Northway Christian Church
7202 W. Northwest Highway
Dallas, Texas 75225
(214) 361-6641

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The Way worship service
Sundays - 5 p.m.

School of Theology for the Laity


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What Happens on Sunday Mornings
A Quick Look at Worship at Northway Christian Church

Worship at Northway is divided into several components. They are listed below, each with a link to a more in-depth description further in this document.


We Come Together In God´s Presence

In the Gospel of Matthew (18:20) Jesus defined the church as anywhere two or three disciples gather in His name. Our worship service begins each Sunday morning as people gather in the Sanctuary.

The word "Sanctuary" refers to a holy place, a place where God can be found. And what we believe is that God can be found in the midst of God´s people. This is why we begin worship each week with a time of sharing community when we speak a public word of welcome to visitors and members alike, pass the attendance pads and make announcements about important events and activities in the life of the church.

This is followed by a time of greeting one another when we are turn and speak a word of personal welcome to the people worshipping beside and around us. The New Testament commands us to "welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you" (Romans 15:7). This practice of hospitality reminds us that genuine worship involves two essential relationships, a relationship with God in Jesus Christ, and a relationship with one another.

A scriptural sentence spoken out loud by one of the ministers calls us back to assembly and we enter into the experience of the worship of God.

William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury during WW II, wrote:

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God; and to devote the will to the purpose of God. All this gathered up in that emotion which most cleanses us from selfishness because it is the most selfless of all emotions - adoration.

And adoration is the very first act of our worship after we have gathered together. Our worship transitions with a musical prelude. The Prelude is designed to be the signal that it is time for us to be still and know God. This is when we focus our attention and direct our devotion to the God who is waiting to meet us here.

The processional hymn is a song of praise sung by the community of faith that has gathered. It is a hymn that celebrates the fact that God is right here with us.

The processional hymn is followed by a call to worship drawn from Scripture. It is a verbal invitation to enter into the presence of God.

The call to worship is followed by a prayer of invocation that names the presence of God among us and alerts us to the action of God.

Sharing with the children is an act of inclusion. By deliberately spending some time with children each Sunday morning in worship we are imitating the example of our Lord Jesus Christ who insisted that children be welcomed by His disciples. This is one of the ways we recognize and affirm the special presence of children in the community of faith.

Together these first few acts of worship tell us that what is happening here on Sunday mornings is an encounter between God and the people of God. This hour, this place, this service is designed to be a meeting place, holy ground where we stand each week in the presence of the living God.


We Go To God In Prayer

Prayer is the conversation of faith. In prayer we talk to God and we listen to God. Our prayer time each week begins with a verse from a prayer hymn. This hymn is often a prayer itself that is sung rather than spoken.

In sharing our weekly prayer concerns we fulfill the law of love, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, and casting our cares upon the God who cares for us.

The call to prayer is our invitation to enter into the spirit of prayer. In the silence that follows we become priests for one another, carrying the joys and burdens of our brothers and sisters to the very heart of God.

In the pastoral prayer one of the ministers of the church catches up all the hurts and hopes we feel as members of the human family and offers them to God. We then pray together the prayer Jesus Christ taught His disciples to pray, what we call The Lord´s Prayer. It is the comprehensive prayer of the community of faith.

The choir concludes our time of prayer each week with a choral response. The beauty and power of this music each week is a fitting climax to the beauty and power of our time spent in prayer.


We Gather At The Lord´s Table

At the center of our worship service each week is the Lord´s Supper. At the Lord´s Table we remember Christ´s death, experience Christ´s presence and anticipate Christ´s return. Because this is the Lord´s Table and not ours, we exclude no one who calls Jesus Christ Lord from participating regardless of church affiliation.

The communion hymn we sing each week is an act of spiritual preparation. It introduces communion themes and encourages thoughtful reflection.

The communion meditation offered by one of the ministers develops a different aspect about the meaning of communion each week to help focus your devotion.

The words of institution come from I Corinthians 11:23-26, the chronologically earliest witness in Scripture to the institution of the Lord´s Supper on the night before Jesus was betrayed and crucified. Sharing these words each week links us to the origins of the ordinance.

The prayers of dedication are offered by Elders of the church, one for the bread and another for the cup. Elders are the elected spiritual leaders of the local congregation. They are the shepherds of this flock of God´s people.

During communion each week the elements of bread and juice are passed down the pews by members of the Diaconate. The Diaconate are also elected spiritual leaders of the local church. They are called to be servants.

All of worship is an offering. In Romans 12 Paul defined the Christian life as a matter of "presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship" (1). The weekly offering in worship becomes an expression of this devotion.

During the moment for mission a brief stewardship thought based on the mission of the church is shared with the congregation before the offering is taken. It is an invitation to participate.

The offertory is a musical offering. As we are presenting our tithes and offerings to the Lord the musicians of the church are offering their gifts of talent and training to God as well.

The doxology is a hymn sung by the whole church as the offering is brought forward and placed on the Lord´s Table. We stand and sing the Doxology together as one community of faith as an act of devotion.

And the prayer of dedication is offered by one of the ministers as an expression of the inner devotion the outward offering represents.


WE HEAR GOD´S WORD

The weekly sermon can be a witness, an exhortation, a teaching, a confession, a narrative or an exposition. It is the task of preaching to speak a word from God to people who desperately need to hear it.

The weekly scripture lesson governs the proclamation. This is the text that is preached. It is where we find the Word from God addressed to us each week. It is the task of preaching to make the connection between the words of Scripture and the lives of people.

Just as soon as the Scriptures are read each week we stand to our feet and sing the gloria patri. This is Latin for the phrase "Glory be to the Father!" We use this hymn each week to praise God for addressing us in word and deed as witnessed to by the Scriptures.

The anthem is a proclamation of faith in song presented by the sanctuary choir. It is not a performance but a celebration and often a teaching moment. The words of the Anthem are always printed in the order of worship so that you can think about the words that are being sung.

We always hear God´s Word to us addressed as a claim requiring a decision. And so after the preaching each week an invitation is extended and a hymn is sung during which people are encouraged to come forward and share their decisions with the community of faith. The invitation extended each week by this church is threefold: to discipleship, church membership and personal renewal.


We Go Into The World Rejoicing

British churchman Ernest Southcott observed:

The most sacred moment of Sunday morning worship is after the benediction when the congregation moves out of the doors of the church and back into the world.

Renewed by the presence of God found in the fellowship, communion, prayer, music, Scripture and message of our worship service each week, we are ready to go out and look for God´s presence in all those places where we live and work. Our time spent together in worship each Sunday morning is a preparation for the coming week of engagement with the world. As the old saying goes, "We gather to worship and we scatter to serve."





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