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First Congregational Church is one church family that meets together to worship and hear God’s call to mission in the world. We are a diverse congregation of all ages, backgrounds, and tastes. Hence, we will provide a style of Sunday service known as blended worship.
Each service will evolve from the scripture for the week, focus on prayer and preaching, and be enhanced by the arts and ritual. The form and mix of worship elements will be determined by the selected reading and by taking into consideration the wide range of needs in the congregation. The end result will be worship that speaks in a blended way to the spiritual needs we all share.
Each Sunday service, though built on a recognizable framework, may be varied in order to illumine the scripture in interesting ways, making worship inclusive and spiritually vibrant. For example, musical selections may be both traditional and contemporary; liturgical dance may accompany music; dramatic effects may be used; communion may be shared by intinction (dipping).
A blended worship style also considers how space and movement, art and symbol, silence and sound, are used to create a variety of moods. For it is recognized that worshipers come to the sanctuary with a wide range of emotions and spiritual needs. Worshipers may be feeling meditative, hopeful, joyful, grateful, and celebratory. Others are dealing with sorrow, loss, disappointment, even fear. In our worship we seek to recognize and minister to the many spiritual facets within each of us.
Our worship design and practice will continue our commitment to the inclusion of children and the use of inclusive language. We value an intergenerational worship and want to maintain one Sunday service. We do not want to split our congregation by worship style preference.
Our purposeful blend of worship styles aspires to enhance our church’s
heritage while expanding our ways of worshipping God, creating opportunities
for surprise and awe.