Visitors – Good Shepherd Anglican Church

We’d love to have you visit our church. If you’ve never attended a liturgical service, you might perhaps be surprised by the differences in our worship style as compared to some other churches.

What is “liturgy”?

The word liturgy means “the work of the people” — and it provides a framework for our services. Although formal, the form of service is neither dry nor difficult. The form of worship is provided each Sunday in a bulletin so that the fellowship can worship together, regardless of whether one is familiar with the Anglican service or not.

If you join us in worship you can expect the following elements:

PROCESSION – We begin our service with a procession following the cross. This procession teaches us from the very beginning of the service that Christ is our King not the powers of this world. This is who we want to be as a church, those who are led by King Jesus.

SONGS – Our music is a mixture of ancient hymns and more recently written songs.

SCRIPTURE – Every week we hear from God’s Word as we read out loud from the Old and New Testament, a Psalm, and a portion of one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John).

SERMON – The scriptures for the week are explained with the intention of helping us to better follow Christ.

CREED – One of the historic creeds is said in unison as we remind ourselves of our common faith.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Each week we ask God to show His mercy on our selves, our region, and our world.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION – In Christ we are set free to be honest before God, so we confess our sins and are reminded of God’s forgiveness.

PEACE – After being assured of the forgiveness of Christ, we are then free to make peace with one another in the knowledge of what has been forgiven us.

THE OFFERING – Seeing how much has been given to us, we can then freely give of the blessings God has given us.

CONSECRATION – The bread and wine are prayed over as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.

LORD’S PRAYER – We pray together with the words Jesus taught us to pray.

COMMUNION – At this time, we come forward to receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion. As we receive, we believe that we are being spiritually fed by Christ. All who have been baptized may receive the Lord’s Supper.

BENEDICTION – After we have been spiritually nourished by Jesus, we are then commissioned to go out into the world to extend God’s grace and forgiveness to others.

RECESSION – We end the service much like it began, but in reverse direction. As we have followed the cross as we gather to be fed by Word and Sacrament, we now follow it back out into the world as missionaries in our local area.