Sunday Morning

Profile: Age-wise, we are diverse—from newborns to retirees. Sunday morning attendance usually ranges between 80 and 110 people--a little lower during the summer, a little higher on other occasions. Dress trends toward business-casual, though you can find anything from jeans to suits. Most guests comment on the personal warmth, friendliness, and graciousness of our people, and you’ll likely meet a number of folks and shake a number of hands before you are seated.

Body of Service: We informally begin to gather at approximately 8:50am for a brief time of quiet reflection, Scripture reading, and prayer, to prepare our hearts for the service. Our service formally begins at 9:00 am, led most often by the pastor and selected members of the congregation. During this time, we make brief announcements of importance to the church family, interview and pray for an individual or family in the church, sing several songs, offer prayers of praise and confession to God, hear Scripture read, and give our offerings and tithes.

Music: The music we sing at Christ Church is a blend of old and new. We love the doctrinally rich hymns of the sixteenth century and we find blessing in the choruses of the twenty-first. Most of us who are comfortable with music from one particular era have discovered, while at Christ Church, that we have come to enjoy other songs to which we had not been previously exposed. We strongly prefer congregational singing, which emphasizes the gathered body singing praise to God with one voice, over performed music, which tends to spotlight the abilities of some while encouraging passivity in the rest.

Sermons: Preaching at Christ Church is strongly expositional, meaning that it seeks to declare the main point(s) of a particular biblical passage. Sermons usually last around an hour and are packed with material for reflection.  Extensive sermon notes are provided, and include questions designed to reinforce right thinking about Scripture and right living according to Scripture.  All preaching is driven by the Gospel, the Bible’s main message of God saving sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Post Sermon: We close the service in a prayer encapsulating the theme of the sermon, pronounce a benediction, and then make a room available for those who would like to remain in silent reflection or pray with a member of the church leadership. A typical service is finished by 10:30am. We provide light refreshments in the side sanctuary immediately after the service to encourage fellowship.

Post Fellowship: On Sunday morning at about 11:00am we come together for our Educational Hour, including instruction for all ages.  We usually offer two adult courses—a biblical study track, in which we make a careful study of a particular book in the Bible and its application to our lives, and a theological study track, in which we learn about some aspect of the Christian faith, ethics, philosophy, history, or culture.