Shore Praise Mission Statement (an introduction)

We are intending to lead and direct a worship celebration in the Name of Jesus Christ that is Christ-centered, Bible-based, and God-honoring. Our Scriptural model can be found in Nehemiah 8.

Our guiding principles include glorifying the Lord and edifying His Churchall of which is the work of the Holy Spirit within the hearts of God’s people.::

1. Glorification of God includes meditating upon His character, feasting upon the deep truths of His Word, praising His Name in response to both, and conforming our hearts to His will and Word.

2. Edifying the Church means encouraging His people and strengthening their faith through the preaching of His Word and corporate worship; also the Spirit of God convicting the hearts of His people in order to bring about repentance from sin and greater obedience in their lives.

How it should start and how it should end:

Godly worship must emanate or proceed from a heart of devotion AND a life of obedience to God’s precepts and commands found in His Word. It must also lead to examination of the heart which in turn produces greater obedience, devotion and sacrifice for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. Worship with song that is not preceded by and/or substantiated with active obedience in our normal, daily lives is hypocritical, superficial and empty, no matter how emotionally charged or moving it may be. Worship with song that does not produce self-examination, renewed devotion and increased obedience is a dead end and useless to the process of sanctification in the believer’s life.

What produces a spirit of worship in the believer?

1. Theology - An intimate examination and view into the nature/attributes and purposes of God

Herein lies the supreme importance of sound biblical doctrine and deep theological study in the context of Christian worship. Theology is NOT a lofty and “ivory tower” discussion reserved for a select few; nor is it a boring and useless undertaking with no application in the Christian faith. It is an inspiring process that reveals more and more of depth of the character of God and His perfect will. And it is crucial that our theology be accurate and our doctrine sound lest our view of God become distorted and our worship subsequently shallow, careless and inaccurate. How can our worship be successful if the object of our worship, the Lord our God, is not rightly understood? Or how can we worship what we do not understand?

2. A commitment to the Word of God

The Bible, God’s revealed Word, is our inspiration, our song and our delight – inerrant, perfect, pure and eternal. In it and through it we learn of and become intimate with our Creator and Redeemer, our Father and King. We must read and be familiar with His Word if we are to ever engage in any kind of substantial Christian worship.

3. An understanding of God’s holiness and wrath and our deserved condemnation.

Only when we consider God’s perfection and our relative depravity can we realize the severity of condemnation that we have been saved from. And only when we comprehend the severity of that judgment do we begin to have a glimpse into the awesome magnitude of God’s wondrous love. This is why the doctrine of hell is so important in the theology of every believer and especially in the context of worship. Our only response when we consider that we have been saved from an eternity of separation from God filled with everlasting torment is to drop to our knees and sing from the depths of our souls “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!” A true understanding of God’s love and grace requires a deep and prolonged view into God’s terrifying holiness and justice. When we are confronted with hell, when we stare straight into the face of judgment, the mercy and love of God, which have withheld that justice from us and instead laid it in upon His own Son, become very real and tangible and beautiful. O Praise Him!