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Phone

954.781.3170

Email

hello@newcov.church

New Covenant’s Corporate Worship Philosophy

The mission of New Covenant Church is to bring wholeness to South Florida through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We accomplish this mission in a number of different ways, and one of the most crucial ways is through our weekly worship service on Sunday mornings. We recognize the immense impact that connecting with God via worship can have on each of us so we have structured our worship experience around the following principals to achieve our purpose.

1. Jesus First

In everything we do, we long to make everything about Jesus and His glory. The songs we sing must be full of adoration (“how we love Your name, Jesus / You’re the beautiful one”), extol the character of God (“You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger”), brag about his feats throughout history (“water you turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind”), or frame our identity within the larger context of God’s redemptive work (“whom the Son sets free is free indeed / I’m a child of God / yes, I am”). We must keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus MUST be first.

2. Musical Expression that Reflects the Diversity of God’s Kingdom
God is redeeming His people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

There are so many rich musical styles that flow out of each culture’s unique connection with specific aspects of God’s character. Our goal is for worship at New Covenant to employ different styles and theological lenses for two reasons: to reflect the beautiful diversity of the Kingdom of God and to be missional to the many cultures that have made their home in South Florida. Any given week may focus on one language or style over the others or we may choose to blend many of the elements into a seamless worship experience, but our aim is consistently reflect the diversity of God’s Kingdom in our worship sets.

3. Freedom

“We are not fully ‘us’ until you are fully you.” God didn’t create us to play roles or become copies of others that we deem more acceptable or powerful. If you only knew who God created you to be, you would so desperately want to be you. In the name of Jesus, be you.

4. Authenticity
When we worship, we never have to pretend. We come in our various states of brokenness and wholeness to a God who receives us with open arms. We reject the need to seem perfect to everyone around us. Whether we are on a mountain top or in the lowest valley, we recognize that God is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. We ACKNOWLEDGE our emotions while we CHOOSE to worship. We don’t allow our emotions to modify our worship. We allow our worship to modify our emotions.

5. Transformational Encounters
We refuse to operate under the limiting framework that worship is merely an intellectual exercise. The world has seen enough of our impotent, disembodied theology. We are interacting with a living being. God is a real person and can be encountered personally. We want to experience God in a way that transforms us. We want the presence of God’s Spirit so strongly that lives are changed. We want our eyes so fixated on Jesus that we look more and more like Him as we worship together.

While we generally aim to balance a number of different elements each time we worship together, some months carry a specific focus. In December we were going through the rich catalog of gospel-centered Christmas music. February brought our focus to Gospel and Contemporary Gospel music, leaning into the complex melodies and simple choruses that facilitate adoration of Jesus. In March we focused heavily on hymns and the complete theological picture that they often paint of God’s redemptive work. As demonstrated, some months will lean into a specific tradition, but we also may take a week to lean into these styles quite heavily.

On May 15th, every song that we sing will be in both English and Spanish. It will be the first time that we’ve ever done this as a church, and it will be a beautiful reminder that God’s Kingdom knows no geographical boundary. Feel free to start listening to the playlist on Youtube or Spotify so that you can familiarize yourself with both languages. Also, invite a Spanish speaking friend who may not get to worship in their own language often. We’ll see you at church!