Worship involves the acknowledgement and enjoyment of God's attributes. It involves intimacy with God, being before His throne in a two-way fellowship. It is man's offering of himself as a sacrifice to God in ways that are pleasing to God. Here at Celebration Center, it is our desire to create a high value for worship. Our Worship Ministry plays an important role in the development of who we are as God's people. Because of this, our efforts have been concentrated on developing a community of musicians and vocalists who are committed to worship and dedicated to this ministry. 

 

 

We worship God because, as a God of love, He not only loves us but loves to be loved. Further, we worship God because in His infinite wisdom He created us to be worshipers, knowing that it would be essential to our well-being for us to focus on Him rather than ourselves. Thus, we worship God not only because He desires our worship, but because we need to worship.

Worship releases us from our selfishness. Through worship God lifts us out of ourselves and draws us to Him. Self is dethroned; God is enthroned.  Worship reminds us of God's power and faithfulness to do what He has promised.  Expressing love and devotion to God deepens these emotions in us and increases our desire to be with Him.  Verbalizing and hearing others verbalize such attitudes as faith and commitment reinforces our own attitudes, and we are strengthened against fear, doubt and discouragement.  Welcoming God's presence through worship releases His power to work among us. In other words, worship is a vehicle for receiving the Holy Spirit.  Worship increases our sensitivity to God's voice.  Worship prepares us for prayer, thus deepening our prayer life.

Worship is man's love response to his Creator based on personal knowledge of Him. It involves the acknowledgment and enjoyment of God's attributes. It involves intimacy with God, being before His throne in two-way fellowship. It is man's offering of himself as a sacrifice to God in ways that are pleasing to God.  Worship begins internally with attitudes and emotions which result from man's relationship with God. Combining both mental and spiritual activity, internal worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23, 24) is the welling up within one's spirit of attitudes and emotions as prompted by the Holy Spirit and in accordance with one's true inner condition.  Some of the attitudes and emotions experienced in worship are expectation, thanksgiving, adoration, celebration, joyfulness, praise, awe, humility, supplication, brokenness and surrender.  Worship continues externally with the physical response that is compelled by the activity within. This external worship response is the bodily expression of the worship that is coming from one's spirit. On the external level, worship "in spirit and in truth" means physical action that is prompted by the Holy Spirit and that is in accordance with scriptural revelation regarding how God desires to be worshiped.  Physical responses cited in scripture include vocal expression through singing, speaking and shouting, use of instruments, standing, kneeling, bowing down, bowing or lifting the head, lifting or stretching out the hands, dancing and clapping.

How an individual worships depends on his attitude toward God. How a church worships depends on its collective attitude toward God. The following values are intended to reflect our basic attitude toward God and our understanding of how He desires to be worshiped. The practices are based on our values and are intended to show how we carry out our values.

Our worship is focused entirely on God. We celebrate who God is and what He has done, giving honor and glory only to Him.  Embracing worship as a lifestyle, we set aside specific time for it on both corporate and individual levels. We especially honor the seventh-day Sabbath, which, according to scripture, was blessed and made holy by God as a memorial of His creation and was designed to bring man into communion with Him.  Based on a deep hunger to know God, we come to Him in honesty and without pretense. We are intimate and self-disclosing with God, opening ourselves completely to Him and receiving His communication to us.  At the same time that we seek intimacy with God, we are mindful of His majesty and holiness and are, therefore, careful to offer up worship that is worthy.  We are committed to integrity and pure motives, so that nothing is done for affect or manipulation. We seek transformation, not entertainment.  While we seek to avoid contrived "emotionalism," we want our worship to be the free, emotional response that flows out of us as prompted by the Holy Spirit.  We welcome the ministry of the Holy Spirit in whatever way He chooses to work among us.

The following texts are representative of the Scriptures upon which the preceding values concerning worship are based:  Genesis 2:3; Psalm 17, 51:10, 17, 95:6, 7, 100, 139, 150; Isaiah 44:6-10, 56:1-8, 63:10; Mark 12:29-30; 1 Corinthians 10:31, 2:10-14;