Sample Sunday Liturgy
The word "liturgy" though strange sounding to modern ears, simply means the “work of the people,” or perhaps more helpfully, a “public service.” Therefore, at its most basic, “liturgy” refers to the order of a corporate worship service. At DCBC every aspect of our liturgy is intentional. The order and elements of our worship form us, and form our thoughts of God.
Our liturgy is historic (not novel), participatory (not a performance), Gospel-shaped, and regulated by the Holy Scriptures (not our creativity).
Silence:
Silence is an important part of worship. We live in a world filled with noise, distractions, and endless streams of information. Our time of worship in the presence of God is different. Our time of corporate worship is intentionally punctuated with times of intentional silence before God. Silence allows space to pray and to meditate on God. Silence acts as a threshold into the holy space of worship. We encourage you, during our times of silence, to actually be silent: dont look at your phone, but be silent before the Lord.
“After the announcements, the service leader invites the congregation to spend a moment in silence. What a powerful picture: a congregation of people who are usually busy and bustling, now hushed. We are waiting for God to speak. Week after week, this time of silence reminds us that we have nothing on our own to say to God. We were not seeking Him. He must seek us, find us, reveal himself to us. And he does. God’s Word pierces through the silence.” Matt Merker, Corporate Worship, 108.
Call To Worship:
Out of the silence, God speaks through His Word. Every worship gathering at DCBC begins with a scriptural call to worship. We have not gathered on our own initiative for our own purposes, rather, we have been called out from the world by God the Father through the blood of His Son to worship in Spirit and truth. What better way to communicate this than by a word from Our Lord himself?
"With a scriptural Call to Worship, God invites us by his Word to join the worship of the ages and angels. God does not simply invite us to a party of friends, or a lecture on religion, or a concert of sacred music – he invites us into the presence of the King of the Universe before whom all creation will bow and for whom all heaven now sings. " Bryan Chappell, Christ-Centered Worship
Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon:
From the call to worship to the benediction, our worship service is a re-application of the gospel. God calls us, we confess our unworthiness, God pardons us, we respond in worship. The prayer of confession is a time for the church body to confess and acknowledge our sinfulness to God and to plead for His mercy. We are admitting that we have all “fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) not only by nature, but by our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.
Confessing our sins together in prayer trains us to be humble, honest, and transparent about our sins. Confession reminds us that we all need the grace of God in Christ; this is why confession is always followed by a scriptural assurance of pardon. We do not plead for God’s forgiveness and mercy as if we are uncertain whether He will hear us. Rather, we are assured of our pardon, forgiveness, and of our righteousness in Him (2 Cor. 5:21) because we pray in the name of Jesus Christ(1 John 1:9) who is our faithful High Priest and advocate.
Confessing our sin reminds us that we need a Savior. God’s Word reminds us that we have an all-sufficient, all-powerful Savior in Jesus Christ.
Congregational Singing:
Here at Del Cerro the congregation is the choir! We sing because God commands us to sing (Psalm 149:1; Col. 3:16 et al.)! God has commanded to gather together regularly in loving fellowship for at least three reasons (1) to praise God (2) to learn from God about God through His Word, and (3) to mutually encourage one another in the faith. Our corporate singing accomplishes all of these purposes.
Our singing is both vertical and horizontal. It’s vertical because we address our Lord in song declaring his worthiness and rejoicing in the glory of Jesus Christ. It’s horizontal because as we sing, we remind one another of the promises we have in Christ and encourage one another to respond to God with faith, repentance, love, hope, joy, reverence, awe, obedience, and gratitude. So brothers and sisters, sing loudly! Sing because our God is worthy of all honor, all glory, and all praise
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16 ESV)
Why we sing what we sing:
Biblically accurate: We only sing songs that accurately represent the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures. While songs by nature can be poetic, we don’t sing songs that misrepresent God’s truth or leave room for theological ambiguity.
Theologically-rich: We aim to sing songs together that deepen and widen our understanding of God and His Word. The songs we choose will be filled with “solid food” and not merely “milk” (Hebrews 5). We sing songs that will sustain you in the darkest moments of life
Singable: We choose songs that the congregation can sing. The point of worship through song is that the congregation would lift their voices together to our Triune God. Choosing flashy, difficult songs does not accomplish this purpose.
Wide-ranging: Like the Psalms, our singing should give us language to express a full-range of emotion and praise to God. We sing songs of lament, thanksgiving, joy, conviction, repentance, hope etc.
For more information on this, please head to the Music page.
Recite Creeds:
The Church is not new. The Church founded by Christ and His apostles has existed for 2,000 years. DCBC is simply a local expression of this ancient and apostolic Church. We stand on the shoulders of those who have worshipped before us. “Thus, when the Church gathers for worship today, she ought to reveal her ancient roots.” Reciting the Creeds of our brothers and sisters of ages past is one of the ways we do this.
In his book, The Apostle’s Creed, Dr. Albert Mohler lists 7 reasons creeds are useful and necessary for the life of the church: 1) Creeds define truth (2) Creeds correct error (3) Creeds provide rules and standards for God’s people (4) Creeds teach the church how to worship and confess the faith (5) Creeds connect us to the faith of our fathers (6) Creeds summarize the faith (7) Creeds define true Christian unity.
The Creeds are not inerrant, nor Scripture, but insofar as they concisely and accurately teach biblical truth, they are helpful to us!
