1. Prayer
We worship verbally. During our services, we pray a lot. We pray at the beginning, asking God to help us focus on him. We pray during our musical worship to remain focused on him. We pray for blessings on our lives. We pray for generosity when we worship through giving and for stewardship of our resources. We pray that our teaching glorifies God. We pray before we leave, that God will be with us and glorified through us throughout the week.
2. Community
We worship communally. We take the time to interact and interrelate – to celebrate each other as God’s beautiful workmanship. We make time to “meet and greet” in our services. We shake hands, hug one another, meet new people and share the peace of Christ with one another. We also take time to announce what’s going on at CHC beyond Sunday morning.
3. Music & Media
We worship musically. Music is a tool for worship used by God’s people for thousands of years. There is no prescribed style for this music. So when we sing, we sing timeless hymns and modern songs that are God-centered, focused on who he is and what he has done. We don’t sing songs that place ourselves or even our benefits at the center. And we perform for God. In doing so, we try to perform with excellence and to inspire the emotions to freely express love and adoration for Him. We use large screens for song lyrics so all can sing and we use subtle, but varied lighting to help engage sight along with sound. We use video, images and graphics to engage the mind toward God.
4. Teaching
We worship intellectually. Our goals in teaching are 3-fold: To inform understanding of God and truth, to ignite passion for God’s supremacy and beauty, and to inspire action that brings God glory on Earth and invites people to receive his grace.
5. Giving
We worship financially. Giving is a form of worship prescribed by God for his people. If the church didn’t need a dime to operate, we would still give toward God’s mission. Because money is so powerful, giving financially puts our values in the right order. We encourage our members and attendees to faithfully invest a percentage of their income toward the church’s efforts to fulfill Christ’s commission to go into the world and make more disciples (Mt 28:19). On a very practical level, giving puts resources into the church so that the mission can be financed, keeping the ministry flowing along with the electricity and plumbing!
6. Creativity
We worship creatively. The God we worship is the genius Creator of all things. We invest our time and resources in reflecting this attribute of our Lord. We change things up sometimes at CHC - not just for the sake of change, but to inspire the heart and mind to creatively worship God and engage his truth. Besides, too much predictability can tend toward routine religious activity, which often robs us of our spiritual vitality.
7. Communion & Baptism
We worship sacramentally. Twice a month, we partake of Holy Communion, which is a remembrance of Christ’s suffering for us. Together we eat bread and drink of the cup to symbolize Jesus’ death - his broken body and spilled blood - that gives us life. And every 6 weeks or so, we baptize new believers in water, which is a public declaration of faith and a spiritual symbol of new life in Christ.
8. Passion
We worship passionately. Some people pray aloud and raise their hands. Some people laugh or cry, shout or kneel. Some people are quiet and reflective. Who we are as worshippers is based on how we feel toward God expressed in a variety of ways. We don’t base our emotions and actions on a prescribed culture passed down to us from a denomination or previous generation. Our beliefs and principles have a rich historical heritage, but we do not take our cues from history to know how to respond to God in worship. If we are elated about God, then we do what elated people do – which is not quiet stoicism. If we are moved intellectually to meditate on God’s holiness, then we meditate stoically – which doesn't look like exuberance. In summary, we encourage our people to worship relationally, not culturally.
What Not to Expect
We’ve included these because, let’s face it, we’ve all got reasons to be wary of a new church. We just want you to know that we strive to take our cues as a church from the heart of Jesus’ teaching and the example of the early church in Acts.
1. A show. We want you to be more impressed by who God is than by what we do.
2. An insiders’ club. There’s a place for you here, and not in the second class.
3. A personality-driven culture. There are only servants here – no celebrities.
4. Money manipulation. Don’t expect prosperity-driven petitions for money at CHC. God blesses real generosity, not a “what’s in it for me” attitude.
5. Disorder. Scripture makes it plain that we should gather and worship in a “fitting and orderly way” (1 Cor 14:40).
6. Shallow teaching. The truth of God is more than the power of positive thinking. God is not a useful life-improvement tool, nor is he Santa Claus.
7. Highbrow teaching. God’s truth is deep, but accessible. It doesn’t require a college degree to understand.
8. One culture. We’re a faith community of diverse races, church backgrounds, geographical origins, and economic situations. We’re black and white, Southern and Midwestern, Baptist background and Catholic background, privileged and poor - and the list goes on...
9. Perfection. There is no perfect church – including CHC - because there are no perfect people. But God is perfect anyway (a huge relief!).