How We Worship

Our worship services are deliberately patterned in order to achieve particular purposes throughout the service, bringing us into the presence of our loving God to receive the grace that He gives, in the ways that He has chosen to give it, and then to ascribe praise to Him for giving it in abundance.

Our music is designed to focus on ascribing glory and adoration to God for His holy character and manifold blessings to us. We sing hymns that have been written all throughout the history of the Church (including today), all of which centralize God and His glory, prompting us to express reverence to Him, and deep gratitude and love for all that He has done for us in Christ Jesus. Many hymns are based on the truths revealed in the Old Testament Psalms, and all of them express the revealed Word of God. We use a variety of musical instruments, all of which are used in service to the message of the hymns, as aids to assist us in singing the praises of God together, and to evoke heartfelt, passionate adoration and praise.

There are no dress codes at TBC, aside from the expectation that everyone is being considerate of one another and dressing with basic modesty. “Formal wear” is not required. Some of us dress more casually, and others enjoy dressing up in observance of the special occasion that worship is. Together we all acknowledge that God is mostly concerned with our hearts, and with His people offering praise and worship that is worthy of His holy name.

The preaching of the Word of God is centrally emphasized in our services, because God’s word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), and able to transform our lives by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). We also observe the Lord’s Supper each week at the end of our service, recognizing that it is an ordinance that God has graciously and specially provided for us in order to give us His grace and strengthen our faith.

Our services typically run about an hour and a half. We realize that this is a long time for kids, especially, to sit. At the same time, we encourage parents to include their children in the worship services, even as Jesus encouraged His disciples to “let the little children come” to Him (Matthew 10:13-14). Teaching our little ones the pattern, priority, and rhythms of corporate worship is a hugely important goal in raising them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). We do also have some special areas where parents can be with children who need a break from the main service.