Previous I said a few things about the high esteem in which a Reformed church and Reformed believers hold the Word of God and about how a Reformed church embraces the Word of God as the divine authority for both doctrine and life. I imagined telling an inquirer what a Reformed church is about and explaining to him that a Reformed church and Reformed believers base their teaching and their lives totally and exclusively on Scripture which is the breath of the Holy Spirit.

Central to the life of a Reformed church and its members is the worship service. Because a Reformed church holds the Word in such high esteem, the worship service of a Reformed church is unique. It is characterized by the Word of God and the responding words of the worshipers. God speaks His Word; God’s people respond by speaking and singing words of praise and thanks.

The Worship Service of a Reformed Church is a Covenantal Dialogue between God and His People⤒🔗

A Reformed worship service is a Word-centred service. God wants His people to be taught by the living preaching of his Word. The pulpit is central. From the pulpit, the Word of God is read and proclaimed. God’s people respond with prayer and song.

A typical Reformed liturgy shows that the worship service is a covenantal dialogue between God and His people. God greets His people. His people respond in song. God speaks the Ten Words of the Covenant. His people respond in song and prayer in which they confess their sin, plead for forgiveness, and ask for God’s blessing upon the reading and preaching of His Word. The Word of God is read and proclaimed. God’s people respond with song, the giving of alms, and prayer. The service ends with God blessing His people.

Every element of the service is either the Word of God or the prayer of the people (remembering that the songs are prayers as well).

The worship service is like a conversation: God, people, God, people, God. Whenever the people respond, they do so together, communally, as a body. Because it is a dialogue, a conversation between two intimates (God and God’s people), therefore we do not allow any foreign element into the worship service.

A Reformed Church does not Allow any Foreign Element into the Worship Service←⤒🔗

The Reformed churches understood this rather well until the 19th century. But then other things began to find their way into the worship service: choirs, soloists, testimonies, sharing, individual prayers, drama and dancing. These are impoverishments of the worship service. They are meant to enhance the service, but they make it poor. The end result is game show liturgies. Liturgy committees are put in place. The committees are constantly experimenting with the liturgy, making changes because people get bored. Once experimenting begins, there is no end to it.

These are impoverishments because, if someone is performing, then God and His people (the congregation) are both forced to fall silent. Someone gets in between God and His people. So much for dialogue. A Reformed person does not go to church to hear or see a performance. We organize talent evenings and choir performances for that. These can be very upbuilding. But Reformed people go to church to hear God’s Word and to respond to God in prayer and song – to have a (corporate) conversation with God. When the covenant community gathers to meet with God, individual activities – sharing, soloists, choirs – are not appropriate. They detract from the united meeting of the people with God.

This is not to say that we have arrived at liturgical perfection. There is, I think, room for improvement. But these improvements would fall under adjustments, not complete overhaul. For instance, the corporate “Amen” is much richer than if the minister says it on behalf of the congregation (see Nehemiah 8:6; 1 Corinthians 14:6). The votum (Our help is in the Name of the LORD who made heaven and earth) could better be spoken by the congregation in unison. These are adjustments which would enhance the dialogic character of the worship service. A decade or so ago, Dr. K. Deddens has called for the re-instatement of the reader. I believe he was right. Our worship services do very much look as if they are run completely by the minister. Why not allow a gifted reader to read the Scripture passages the minister selected? This, too, would enhance the principle that the congregation is really involved. These adjustments would not take away from the purity and simplicity of the Reformed worship service but would add depth to it.

The Whole Congregation attends the Worship Service←⤒🔗

A Reformed church should not have “during church” Sunday schools. If parents desire Sunday schools for their children, let them run such a school before or after the worship service. If the worship service is a meeting between God and His people, it will not do to have part of the congregation missing when the Word of God is proclaimed. Those who say that the children cannot understand the sermon underestimate both children and the Holy Spirit.

The Worship Service and Evangelism←⤒🔗

Many evangelical churches have “seeker-sensitive” worship services. Such a worship service becomes a forum for evangelism. Everything is geared to making the seeker comfortable. Dead wrong! A Reformed worship service will not be specifically designed to be “pagan-friendly.” The unbeliever must feel welcome. The congregation must be sensitive to him and welcome him. But he ought to feel somewhat uncomfortable as he finds himself in the midst of a congregation of people worshiping the eternal, all-knowing, everywhere-present, infinitely transcendent God of the universe. In the worship service the congregation, first of all, looks up to God. The dialogic direction is vertical before it is horizontal. The time for evangelism is during the week. Jesus Christ calls us to evangelize (Matthew 5:13-16; cf. LD 32). And when you invite your neighbour, colleague or acquaintance to church, then you prepare him so that he knows what to expect.

We will tell our inquiring friend that the official worship service of a Reformed church is very simple and pure, but that great power lies exactly in its purity and simplicity. There are few frills. Just a simple but awesome meeting between the great God of the universe and his united people.