Covenant Renewal Service
At Christ the Redeemer Church, we practice a form of liturgy known as covenant renewal service. Besides providing a worshipful tone, a covenant renewal service explicitly recognizes our covenant relationship with the Lord and our fervent desire to avoid breaking covenant with the Lord.
The service is responsive and participatory. Throughout the service, the Lord initiates and His people respond to the His leading. All the people of God who are capable respond to Lord through song, responsive reading, prayer, affirmations (corporate amen) and discussion.
The service has five parts:
- The Call.
- The Lord calls His people to assemble.
- Confession.
- The Lord cleanses us of our unrighteousness through His Son, Jesus Christ, as we come into the Lord’s glorious presence.
- Consecration.
- The Lord teaches us through the reading and preaching of His holy word. Our custom is to read from the prophetic word which anticipates the coming of the Messiah and from the fulfilled word which declares Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
- Communion.
- The Lord communes with His people in a ceremonial meal designed to build up the individual saints and the corporate church body. This meal emphasizes our unity as brothers and sisters in the faith under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- Commissioning.
- The Lord sends us out to fulfill the Great Commission. After calling us to His presence, cleansing us of our unrighteousness, teaching us from His word, and strengthening us through the bread and wine, the Lord has prepared us for spiritual battle.