How do we worship?

We want everyone from our first time visitors to our regular attendees and even our members to know what to expect, and the reason behind everything we do.

What to expect?

At ShreveCC, our priority is worship, relationships, and growth. As a result, you will see our Sunday mornings shaped in a way that represents this priority. Our traditional orthodoxy and liturgy is unique and distinct, but offers a beautiful worship experience.

What should I wear?

ShreveCC is a multigenerational family of believers and, as such, you’ll see people dressed in everything from shorts or jeans, to business casual or even a suit and tie every single Sunday. So whether it’s cowboy boots, sneakers, loafers or heels, we want you to wear whatever you feel comfortable in.

Liturgy

In short, liturgy is the communal response and participation of the global Church in the sacred relationship between man and God.

The liturgy of the Global Methodist Church is a way to provide our new denomination with a communal, structured worship experience that connects our budding tradition with the greater Christian tradition. Since 1784, and the ministry of John Wesley, a variety of Christian traditions have used a particular canon of worship that is distinctive to Wesleyan or Methodist movements. And today, at the outset of a new tradition, our historically “Methodist” liturgy keeps us rooted in tradition, Scripturally grounded, connected globally, and readily accessible to diverse people groups.

Through our liturgy, we are able to praise God in unity with the “great cloud of witnesses”.

The key source for our liturgy is the Apostles Creed, the unifying foundation and structure of all true expressions of the Christian faith. For this reason, we find it important and necessary to remember this shared foundational catechism by utilizing the liturgy of John and Charles Wesley in our weekly services. Much of our liturgy can be found in Seedbed’s newly released Wesley Hymnal, Our Great Redeemers Praise.

Our Great Redeemers Praise

For more information about our orthodoxy and liturgy, please contact Pastor Nate at revnatefugate@gmail.com

FAQs

  • Pastor Nate wears a vestment, which is just a fancy way of saying clothing of the church.

    Since the reformation, Protestant clergy, or pastors, have worn black robes as a way of denouncing the formal and fancy rituals/dress of the Catholic Church. At the onset of the Methodist movement, John Wesley chose to wear black robes as a way of taking the attention off of him and redirecting it to God.

    In recognition of John Wesley and our Methodist roots, and as a sign of our need to care less about material things, Pastor Nate chooses to carry on the tradition of wearing black robes when preaching.

  • Pastor Nate believes it’s important that we, as a congregation, know what we believe, why we believe and are able to articulate these beliefs. The foundation of true Christian faith can be found in the creeds of the early Church and in the results of the early church councils. Furthermore, the foundational beliefs of the Global Methodist Church are best articulated through the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.

    We recite the Apostles Creed each Sunday as a way of honoring the foundational work of the early church fathers, remembering the foundational truths of our faith, and to remind us of the unified community we belong to in the global Church as Christians.

  • At the beginning of each worship service, to members of our church family (typically children) process down the aisle with “the light of Christ” to light candles symbolizing Jesus’ presence. These kids are called acolytes. Then at the end of service, they return to extinguish the candles and carry the light out of the service, symbolizing the role of believers to carry the light of Christ into the world, wherever they go.

  • At ShreveCC, we prioritize worship and the Scriptures. As we seek to stay true, in worship, to our foundational beliefs found in the Apostles Creed, as well as our rich Methodist heritage, we call on a rich treasury of Scripturally sound hymns authored by John and Charles Wesley, as well many others, as our primary means of worship.

  • At ShreveCC we utilize a “call to worship” as an intentional reminder to the congregation that by entering into a corporate worship service, we are responding to God’s invitation to enter into His presence, communally. By collectively participating in a call to worship, we are setting the tone for worship, focusing our hearts on God, and marking the transition from everyday life into a time of communal, corporate dedicated worship.