worship
What To Expect
We gather for worship every Sunday morning at at 1205 Congress Avenue in Oshkosh and on every Sunday evening, except for the first and fifth Sundays of the month. Most people park in the lot behind the church, which you can access off of either Walnut Street or Spruce Street. The main entrance is in the back, off of the parking lot.
When you come to RPC for a Sunday worship service, you should expect to be greeted by some of our members, who will help you find a seat in our sanctuary before the worship service. To help you feel more comfortable and to help you follow along as our pastor leads us, we will provide you with a bulletin that lists the parts of the service.
In the morning, we offer a word of welcome and make some announcements at 10:25am and then begin worship at 10:30am. On most Sundays, worship ends around 11:50am.
We return to the church for a second service on most Sundays at 5pm, which begins with a time for sharing praises and prayer requests and includes prayer, a time for those present to select favorite psalms and hymns, and a new sermon. The second, evening service goes until 6pm and is followed by fellowship.
REVERENT JOY
When we come together for worship, we do our best to remember that we’re broken people, needy for the ministry of God to our hearts. We believe he works in us by his Spirit and Word to heal us with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ as we gather together.
And we need everything he gives! So, we take worship very seriously. After all, in worship God’s people meet with God, himself! Reverence is always appropriate when sinful people draw near to a holy God. And God’s Word teaches us to offer the Lord “acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Yet, what is so awesome about our Heavenly Father is his kindness to forgive us and his mercy to receive us as his beloved children. So, our reverence should be colored by true joy and peace.
THE SERMON
We believe one of the most important parts of our worship service is the sermon. Our pastor will read a passage from the Bible and spend about 40 minutes explaining what it means and how it calls us to believe in Jesus and follow after him in obedience.
We only preach the truths of the Bible, for it alone is God’s Word. We do not believe the Church has the authority to come up with “truths” for people to believe or rules for people to follow. Our goal in preaching and teaching is to understand the way, the truth, and the life that God has given us in the Christ of Scripture. True freedom comes with faith in Christ and obedience to his commands.
A FOCUS ON JESUS CHRIST
Whether you hear it in the songs, in the Bible readings, or in the sermon, you’ll soon realize that we believe the life God is calling us to live is only possible with Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God and the only Savior for the whole world. And WE DESPERATELY him in order to have true life – that is, an eternal relationship with the one, true, Triune and living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus is our Savior and Substitute, who has done for us what we could not do for ourselves, perfectly obeying God’s law for us and also suffering under the law’s just punishments for our sins on the cross. So, we must believe in him and receive his ministry to us.
But Jesus is also our Lord and Example, who models for us how God wants us to live. He also calls us to follow after him, denying ourselves, loving God, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.
DRESS
Some of us like to show our respect for God by dressing up a bit, like our pastor, who will be wearing a suit and tie. Some of us come to worship in much more causal clothing because we feel comfortable in our heavenly Father’s loving presence. Most of us will be dressed somewhere in-between.
This is the important thing: We don’t believe that God loves us more or less because of the way we dress. Modesty, of course, is always appropriate for church.
CHILDCARE (NURSERY)
We believe our children are a part of our church’s covenant community, for the promises of our God extend to the entire family, and our Savior welcomes the praises of children. So, we welcome them to worship with the rest of the congregation.
We do not provide an alternate worship service or “Children’s Church” for them. However, we do provide safe and loving childcare for children ages 0-3 during our 10:30am service. Our childcare volunteers are grateful for the opportunity to serve families by caring for their children during worship.
Covenant Childcare is provided off of the front foyer of the church, next to the women’s bathroom. You may obtain a copy of our Covenant Childcare policies located in our childcare room.
