What to Expect
Worship Services: 9:30 am
Fellowship Time: 10:45am-11:00am
Children Sunday School: 11:00 am – 11:40 am Adult Sunday School 11:00am – 11:40am
Nurseries: Our nursery provides a safe and loving environment for children 0-3 years of age. The nursery is available during all Sunday services.
Why We Worship
Plainfield CRC is a community centered around the worship of God. We believe that it is during this special time on Sunday morning that God himself calls us into his presence, speaks to us, nourishes us, and allows us the privilege to speak back to him, with praise and prayer. In this way, worship is very much conversation. Likewise, each week we tell the story of the gospel – salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ – through the liturgical elements of our service. We do this towards the glory of God the Father and the nourishment of his people, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our desire is that through each service, those present are drawn into a deeper understanding of who God is and, thus, who we are.
How We Worship
Worship According to Scripture – While the Bible does not mandate a specific order of the Sunday service, that does not mean that God has left his church without direction on how he desires us to worship him. Historically, the Reformed Church has recognized that God, through His Word, is both the initiator and director of worship, and that principle instructs us even today! Thus, we seek for our worship to always be faithful to the content of Scripture, the story of salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In our pursuit of biblical worship, our service is structured in such a way that seeks to highlight both God’s presence and leading, as well as our active participation, as the worshippers, through every element of the service! For that reason, our service is intentionally organized in the following manner:
- God Calls Us – As God initiates a relationship with his people, our worship begins with God calling up into his presences to receive good gifts from his hand (Hebrews 12:22), and we respond back to him with prayer and a song of praise!
- God Cleanses Us – In Christ, we are forgiven of all our sins from the moment the Holy Spirit caused us to receive the good news of the Gospel. And while we recognize that we are already called holy, the truth is that we are not yet perfect and continue to sin. In order to strengthen our weak consciouses and nourish our faith that we are truly loved God, we rehearse this good news of forgiveness weekly through hearing from God’s law, confessing our sins, and then being assured of our forgiveness in the Gospel (1 John 2:1-2; James 5:15-16).
- God Consecrates Us – After we are cleansed and again die to ourselves, God then works to conform us and re-create us into the image of his Son (Romans 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49; Col. 3:10). Through the reading and preaching of his Word, God not only creates faith in our hearts, but sets us apart as his people for his special service (John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
- God Communes with Us – Good fellowship among friends so often takes place over a meal, and this is no different with God. In Scripture we see that Church from her infancy devoted herself to three things: (1) the Apostle’s teaching, (2) prayer, and (3) partaking in the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42). Scripture refers to this meal as a fellowship meal and a true communion with the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 10:16-17). Thus, each week, Christ calls us to the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion or the Eucharist, so that he may feed our souls and enjoy his fellowship.
- God Commissions Us – As we end our worship service, God does not send us back out into the world empty handed, but rather, he gives us his very own blessing! Having strengthened our faith through the service, God sends us out with our faith strengthen, ready to be a light in this dark world and eager to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbor (Matthew 28:16-20)
Children in the Service
Because worship is the church’s special time to come into God’s presence, Plainfield CRC welcomes and encourages children in the service, as equal members of Christ’s Church. God gave children beautiful, rambunctious energy that sometimes causes them to become a little restless and make noise. THAT’S OKAY! We believe they belong right there, in the service with the rest of God’s people. Children learn how to worship from watching others, and so we encourage families to sit towards the front where it is easier for little ones to see and hear what’s going on in the service, and encourage parents to sing, participate, as well as quietly explain the parts of the service to their young ones. If you have to leave, comfortable spaces are available throughout the church, but please come back! Children are a gift, not a distraction! And the sound of children in the church is the sound of Jesus keeping his promises. As Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.”