Movements and Elements of Communal Worship

Every Sunday the journey of our communal worship flows through four main movements and is made up of many different elements that weave together as one.


Elements that can be found in any of the movements of worship

  • Music

  • Scripture (particularly from the Psalms and Gospels)

  • Prayer

  • Silence

  • Spiritual exercises (practices and disciplines, many ancient, of listening to God)

1st Movement: Gathering Together

  • Welcome and Invitation to gather

    • Often through music, prayer and spoken word we are gathered together, coming as we are and turning our selves towards God.

  • Praise

    • Expressing our admiration and love of God for who He is, what He has done and what He is doing.

  • Confession of Sin and Assurance of Forgiveness

    • When we confess through Jesus our sin, rebellion and ways we have lived out our brokenness, He is faithful to forgive us, and so we proclaim that forgiveness through Christ over God’s people.

  • Passing the Peace

    • Having received the Peace of Christ through forgiveness, we pass the Peace of Christ to those around us

  • Baptism

    • Jesus’s disciples are called to proclaim their participation in His death and resurrection through the sacrament of Baptism
2nd Movement: Uniting at the Table

  • Communion

    • Receiving and participating in the body and blood of our Lord as a family gathered around the table

  • Caring and Sharing Offering

    • Caring for those in financial need as a thankful response to God’s care for us
3rd Movement: The Story We Share

  • Child dedications

    • Dedicating a child to God and the commitment of the family and the whole community to support them, raising them in the love, knowledge and community of God.

  • Blessing the Children and Youth

    • Blessing them as they go to their areas of discipleship

  • Our Stories

    • Testimonies of what God is doing in and through us

  • Prayers of the People

    • Lifting our community, city, country and the world to God in prayer

  • Scripture Reading

    • Hearing the passage that is preached on read aloud

  • Teaching

    • Interpreting the scriptures in the community

  • Responding to God

    • Responding to how God by His Spirit has challenged and/or encouraged us

  • Offering

    • Offering ourselves and our resources to God as a thankful response
4th Movement: Scattering into the World

  • Committing ourselves to live out God’s character, in His strength, by His Spirit, for His Glory

    • This is often done through music and/or prayer

  • Announcements

    • Information and opportunities for loving God, loving each other, sharing God’s story and showing God’s care.

  • Benediction

    • A blessing over the community as we go into the world living for God’s Kingdom

  • Time of Fellowship in the Lounge

    • A continuation of what it means to be a worshipping community