Why old songs?
Because a church inherits its theology as much through what it sings as through what it hears preached — and because these songs have already survived a few centuries of scrutiny. We are not against new songs. We are against amnesia.
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Our Sundays
Most of it shared out loud. Here is exactly what happens, in order, so nothing about your first visit has to be a surprise.
Order of service
Start to finish
- 12:30 pm
Lunch
Potluck-style, and the first thing we do. Before anyone hears a word of teaching they have been fed by somebody in this room. It is not a warm-up for the service — it is part of it.
- 1:30 pm
Call to Worship
Scripture read aloud that summons us to attention. We do not drift into worship; we are called into it, and the words are not ours.
Music
Sung by the congregation, not performed for it. Mostly old songs, chosen because the words are worth the breath. If you do not know the tune, you will by the third verse.
Family Time
The part of the morning where the congregation speaks rather than listens.
Liturgy & confession. We read together — a confession of sin, an assurance of pardon, a creed the church has recited for sixteen centuries. Everything is led from the front and on the screen.
Catechism. One question and answer at a time, worked through as a congregation across the year. It is how the church taught itself for most of its history, and it turns out kids are better at it than adults.
Prayer requests. Out loud, from the room. Real ones — a diagnosis, a job, a marriage, a wandering kid. This is the part that makes a gathering into a congregation, and it is worth the minutes it takes.
The Sermon
About forty-five minutes of plain teaching from an open Bible. No theatrics, no fog machine, no three points that all start with the same letter unless the text happens to cooperate.
The Lord's Table
Bread and wine, every single week. We do not save communion for special occasions, because we do not think there is a Sunday we need it less. Open to any baptized believer walking in repentance.
The Doxology
We close by singing praise to God together — the same few lines, every week, sung from memory by the whole room. Then we are sent out. Most people stay another half hour anyway. The coffee is not that good; the company is.
Why we do it this way
Old forms are not
the enemy of a living faith.
A few of the practices people ask about most.
Why liturgy?
Because on the Sundays you arrive angry, distracted, or numb, the church hands you words to say that are truer than your mood. Written prayer is not less sincere than spontaneous prayer. It is just less dependent on how you slept.
Why catechism?
Because "what do you believe and why" deserves a real answer, and because most of us absorbed our theology by accident. A catechism replaces accident with intention, one question a week.
Why weekly communion?
Because the gospel is not new information we need reminding of quarterly. It is food. We take it as often as we gather, which is how the earliest churches did it and how we intend to keep doing it.
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.Acts 2:42