Services at Bethany Gospel Chapel

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. The purpose of Sunday morning at Bethany Gospel Chapel is to bless, praise, exalt, adore, honor and give thanks to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our desire is that we will individually and collectively humble ourselves and together bow our heart, mind and will before God in submission to Him, for this is the essence of biblical worship[1].  

9-9:45am Contemplative Worship

In this service, we gather to remember the Lord Jesus Christ: He is God and man, King and Savior, holy and humble, the Servant of the Lord and the Man of Sorrows, crucified, risen and coming again. In obedience to His command we break bread and share the cup as we remember His body given and His blood poured out for the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation to God[2]. 

This meeting is to have structure and order and at the same time encourage heartfelt, humble and biblical blessing to God that is also edifying to each other. The purpose of this meeting is to focus on God not ourselves; it is to exalt Christ not to exhort one another. It is not primarily a teaching service, nor a prayer meeting nor a testimonial. The meeting includes the sharing of scripture, prayer, song and time of quietness. The elders desire that there be an atmosphere of contemplation; we advocate a minute or two of quiet between each time of participation[3].

All those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior are welcome to participate both verbally and in quietness. Before sharing in the bread and the cup, everyone is encouraged to examine their own hearts and lives, and relationship to one another in the body of Christ so that all remember the Lord in a manner that is worthy of His name[4].

10-11:30am Worship & Learning

In this service, we continue our focus on the Lord Jesus. For the first part of the service, our whole Chapel family worships together in songs of praise, prayer, scripture readings, testimonies of God’s work in our lives both here and throughout the world, and communion. Again, everyone is encouraged to examine their own hearts and lives, and relationship to one another in the body of Christ before sharing in the bread and the cup, so that all remember the Lord in a manner that is worthy of His name.

After that time, we focus on learning from the Bible. We invite the children of our congregation to participate in age-appropriate Biblical learning with our children’s ministry team. The teens and adults remain in the sanctuary for Biblical teaching from our speaking team, followed by small group discussion, to allow each person to reflect on what God is revealing to them through His word. We believe that the Word of God is powerful, and we desire that our time looking into the Bible will result in transformation[5].

[1] 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3

[2] Luke 22:19, I Cor 11:24-25

[3] 1 Cor 14:40, Ps 46:10

[4] 1 Cor 11:23-29

[5] Hebrews 4:12