Our worship of God is not designed to be flashy entertainment. Rather, it is a reverent and dignified offering of the heart in accordance with biblical guidelines.
We sing without the aid of musical instruments because the New Testament specifies this kind of music ( Eph. 5:19 ; Col. 3:16). The Lord’s Supper is observed every Sunday according to the practice of early Christians (Acts 20:7). Prayers are offered by the congregation (1 Tim. 2:1-3).
Members of the church contribute into a common treasury every Sunday (1 Cor. 16:1-2). We do not solicit funds from those outside the church. It is our privilege and responsibility to provide for the work that Jesus wants us to do (2 Cor. 9:6-8).
We also have a sermon on Sunday designed to give Bible instruction and to help make meaningful applications to daily life (Acts 2:42). Children are welcome in our assembly. We believe it is important for them to see adults worship God.
If you have visited many other churches, you may notice immediately upon entering our building that we have no band instruments, choir loft, pipe organ or other traditional musical accouterments. This is by design, for it is our conviction that God instructs His people to use vocal music ("a cappella") only in their worship.
Passages such as Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16 address this subject. Specifically, the heart is noted as the “instrument” for making melody. To put it more simply, God is not interested in hearing mechanical music but the voices of His children as they express their heartfelt thoughts and emotions.
This may seem counter-intuitive to many, for instrumental music has been part of worship for hundreds of years and in modern times has blossomed into musical performances of all genres. But our musical worship is simple, vocal, one-to-another exhortation and encouragement. We avoid the entertainment and performance qualities that have crept into the worship of many churches.
Our singing attempts to be reverent, lyric-centered and genuinely from the heart.
The ministry of Jesus and the work of His apostles make it evident that public proclamation of God’s word held high priority (Matt. 4:23; 5:1-2; Acts 2:42; 20:7-11, 20).
Teaching and preaching may occur in various settings, but the North Bellingham church's gatherings on Sunday usually feature a morning bible study followed by a sermon in the hour following . So much of our attention is given to other voices through various media that we feel it is of utmost importance to hear the words of God.
Our sermons are not political, emotional or secular in nature. Rather, we try to present the scriptures in their proper historical and doctrinal context and let God’s revelation make its appeal to the understanding and consciences of listeners. We are always open to hearing the views of others and welcome meaningful dialogue with those who have differing ideas.