Each Sunday, we gather to praise God, come before Him in prayer, preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Here you can find information about what steps we are taking to do this wisely in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as some of what to expect when you join us for worship.
COVID-19 Protocols
Who Should Come – If you feel ill, please stay home.
Social Distancing – While social distancing is not required, cards to reserve seats around you for distancing are available with the greeters and deacons.
How We Worship at RPCB
Worship
We would describe our worship style as simple, reverent, and rich. We seek to be Christ-centered throughout, recognizing the majesty and holiness of the God whom we worship, and full of the Word of the gospel that creates and nourishes our ongoing faith. We love the “means of grace” that Jesus gave us as his church, so in addition to hearing the Word preached, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week, as well as baptisms when occasion permits.
Dress
Come as you are, all are welcome! When you visit, you’ll see some dressed in T-shirts and shorts, others looking more “business casual,” some in traditional international dress (Nigerian, Cameroonian, Filipino), along with some dressed in suits and ties. Our pastors, preachers, and elders who lead worship tend to dress up a little, simply to reflect the significance of what we’re doing (meeting with the God of creation) and so as not to distract from the worship they are seeking to lead.
Music
While we mostly sing hymns with piano accompaniment, we also deliberately and regularly learn and incorporate more recently composed “contemporary” music that meets the high standards of rich theological content that we expect in our congregational singing.
Weekly Lord’s Supper (Communion)
Believing that Jesus gave us his sacraments (baptism and Lord’s Supper) for our spiritual good, nourishment, and edification, so we celebrate the Lord’s Supper (i.e. Communion, Eucharist) every week as part of our Sunday morning worship.
Children
While we encourage everyone to be part of our worship services, including all children, we do offer a cry room/nursery space with the sermon audio available for parents of children aged 6 months to 3 years during both morning and evening worship, as well as during our Bible Classes for all ages following Sunday morning worship. If your children are older than 3 years and this is new for you, we find that it can take a few weeks for them to adjust, but we don’t mind the extra noise that they make while they get used to it. It’s a joy to be reminded that Jesus invites even little children into his presence with us.
Evening Worship
We love to worship our Triune God together, so we don’t just gather once for worship every Sunday, but come back at 6:30 PM for an hour or so to sing a few hymns and be fed by God’s Word. This schedule is for every Sunday except the first Sunday of every month, when we instead gather at 6:30 PM for our hour-long congregational hymn sing.
Monthly Hymn Sing
The first Sunday of the month we gather at 6:30 PM for an hour-long congregational hymn sing. This is our “congregational choir practice,” where we get a chance to try out new tunes that may be incorporated into our morning worship, as well as sing our old favorites by request.