What is worship? I guess I should know since it’s in my job title. Worship is a strong expression of reverence, adoration, or love. I like to keep it simple and say you worship what you love. So what do we love? I feel the primary purpose of what I do is to keep calling people back to authentic love of God, for he is most worthy.


And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

         

Ephesians 3:17-19


My commitment to this church is to strive to create an atmosphere that continually calls people back to a love of God. A love that looks like God, that comes from God. That is not an extra piece in their life, or something that ranks among other loves they have for stuff, people, or sports teams, but a love that gives God his rightful acknowledgement. That testifies that the Father sent his Son to be the savior of the world.

No greater love has been displayed than by Jesus Christ’s obedient death on a cross for our sins. So we regularly celebrate that redemptive work in our services with communion. We love because He first loved us. We are called to be a people of love, living everyday as living, loving sacrifices for His kingdom and purpose.

19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


         Ephesians 5:19-20

Our liturgy at Long Grove community church, which is a fancy way of saying what we do in our services, reflects what God calls us to do. We sing psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. We give thanks through offering and testimony. We grow in our knowledge of how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is through the preaching and teaching of God’s word. We call people to step out of their sin and into the glorious light found only in the love of Jesus Christ through a relationship with Him.

With this primary goal in mind, the worship ministry at Long Grove community church continues to work toward continual, incremental improvement. In 2023, we did a fairly substantial reworking of our Speakers in the Community House along with adding acoustic treatment panels, all to improve the sound so that people can focus on the message of salvation, that is, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. If anyone wants to know the details of speaker impedance or room acoustics, I would love to discuss them. Otherwise, know that the goal of the worship ministry is to express our love for God and, through excellence, take the attention off of ourselves and onto the living God who alone is worthy.

Important goals for 2024...

  • Continue to recruit people for the Praise and A/V ministry teams, with hearts set on continuous worship for God.
  • Provide a worship experience that speaks God’s truth, helping all people affiliated with Long Grove Church to join in the never-ending praise of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Continue to strive for perfection and, in the process of doing so, obtain excellence in our worship of God, both in practical action and faithfulness to God.