Come as you are and expect a warm welcome. We are a community of people from all different walks of life who share one main thing in common: our only comfort in life and in death is that we belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Our worship is formative and centered around Christ in all the Scriptures.
How We Worship
The Bible tells us that we are to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). As we enter God’s presence every Sunday at Grace URC, we try to come with this in mind. We are reminded that we are coming into the presence of a Holy God (Isaiah 6:1-7), the Creator and Judge of all (Psalm 96:4-13). For this reason, we worship according to God’s commands in Scripture.
Worship is also a covenant dialogue between God and his covenant people, initiated by God. This covenant dialogue happens throughout our worship service. Indeed, you will hear a lot of God’s Word in our services and will respond with the congregation in various kinds of prayers and songs. Click here to see the covenant dialogue that will take place this Lord’s Day at Grace URC Torrance.
We also come in joy and gratitude (Psalm 100). Through faith in Christ, we have a once for all sacrifice for our sins, because of his death on the cross. And he is our Great High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us at the Father’s right hand. In light of this we come in confident faith, sure hope and to stir one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:19-25).
Christ-Centered Preaching
At one occasion, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for misunderstanding the Bible: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). Another time, after his resurrection, he instructed two disciples on the road to Emmaus who misunderstood the Scriptures. He taught them that ultimately the Bible in its entirety points to the person and work of Christ: “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
On the basis of Christ’s teaching, then, the focus of preaching at Grace URC is on proclaiming Christ from all the Scriptures. We preach the Gospel (or Good News) of Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead from both the Old and New Testaments (1 Corinthians 1:22-24; 2:1-2; 15:1-5). We preach the Good News that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to create faith in our hearts (Romans 10:17) and he continues to use it to transform us more into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). When Christ is proclaimed week in and week out Christians find both the pattern and the power to live the Christian life for God’s glory and the good of their neighbor. As the Apostle Paul said to the Colossians, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
Weekly Communion
We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace whereby the Holy Spirit signifies and seals the promises of God in Christ to “those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life” (see Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Days 28-30 and Belgic Confession, Article 35). We also believe that Christ is truly present in the Lord’s Supper and that “we do not go wrong when we say that what is eaten is Christ’s own natural body and what is drunk is his own blood—but the manner in which we eat it is not by the mouth but by the Spirit, through faith [which is the hand and mouth of our souls]…This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates himself to us with all his benefits” (John 6:40, 54; 1 Corinthians 10:16; Belgic Confession, Article 35). Because of these things Grace URC Torrance practices the weekly administration of the Lord’s Supper in our morning service following the preaching of God’s Word.
Visitors and the Lord’s Supper: In obedience to God’s word, we invite visitors to join us at the Lord’s Supper who come worthily, that is, with discernment and in self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:27-32). Since the Apostle Paul reminds us that the Supper can bring both judgment and blessing, we desire to administer this holy meal with the utmost care. Thus, it is our practice to ask visitors who desire to partake of the Lord’s Supper to obtain permission from the elders of the church. This may be done before the service by reviewing our visitor communion policy form in the foyer with the elder who is greeting people at the entrance door. If you received permission from him, on behalf of the elders, you are welcome to partake. Click here to review our visitor communion policy in advance.
Children in Worship
We love to have and hear your children worship with us and they are most welcome in the service. Since Scripture teaches that the church is a community of those in covenant with God – believing parents and their children – we encourage children to join us in the corporate service as they did in the days of Israel (Psalm 78:4; Joel 2:16) and in the days of the Apostles (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20). Since covenant children are fellow members in the church (Romans 12:4–5) we gladly welcome their presence and “joyful noise” in the service (Psalm 100:1). Even more, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is present in worship by His Spirit, welcomes children into his presence (Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17). We see this as a biblical approach to worship and it has been our experience that children benefit and grow from worshipping God with their family and the whole church.
We reserve the back rows on both sides of the aisle for parents with small children. We also have a soundproof room with a one-way window on your left as you exit the sanctuary for parents with infants and toddlers. Additionally, there is a room right off the foyer where you may watch a livestream of the service with your children if they are having an especially noisy and squirmy day.
During our second service, we have children’s catechism classes. Please see an elder or deacon for more details on our catechism classes.
Singing of Psalms and Hymns
“…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20)
We love to sing carefully chosen, biblically faithful Psalms and hymns to our Triune God. We do this for specific reasons. The book of Psalms was the songbook of the Old Testament saints. They were sung for over a thousand years in anticipation of the coming of Christ. And, Jesus and his disciples likely sang Psalm 118 at the end of the first Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:30). Now we as Christians sing them following the example of Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church (Acts 16:25; Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16). Because of this we love to sing the Psalms and give them the principal place in our worship services. We also occasionally sing hymns, both ancient and recent, that are in accord with the teaching of Scripture. Singing Psalms and hymns not only gives us a sense of unity with the church of all ages, as we sing what God’s people have sung for thousands of years, but also gives us the ability to express ourselves through all the joys and sorrows of the Christian life.