Let us be fully persuaded, that wherever the faithful, who worship [God]…according to the appointment of his word, are assembled together to engage in the solemn acts of religious worship, he is graciously present, and presides in the midst of them.

— John Calvin, commenting on Psalm 9

for worship

Sunday after Sunday EBC gathers at 3 Pleasant Grove Road to preach, see, read, pray, and sing the Scriptures to God and to one another. That is, we are gathered together for worship—worship of the triune God of the Bible—rooted in the reality of the gospel.

because of the gospel

The gospel is the wonderful news that the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ, was sent to this earth to live a life of perfect obedience, to die a sinner’s death, and to be resurrected in victory over sin, death, and the devil. We worship God because that gospel was accomplished for us. Jesus lived, died, and resurrected on our behalf. Because of his person and work alone, sinners like us are joyfully reconciled to God by grace through faith alone. So we gather to rejoice in the salvation God has accomplished for us in Christ. We come to worship God because of the gospel.

by the Means of Grace

And since the nature of that gospel is all about grace (i.e. the demerited favor of God), the “how” of our worship is equally permeated by grace. In other words, in everything we do on Sunday morning, we do first as beneficiaries of God, not as his benefactors. We come ready to receive God’s mercies through the preaching of the word, through corporate prayer, through glad singing, and through celebrating Christ’s ordinances. We gather to worship not because we have much to offer, but because we know the One who does. And that’s how our merciful God would have it: our worship of him is accomplished through his grace given.

To sum it up in a sentence, we gather on Sunday mornings to worship the holy God of the Scriptures for his own glory through our faith-filled joy in the means of grace, all as fruit of the gracious salvation that is ours through the gospel of Jesus Christ!