Worship at New Life

Expect worship to be fairly casual.  "Come as you are" works for us here!  The pastor tries to be as relational as possible with the congregation while maintaining a fairly traditional to blended form of the service.

Worship here at New Life follows the time honored form of the Divine Service.  We generally use the liturgy from the Lutheran Book of Worship (the LBW) with a few twists thrown in.  For the Summer we are using the Liturgy from the With One Voice supplemental hymnal.

Children are welcome as well!  We are passionate about raising up children in God's house - making them aware of what He offers them in His service to us.  Kids get a bit antsy at times and we recognize that.  But we have found that God's Word is true when it says; (Isa. 55:11) "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." and;  (Prov. 22:6) "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."  Kids get it even when we don't think they are paying attention!  So, (Matt. 19:14) "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

The Lord's Supper

We offer Communion weekly for those who are baptized Christians who can attest that they believe as we do in the real presence of the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in, with and under the elements of bread and wine.  Visitors are encouraged to speak with the pastor prior to the service if possible - however, no one who comes to the Lord's Table with outstretched hands will be denied.  Children who have not yet received instruction are welcome to come forward to receive a blessing.

Children are ready to receive Communion when they believe the promise of Jesus; "This is given and poured out for you, to forgive the bad things you have done."  People who do not believe or understand these words (taken from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible - a paraphrase version written to be suitable for lower elementary school aged children) are not ready for Communion, because the promise "for you" in response to a need for forgiveness is something we need to believe.  See the discussion at the Cyberbrethren Blog regarding the communing of infants for some more information on this practice.