Covenant renewal worship

This article is about worship in the Reformed tradition. For the Methodist practice, see Covenant Renewal Service.

Covenant renewal worship is an approach to Christian worship practiced in some Reformed churches, in which the order of worship is modeled on the structure of biblical covenants and sacrifices. One popular order is as follows:^[1]

1. Call to Worship
2. Confession of sin
3. Consecration, which includes Bible readings and the sermon
4. Communion, or Lord's Supper
5. Commissioning, or Benediction

Churches which worship in this way consider that Sunday is the covenant day (Lord's Day) in which the covenant people (the church) meet with God to hear his covenant word (the Bible) and celebrate the covenant meal (the Eucharist). This order of worship is perceived to be present in Old Testament rituals. Jeffrey Meyers sees this fivefold structure in passages such Leviticus 1:1-9,^[2] and the entire Book of Deuteronomy.^[3] He also views three Levitical sacrifices – the purification offering, the ascension offering, and the fellowship offering – as corresponding to steps 2 to 4.^[3]

The first person to publish material on covenant renewal worship was James B. Jordan, who began writing on the topic in the early 1990s.^[4][5] In 2003, Jeffrey Meyers published The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship, and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America adopted a position paper calling for covenant renewal worship.^[6] Covenant renewal worship is now common in the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.^[7] A number of congregations in the Presbyterian Church in America also practice it.^[8][9]

See also

• Covenant theology
• Reformed worship

References

1. "The Liturgy". Church of the King, Sacramento. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
2. Meyers, Jeffrey J. (2003). The Lord's Service: The Grace of Covenant Renewal Worship. Canon Press. p. 56. ISBN 9781591280088. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
3. Meyers, The Lord's Service, p. 87.
4. Jordan, James B. (February 1992). "Advice". Rite Reasons. 19. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
5. Jordan, James B. (December 1993). "The Peril of Weekly Communion". Rite Reasons. 30. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
6. "The Worship of the Church: A Reformed Theology of Worship" (PDF). Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
7. What to expect in our CREC church (PDF). Canon Press. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
8. "Worship". Cornerstone Church PCA. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
9. "Our Worship". Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church. Retrieved 30 March 2020.