Though we have been reciting the Apostle's Creed for the last few years, we have recently begun confessing the Nicene Creed each Sunday as a way to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of its writing.
Scripture Reading:
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he gives instruction on what should be happening in the regular worship gatherings of the Ephesian church. One of the elements he commands is the public reading of scripture. “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture-” (1 Timothy 4:13) With this in mind, every Sunday we take the time to publicly read from the Bible. You’ll usually see this at the beginning of the worship service (the call to worship), between songs (an extended reading), before the sermon (from the text that will be preached) and at the end as a benediction.
We read God’s Word aloud because God commands it and that alone would suffice. But we also desire that our people hear from God in His Word, that they’d increase in their knowledge of God through His Word, and that they’d see the divine unity of scripture- from the Old through the New Testaments, the whole counsel testifies that Jesus is the Christ.
“Deep covenantal undertones accompany the reading of Scripture. God has chosen to speak to His people, those he calls by his own name. The simple acts of listening to God’s word, with a shared commitment to believe and obey it, binds a church together.” Matt Merker, Corporate Worship, 117.
Pastoral Prayer:
Our Pastoral Prayers Teach Our People to Pray
Our pastoral prayers are meant to be models and examples to the congregation of how to pray to our God. Because of this our pastoral prayers often include: thanksgiving, intercession, petition, and adoration. They are sometimes spontaneous, but more often are prepared before hand as the pastor studies the text and responds in prayer. Prayer is more easily caught than taught.
Our Pastoral Prayers Bring Power to the Church
God works through the prayer of his people. The Apostles relied heavily upon prayers of all kinds. Through prayer God healed, opened jail cells, gave boldness, and saved his people. We pray knowing that God graciously hears us and that he powerfully answers.
Thanksgiving and Offering:
We give of our money and energy to the church because God has commanded us to do so. 2 Corinthians 8 teaches us that our giving financially toward the mission of the church, is actually a sign of God’s grace toward us. We like to say that it is a means through which God’s grace flows. How?
First, we are enabled to give freely because of the grace of God toward us, and secondly, through giving we “loose our ties to the temptations of the world” and thus grow in the grace of God. You can give by donating electronically dcbc.org/giving or by dropping a donation in the wooden box in the foyer. However you give, thank you and praise God!
Each week we follow the exhortation to give with a prayer of thanksgiving to God, who has provided for us for us richly, and will continue to do so.
Expositional Preaching:
Expositional preaching is preaching that seeks to expose the meaning of the Biblical text. An expositional sermon is one whose main point is the main point of the text being preached from. It's simple: a text from the Bible is chosen, the preacher studies that text, then explains to the congregation what that text means.
Why do we preach that way? Because we believe in the power of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit uses the word of God, not our clever ideas, to convert unbelievers and to transform believers (Hebrews 4:12) into the likeness of Christ. God has not called us to cleverness or creativity, but to faithfulness. When you come to DCBC you will not hear sermons based on movies, the pastor’s pet topic, or a cultural phenomenon. You will hear the word of God proclaimed, explained, and applied.
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.” 2 Timothy 4:1–2
Lectio Continua (Verse-by-verse Preaching):
The Latin phrase “lectio continua” means a “continued reading” and in the context of the Worship Service, it refers to the continued reading of the Holy Scriptures. The bulk of our preaching is simply a continued reading of Scripture. Week by week you will hear a continued exposition of whatever book of the Bible we are currently preaching from. The advantage of this is threefold:
- Our pastors don’t have to come up with something new every week, they simply “preach the next verse”.
- Through the years a member of our church would hear entire books of the Bible read and taught to them. Through a broad reading of scripture, Christians will better know how all of the Bible fits together and Christ will be proclaimed more fully.
- We cannot skip hard-to-preach passages or avoid uncomfortable truths. Preaching verse-by-verse enables us and forces us to preach the "whole counsel of God".
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV)
Benediction:
The word “benediction” comes from the Latin roots “bene” meaning good and “diction” meaning speech. A benediction is thus a “good word” said at the end of a congregational gathering. You’ll often hear a benediction at the end of a wedding or a funeral as well as a worship service. Traditionally, a benediction is a “blessing” pronounced by the minister upon the people where the minister raises his hand and the congregation also raise their hands in order to “receive” the blessing. We are a little less formal here and prefer to simply use the benediction to announce a promise from God; something to hold on to in our hearts as we go out from the gathered church. Think of it as a final reminder that it is God who is working through His Word and through us as we represent Him to the world.
The Lord’s Supper:
We are to remind one another of the importance of the death of Christ until he returns. The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ himself and so we regularly share in it together on the first Lord's Day of each month.
Remembering: At Jesus’ last meal with this disciples he broke bread, called it his “body” and gave it to his disciples and said “do this in remembrance of me.” Every time we celebrate the Supper, we remember the death of our Lord and Savior.
Receiving: Jesus says that the cup we drink is the cup of “the new covenant in my blood”. In the new covenant, we receive forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the Holy Spirit who motivates us and enables us to live in joyful obedience to Christ.
Participating: At the Lord's Table our souls are nourished, our faith is confirmed, and the bond of our fellowship is strengthened. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16 ESV)
Waiting: The early church regularly observed this meal as a way of actively waiting for Christ’s return. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
"The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing to all the world the sacrifice of himself in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other." 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith