After God has called, cleansed, transformed and fed us, He sends us out into the world as His representatives. We are now equipped to take effective dominion as a result of God’s service and grace to us. We are, through His Holy Spirit, to bring His light, Word and salvation to the rest of the world (Matthew 28:18-20). Just as when Moses came away from God’s presence and he brought some of God’s glory with him (Exodus 34:29-35), so we too in the power of His Holy Spirit are to bring God’s glory, Word and salvation to the rest of the world for it’s transformation (Matthew 28:18-20).