Sunday Morning Worship Service is at 10:30 a.m. (click here for directions). The service lasts approximately one and one-half hours. “Discipleship Hour” begins at 9:00 a.m. This is followed by a time of visiting and enjoying snacks in our fellowship hall (10:00 – 10:30). When you come, greeters will meet you in the foyer where you’ll be given a bulletin listing the details of that particular service as well as a listing of the week’s calendar and announcements regarding significant upcoming events. In addition to greeters, ushers will be available to assist you in finding your way around. In the foyer you will find tables with additional information about our church, our denomination, and helps for living the Christian life.

Our worship is led by two key people: the worship leader and our pastor. The worship leader is responsible to lead the congregation in the order of our service. Our pastors teach us God’s Word and lead in celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

Below is a listing of key components of our worship service

Call to Worship - Our service begins with the worship leader (an elder of our church) reminding us that God calls us to worship him. Through brief remarks he helps to direct our thoughts to God. Then he calls us to worship by reading a portion of God’s Word (often taken from the Book of Psalms). Most often this is a responsive reading involving congregational response.

Confession of Sin - This is usually led by the worship leader. We are here reminded that we do not come before God in our own worthiness. We stand in constant need of his pardoning and strengthening grace. The Confession of Sin may come earlier in the service or later, depending on the theme of our worship. It consists of a scriptural call to confession, the prayer of confession (sometimes corporate or responsive), and a scriptural assurance of pardon and grace.

God’s Greeting and Ours - Here we acknowledge that God always comes to us before we come to God. So, words of Scripture are read that convey God’s greeting to us. Time is then given for us to reflect that greeting to one another.

Hymns/Songs of Praise - One of the great joys of Christians is to sing our praise to God. At Trinity we have a mingling of historic and contemporary music. The church-at-large is grounded in a glorious history of wonderful musical offerings. We should not despise this. On the other hand, we want to be ready to receive and use newer creations that are musically and theologically rich. We also use a variety of instrumentation in our services, including organ, piano, stringed instruments, brass, and percussion. The use of these instruments may vary from week to week, depending on the theme of the service and selections of music.

Chorale - Our church has a chorale led by our music director. While not singing during each worship service, the chorale often sings throughout the year (except for summer months). We also occasionally have other offerings of special music—solos (vocal and instrumental), ensembles, etc. For more information contact our music director, Judy Rozema.

Scripture Reading - One of the main ways we worship God is by listening to his word, the Bible. Scripture passages are generally chosen that relate to the sermon and theme of the service.

Creed - The congregation occasionally recites a common confession of faith declaring the unity of our belief as Christians. We use such historic creeds as the Nicene Creed and Apostles’ Creed. We will also sometimes use confessions of faith taken from our doctrinal standards or directly from Scripture.

Prayers of the Church - Every Sunday an elder of our congregation offers up in behalf of the church prayers to God. We thank God for past blessings, and we plead for continued blessing that will honor his name. We pray not only for special needs within our church but for others beyond our fellowship that need prayer.

Hearing God’s Word - One of the central acts of worship is listening to the teaching of God’s Word. This is generally done by one of our pastors. They tell us what God’s Word means and how to apply it to our daily lives to enhance our relationship with God, family, friends, and the world around us.

Ministry Focus - Frequently we will devote about five minutes to highlight a particular ministry in our church, someone’s service beyond our church, or an update from one of the missionaries we support. We want to stay afresh of how God is acting in our midst.

Lord’s Supper - We usually celebrate the Lord’s Supper once a month (on the first Sunday of the month). Here we rejoice in the fact that our salvation is grounded in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus on the cross. We understand the Lord’s Supper as more than a bare remembrance of what happened long ago. While not claiming that the elements (bread and cup) themselves change, we affirm the special spiritual presence of our Lord in this sacrament. He feeds us afresh with the riches of his grace as we partake of the elements in genuine faith.

Benediction/Congregational Response - We commonly close the service with the proclamation of a Scriptural blessing for the people of God as we’re dismissed. The congregational then responds with a brief affirmation of praise in song.