Worship Service

Overview

We are a multi-generational church with a Sunday morning attendance of 250-300 people. This congregation meets for Equip class at 9:30am and our Lord’s Day service at 11am. Dress tends to hover around business-casual, though each week you’ll be able to find anything from jeans-and-sneakers to suits-and-ties. People at the church are friendly and they’ll probably greet you, though with 200+ people each week, please be bold and introduce yourself! A typical service lasts about 75-minutes..

Getting Ready

When you first arrive at Church of the Open Bible, if you’re early enough, you’ll see people mingling about together and enjoying coffee and donuts in our Coffee Centre. Feel free to join the conversations! Depending on which service you’ve come to attend, you’ll start to notice people making their way into the sanctuary around either 9:00am or 11:00am. Ushers are located at each of the sanctuary doors and, after handing you a bulletin that highlights the weekly goings-on at our church, can help you find a seat. Typically there will be music playing at this time intended to help us prepare our hearts and minds for the worship service.

The worship service will usually begin with a word of welcome from one of our pastors or elders. Announcements will be made about the happenings of the church in the coming week and then an opening prayer of adoration and confession will be given so that the congregation can draw near to God intimately in worship. A member of the church will then read a call to worship from the Old or New Testament, most often from the Psalms, and the congregation will respond with songs of praise.

At Church of the Open Bible we love to worship God by singing praises to Him together with a unified voice (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). The music we sing is different depending on the Sunday. Some weeks we sing worshipful hymns of the past from a hymnal while other weeks we sing worshipful songs of the present on a screen, and many weeks we sings both new and old!

One of the greatest blessings in the body of Christ is praying with and for one another (Acts 1:14; 2:42; 4:23-31; 12:5; Eph. 6:18-20). And so, every Sunday we take time to bring our praise and petitions to God (Phil. 4:6-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-4). Usually one of our pastors will share a few prayer notes before leading the congregation to the throne of grace. Once or twice a month, there is also a time for individuals to share with the whole congregation any praise items or prayer requests. This prayer time usually lasts 5-10 minutes and concludes with a time for financial giving to support our church’s ministry and mission (1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 8-9). If you are visiting, feel no obligation to give

Every other month, we remember the Lord Jesus’ substitutionary death for sinners by taking part in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:17-34). One of the pastors leads this time of remembrance by briefly sharing the significance of the bread and the cup through Scripture and then leading the congregation in a prayer of preparation. The elders of the church will then pass around the elements to all the believers in Christ present. Also, twice a year we have a Celebration Sunday where those who wish to make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ through baptism give their testimonies and are baptized by one of the pastors (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38). We also dedicate babies of believers and welcome new members into the church on these special days.

The preaching at our church is expositional, meaning that our aim is to proclaim the point of a particular passage in the Bible, unpacking the timeless truths within and applying them to everyday life for the edification of the congregation and the glorification of God. We always want to let the Scriptures speak for themselves, rather than imposing our ideas on the text, because we believe it is God’s Word that makes us wise for salvation and equips us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-4:5). And so, a typical sermon at Church of the Open Bible will begin with the reading of Scripture and then the Spirit-enabled exposition of that very Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13). Sermons usually last around thirty to forty minutes and, depending on the current series, are focused on both the Old and New Testaments.

When the sermon is finished, the preaching pastor will conclude with a word of prayer. The congregation will usually respond with a sending hymn and then be sent out to live what we have learned with a concluding word of encouragement and blessing or benediction. Before leaving, please take time to fellowship with others and check out the information table in the foyer for opportunities to connect and serve!